[Sigia-l] Don't Make me Learn

[Jonathan Baker-Bates]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: sigia-l-bounces at asis.org 
> [mailto:sigia-l-bounces at asis.org] On Behalf Of James Melzer
> Sent: 23 August 2007 18:36
> To: Frank Shepard
> Cc: Sigia-l at asis.org
> Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] Don't Make me Learn
> 
> Learning is fun. Learning and mastering the various black box 
> interactions in a video game is the primary appeal.
> http://del.icio.us/jamesmelzer/black_box
> "Gaming" a system means mastering its hidden systems of 
> control/ feedback to take advantage of them. It can be 
> destructive, but not necassarily. Do those of us who work on 
> big complex systems account for (or encourage) gaming?
> 
> Any good examples? Day trading comes to mind (gaming the 
> slack in traditional securities markets). Others? Q

I don't know about that aspect of gaming particularly, but when I've had
the opportunity to design intranet systems I have I've made sure that
"fun" is in some way one of explicit designs goals. For example, I
designed a timesheeting system for a company who (my research indicated)
had a hell of a problem getting its employees to fill out timesheets at
all, let alone truthfully. So the UI for my timesheets was going to be
fun. It had puzzles to solve, sweepstakes to win, photos, quips - all
linked in some way to filling in or completing the timesheets on time.
The basic mechanics I also changed (enter time per week rather than day,
have PMs populate the task lists for the employees, etc.) but the fun
was the most effective bit. The fact that senior management (and in
particular the CFO) consistently came out top on the "worst offenders"
scoreboard led to much mirth at office parties, and (after I left) a
Flash game involving rotten fruit.

Jonathan


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