The game layer on top of the world Seth Priebatsch
my name is Seth pre-match I’m the chief
ninja of scavenger I am a proud
Princeton dropout also proud to have
relocated here to Boston where I
actually grew up and yeah Boston easy
wins I should just go and name the
counties that we’ve got around here so
I’m also I’m also fairly determined to
try and build a game layer on top of the
world and this is sort of a new concept
and it’s really important because while
the last decade was the decade of social
and the decade of where the framework in
which we connect with other people was
built this next decade will be the
decade where the game framework is built
where the motivations that we use to
actually influence behavior and the
framework in which that is constructed
is decided upon and that’s really
important and so I say that I want to
build a game layer on top of the world
but that’s not quite true because uh
it’s already under construction it’s
already happening and it looks like this
right now it looks like the web did back
in 1997 right it’s not very good it’s
cluttered it’s filled with lots of
different things that in short aren’t
that fun
there are credit-card schemes and
airline mile programs and coupon cards
and all these loyalty schemes that
actually do use game dynamics and
actually are building the game layer
they just suck they’re not very well
designed right so that’s unfortunate
but luckily as as my favorite Action
Hero Bob the Builder says we can do
better we can build this better and the
tools the resources that we use to build
a game layer or game dynamics themselves
and so sort of the crux of this
presentation is going to go through four
really important game dynamics really
interesting things that if you use
consciously you can use to influence
behavior both for good for bad for
in-between hopefully for good but this
is the sort of the the important stages
in which that framework will get built
and so we want to all be thinking about
it consciously now just before we jump
into that there’s sort of a question of
why is this important I’m sort of making
this claim that there is a game layer on
top of the world and that it’s very
important that we build it properly the
reason that it’s so important is that
the last decade what we’ve seen has been
building the social layer has been this
framework for connections and
construction on that layer is over it’s
finished there’s still a lot to explore
there’s still a lot of people who are
trying to
figure out social and how do we leverage
this and how do we use this but the
framework itself is done and it’s called
Facebook and that’s okay right a lot of
people are very happy with Facebook I
like it quite a lot they’ve created this
thing called the Open Graph and they own
all of our connections they own half a
billion people and so when you want to
build on the social layer the framework
has been decided it is the Open Graph
API and if you’re happy with that
fantastic if you’re not too bad there’s
nothing you can do but this next decade
that’s a real thing I mean we want we
want to build frameworks in a way that
makes it and that makes it acceptable
and makes it you know productive down
the road so the social layer is all
about these connections the gain layer
is all about influence it’s not about
adding a social fabric to the web and
connecting you to other people
everywhere you are everywhere you go
it’s actually about using dynamics using
forces to influence the behavior of
where you are what you do there how you
do it that’s really really powerful and
it’s going to be more important than the
social layer it’s going to affect our
lives more deeply and perhaps more
invisibly and so it’s incredibly
critical that at this moment while it’s
just getting constructed well the
frameworks like Facebook like the Open
Graph are being created for the game
layer equivalent that we think about it
very consciously and that we do it in a
way that is open that is available and
that can be leveraged for good and so
that’s what I want to talk about for
game dynamics because construction has
just begun and the more consciously we
can think about this the better we’ll be
able to use it for anything that we want
so like I said the way the way that you
go through and build on the game layer
is not with your glass and steel and
cement and the resources that we use are
not this two-dimensional swath of land
that we have the resources our mind
share and the tools the raw materials
are these game dynamics so with that you
know a couple game dynamics to talk
about for I’m back at scavenger we like
to joke that with seven game dynamics
you can get anyone to do anything and so
today I’m going to show you four because
I hope to have a competitive advantage
at the end of this still so the first
one it’s a very simple game dynamic it’s
called the appointment dynamic and this
is a dynamic in which to succeed players
have to do something at a predefined
time generally at a predefined place and
these dynamics are a little scary
sometimes because you think you know
other people can be using
forces that will manipulate how I
interact what I do where I do it when I
do it that this sort of loss of free
will that occurs in games can be
frightening so with each dynamic I’m
going to give three examples a one that
shows how this is already being used in
the real world so you can sort of
rationalize it a little bit one that
shows it in what we consider a
conventional game I think everything is
a game but this is sort of more of a you
know what you would think is a game
played on a you know a board or on a
computer screen
and then one how this can be used for
good so we can see that these forces can
really be very powerful so the first one
the most famous appointment dynamic in
the world is something called happy hour
so I just recently dropped out of
Princeton and actually ended up for the
first time in a bar and I saw these
happy hour things all over the place
right and this is simply an appointment
dynamic come here at a certain time get
your drinks half off to win all you have
to do is show up at the right place at
the right time this game dynamic is so
powerful that it doesn’t just influence
our behavior it’s influenced our entire
culture and that that’s that’s a really
scary result that one game dynamic can
change things so powerfully it also
exists in more conventional game forms
I’m sure you’ve all heard of farmville
by now if you haven’t I recommend
playing it you won’t do anything else
for the rest of your day
farmville has more active users than
Twitter it’s incredibly powerful and it
has this dynamic where you have to
return at a certain time to water your
crops fake crops or they wilt and this
is so powerful that when they tweak
their stats when they say your forms
your crops wilt after eight hours or
after six hours or after 24 hours it
changes the life cycle of 70 million
some people during the day they will
return a like clockwork at different
times so if they wanted the world to end
if they wanted productivity to stop they
could make this a 30 minute cycle and no
one could do anything else right but
that’s a little scary but but this can
also be used for good this is a local
company called vitality and they’ve
created a product to help people take
their medicine on time right that’s an
appointment it’s something that people
don’t do very well and they have these
glow caps which in a flash and email you
and do all sorts of cool things to
remind you to take your medicine this is
one that isn’t a game yet but really
should be you should get points for
doing this on time you should lose
points for not doing some time they
should consciously recognize that
they’ve built an appointment dynamic and
leverage the games and then you can
really achieve good in some interesting
ways we’re going to jump onto the next
one
yes influence and status so this is one
of the most one of most famous game
dynamics it’s used all over the place
it’s used in your wallets right now
right we all want that credit card on
the far left because it’s black and you
see someone at CVS or on CBS like like
christian dior or something right I
don’t know I don’t have a black card
I’ve got a debit card but they don’t
think so they whip it out and you see
men they have that black card I want
that because that means that they’re
cooler than I am and I and I need that
and this is used in games as well modern
warfare one of the most successful
selling games of all time I’m only a
level four but but I desperately you
know what to be a liberal ten because
they’ve got that cool red badge thing
and that means that that I am somehow
better than everyone else and that’s
very powerful to me status is a really
good motivator um it’s also used in more
conventional settings and can be used
more consciously in conventional
settings school and remember I made it
through one year so I think I’m
qualified to talk on school is a game
it’s just not a terribly well-designed
game right there are levels there are C
there are B there is a there are
statuses I mean what is valedictorian
but a status if we called about it
valedictorian a you know white knight
paladin level 20 I think people would
probably work a lot harder so so so
school is a game and there’s been lots
of experimentations on how we do this
properly but let’s use it consciously
like why have games that you can lose
why go from an a to an F or a B to C
that sucks why not level up and at
Princeton they’ve actually experiment
experimented with this where they have
quizzes where you gain experience points
and you level up from B to an A and it’s
very powerful it can be used in
interesting ways the third one I want to
talk about quickly is the progression
dynamic where you have to sort of make
progress you have to move through
different steps in a very granular
fashion um this is used all over the
place including LinkedIn where I am a
nun whole individual I am only 85%
complete on LinkedIn and that bothers me
and this is this is so deep-seated in
our psyche that when were presented with
a progress bar and presented with easy
granular steps to take to try and
complete that progress bar we will do it
we will find a way to move that blue
line all the way to the right edge of
the screen this is used in conventional
games as well I mean you see you know
this is a paladin level 10 and
that’s a paladin level 20 and if you
were going to fight you know orcs on the
fields of Mordor against the Ra’s al
Ghul you’d probably want to be the
bigger one right I would
and so people work very hard to level up
World of Warcraft is one of the most
successful games of all time the average
player spent something like six six and
a half hours a day one of their most
their most dedicated players it’s like a
full-time job it’s it’s insane and they
have these systems where you can level
up and that’s a very powerful thing
progression is powerful it can also be
used in very compelling ways for good
one of the things that we work on it’s
scavengers how do you use games to drive
traffic and drive business to local
businesses to sort of something that is
very key to the economy and here we have
a game you know that people play they go
places they do challenges they earn
points and we’ve introduced a
progression dynamic into it where by
going to the same place over and over by
doing challenges by engaging with the
business you move a green bar from the
left edge of the screen to the right of
edge of the screen and you eventually
unlock rewards and this is powerful
enough that we can see that it hooks
people into these dynamics pulls them
back to the same local businesses
creates huge loyalty creates engagement
and is able to drive meaningful revenue
and fun and engagement to businesses
these progression dynamics are powerful
and can be used in the real world the
final one I want to talk about and it’s
a great one to end on is this concept of
communal discovery a dynamic in which
everyone has to work together to achieve
something and communal discovery is
powerful because it leverages the
network that is society to solve
problems this is used in some sort of
famous consumer web stories like Digg
which I’m sure you’ve all heard of Digg
is a communal dynamic to try and find
and source the best news the most
interesting stories and they made this
into a game initially they had a
leaderboard where if you recommended the
best stories you would get points and
that that really motivated people to
find the best stories but it became so
powerful that it was actually a cabal a
group of people the top seven on the
leaderboard who would work together to
make sure that they maintained that
position and they would recommend other
people’s stories and the game became
more powerful than the goal and actually
had to end up shutting down the
leaderboard because while it was
effective it was so powerful that it
stopped sourcing the best stories and
started having people work to maintain
their leadership so we have to use this
one carefully it’s also used in
like McDonald’s monopoly where the game
is not the monopoly game you’re playing
but these sort of cottage industries
that form to try and find boardwalk
right and then they’re just looking for
a little sticker that says boardwalk but
it can also be used to find real things
this is the DARPA balloon challenge
where they hid a couple balloons all
across the United States and said use
networks try and find these balloons
fastest and the winner will get $40,000
and the winner was actually a group out
of MIT where there created sort of a
pyramid scheme a network where the first
person to recommend the location of a
balloon got $2,000 and anyone else to
you know push that recommendation I’ve
also got a cut of it and in 12 hours
they were able to find all these
balloons all across the country right
really powerful dynamic and so I’ve got
about you know 20 seconds left so I’m
going to leave you with anything last
decade was the decade of social this
next decade is the decade of games we
use game dynamics to build on it we
build with mind share we can influence
behavior it is very powerful it is very
exciting let’s all build it together
let’s do it well and have fun playing