Andrzej's Game Characteristics Analysis Thing - Back to my Blog

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Name	Flow	Autonomy	Purpose	Relatedness	Mastery	Rewards	Narrative
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This is a simple tool I am playing with to compare 6 characteristics / elements of games and gamified apps. It is helping me to find pattern. Put the name of the game or system you want to compare. Then give a value out of 100 for each of the 6 characteristics. These should be the average that you feel matches the system.

Take a screen shot and send it over if you like!! You can also save your applications for others to compare against.

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A bit more detail.

Remember, this is not science. This is about how you feel about the applications. I may feel differently about Wikipedia to you, and vica-versa.

• Flow - Take a look at my blog post on Flow and Player Journey. Does the application have the ability to put you into the zone for extended periods. Clicking the endorse button over and over again on LinkedIn can do that to you. Peter Molyneux Curious Cube relies on that. Other experiences, like Wikipedia, don't need to rely on flow. They are too creative and the work needs more thought.
• Narrative - Does the app or the game have a story to tell. A game like Heavy Rain or Walking Dead has a very strong narrative. Space Invaders.... Do you have a journey you are trying to take an employee on with your gamified system? It isn't all about games! This is optional and you will have to click Show Narrative to see it on the chart.
• Rewards - Are you encouraged to do things to get rewards? Is there money at stake, do you get points and badges? Do you get free things if you are involved?
• Autonomy - How much freedom of choice do you have? Sandbox games would score near 100. Call of duty style linear challenges would be much lower!
• Purpose - Is there a greater meaning to the game. In World of Warcraft or Wikipedia you are working towards some kind of epic goal (epic meaning). In space invaders you just have to survive - not a great deal of adding meaning to the world there!
• Relatedness - This is the social aspect of the application or whatever. Call of Duty (single player) has almost no direct social activity. Giff Gaff is all about social help and the like.
• Mastery - Is there something to get good at and if there is is it worth it. With playing Space Invaders or Pac Man, there is a high level of master. Something like Call of Duty, there is not much to master in the single player and what there is doesn't take very long.