Just got off a Skype call with a friend I greatly respect--someone who has created a successful and growing business, written a best selling business book, and impacted countless organizations through bootcamps and consultations around the world.
Our conversation was around an idea I had for a book, and he got to the heart of the matter very quickly by asking, "Do you have a definition of 'Game Thinking' you could point me to so I can start to wrap my head around this." In other words, he was interested in my ramblings but not clear about their focus.
This one's for you, Sam.
What is Game Thinking?
Game thinking is the art of applying the best approaches in game design to the systems of real life.
- Game thinking focuses on an individual user's experience within a system, and designing systems around an optimal experience for each user.
- Game thinking places a high value on what rewards will best contribute to both a user's experience and the system's efficiency.
- Game thinking knows that weaving a story into the fabric of a system is an important part of that system being sticky and meaningful for those working within it.
- Game thinking builds collaborative economies working toward common goals rather than combative systems that create winners and losers.
- Game thinking seeks to define the entire system differently rather than simply applying game mechanics to a part of it. In this way game thinking will most likely change the process within systems, not add on to existing ones.
- Game thinking provides users within systems the ability to stay in a state of flow. This flow fosters a culture of innovation and empowerment.
Because game thinking is an approach to problems rather than a method for solving them, it can be applied to any industry, system, or problem.
