[somos-azucar] [IAEP] Gamification in Sugar Network

[STEPHEN JACOBS]

The documentation doesn't really address the context, purpose, goals or implementation of gamification beyond the fact that there should be hooks in the sugar network to support it.

The seemingly arbitrary metaphor (sun, star, moon etc ) and the reference to points suggests that this is abstracted away from what the user actually does in the system as does the reference to points without a discussion of what they are for or how they work.

Research shows that Gamification that is not thoughtfully designed and implemented  may have a bump of interest in the short term but gets ignored, becomes an annoyance, or actually a disincentive to participation in the longer term.

IMO, If the Sugar community wants this network to be gamified it needs more thinking and design work before that functionality is implemented.

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 7, 2012, at 5:26 AM, Aleksey Lim <alsroot en sugarlabs.org> wrote:

> On Wed, Jun 06, 2012 at 12:04:36PM -0500, Sebastian Silva wrote:
>> /* en español abajo */
>> Hi,
>> One proposal to evidence the value of "interactions" within the Sugar Network
>> user interface is to count, for each context, and to show them in the interface
>> as such:
>> 
>> 1 interaction = 1 "Sun" badge
>> 
>> This is to continue with the icons "Star" - "Moon" - "Sun".
>> 
>> To better understand this in reference to Sugar Network, with "interactions" we
>> mean contributions of feedback or support resources users provide within the
>> network.
>> 
>> Not every interaction has been implemented graphically yet but for reference 
>> here are the high level conceptual documentation:
>> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Network/Concept
>> 
>> And the low level Objects Model that sustains it at this time:
>> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Platform_Team/Sugar_Network/Objects_model
>> 
>> Feedback at this point is appreciated as we prepare to launch at scale.
>> 
>> Regards,
>> Sebastian
> 
> In fact, regarding Sugar Network, my original post was rather about
> popping up this subject (and it seems I missed the fast that it is
> already was well discussed) and less about doing something particular.
> 
> But for Sugar Network in particular. I'm sure the core functionality
> that SN is assumed to provide (content/social/support network to connect
> offline and online people) is much more important than any [current]
> trend. And before trying to implement such high level features like
> gamification moments, SN should be mature enough to do its core
> functionality on reliable basis.
> 
> The problem with gammification (as was already mentioned), it is just
> one of possible ways and have its own props and contras. And it will be
> more useful to design SN in the way that there is core functionality
> and a bunch of high level solutions that implement one of education
> metaphor.
> 
> In fact, there is already such model when there is a SN server and
> it is possible to implement any client application. But I think it will
> be more useful to have default client application that provides only
> core functionality (i.e., pure technical possibility without forcing
> particular model). As a useful addition, such default client application
> might support applying a kind of skins on top of it to implement
> particular education metaphor (I guess it will be useful during the
> educational process to switch between several models).
> 
> -- 
> Aleksey
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