0:00:08.750,0:00:11.434
My name's Seth Priebatsch.[br]I'm the chief ninja of SCVNGR.

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I'm a proud Princeton dropout.

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Also proud to have relocated[br]here to Boston,

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where I actually grew up.

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(Applause) Yeah, Boston.

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Easy wins, I should just name[br]the counties that we've got around here.

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I'm also fairly determined[br]to try and build

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a game layer on top of the world.

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This is sort of a new concept[br]and it's really important,

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because while the last decade[br]was the decade of social,

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the decade where the framework in which[br]we connect with other people was built,

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this next decade will be the decade[br]where the game framework is built,

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where the motivations we use[br]to actually influence behavior

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and the framework[br]in which that is constructed,

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is decided upon,[br]and that's really important.

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I say I want to build a game layer[br]on top of the world,

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but that's not quite true,

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because it's already under construction;[br]it's already happening.

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And it looks like this right now.

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It looks like the Web did[br]back in 1997, right?

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It's not very good. It's cluttered.

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It's filled with lots of different things[br]that, in short, aren't that fun.

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There are credit card schemes[br]and airline mile programs,

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coupon cards and all these loyalty schemes

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that actually do use game dynamics[br]and are building the game layer --

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they just suck.

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They're not very well-designed.

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(Laughter)

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So that's unfortunate.

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But luckily, as my favorite action[br]hero, Bob the Builder, says,

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"We can do better.[br]We can build this better."

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And the tools, the resources[br]that we use to build a game layer,

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are game dynamics themselves.

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And so the crux of this presentation[br]is going to go through

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four really important game dynamics,

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really interesting things,[br]that, if you use consciously,

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you can use to influence behavior,

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both for good, for bad, for in-between.

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Hopefully for good.

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But this is the important stage[br]in which that framework will get built,

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and so we want to all be thinking[br]about it consciously now.

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Before we jump into that,[br]there's a question of:

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Why is this important?

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I'm making this claim

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that there's a game layer[br]on top of the world,

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and it's very important[br]that we build it properly.

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The reason it's so important[br]is that, in the last decade,

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what we've seen has been[br]building the social layer,

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has been this framework for connections,

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and construction on that layer[br]is over, it's finished.

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There's still a lot to explore,

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still a lot of people[br]trying to figure out social

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and how we leverage this[br]and how we use this,

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but the framework itself is done,

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and it's called Facebook.

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And that's OK, right? A lot of people[br]are very happy with Facebook.

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I like it quite a lot.

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They've created this thing[br]called the Open Graph,

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and they own all of our connections.

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They own half a billion people.

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So when you want to build[br]on the social layer,

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the framework has been decided;[br]it is the Open Graph API.

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And if you're happy with that, fantastic.

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If you're not, too bad.[br]There's nothing you can do.

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And that's a real thing.

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I mean, we want to build frameworks[br]in a way that makes it acceptable

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and makes it productive down the road.

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So, the social layer[br]is all about these connections.

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The game layer is all about influence.

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It's not about adding[br]a social fabric to the web

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and connecting you to other people

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everywhere you are and everywhere you go,

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it's actually about using[br]dynamics, using forces,

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to influence the behavior[br]of where you are, what you do there,

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how you do it.

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That's really, really powerful.

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And it's going to be more important[br]than the social layer,

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and affect our lives more deeply[br]and perhaps more invisibly.

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So it's incredibly critical[br]that at this moment,

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while it's just getting constructed,

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while the frameworks[br]like Facebook or Open Graph

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are being created[br]for the game-layer equivalent,

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that we think about it very consciously,

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and that we do it in a way[br]that is open, available,

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and can be leveraged for good.

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So that's what I want to talk[br]about for game dynamics,

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because construction has just begun,

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and the more consciously[br]we can think about this,

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the better we'll be able to use it[br]for anything we want.

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So like I said, the way you go[br]through and build on the game layer

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is not with glass and steel and cement.

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And the resources we use are not[br]this two-dimensional swath of land

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that we have.

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The resources are mindshare,

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and the tools, the raw materials,[br]are these game dynamics.

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With that, a couple[br]game dynamics to talk about.

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Back at SCVNGR, we like to joke

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that with seven game dynamics,[br]you can get anyone to do anything.

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Today, I'm going to show you four,

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because I hope to have a competitive[br]advantage at the end of this, still.

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(Laughter)

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So the first one,[br]it's a very simple game dynamic.

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It's called the appointment dynamic.

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It's a dynamic in which to succeed,

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players have to do something[br]at a predefined time,

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generally at a predefined place.

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And these dynamics[br]are a little scary sometimes,

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because you think, "Other people[br]can be using forces

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that will manipulate how I interact:

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what I do, where I do it, when I do it."

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This sort of "loss of free will"[br]that occurs in games

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can be frightening.

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So with each dynamic,[br]I'm going to give three examples:

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one that shows how it's already[br]being used in the real world,

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so you can rationalize it a bit;

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one that shows it in what we consider[br]a conventional game --

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I think everything is a game,

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but this is more what you'd think[br]of as a game played on a board

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or on a computer screen;

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and one of how it can be used for good,

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so you can see that these forces[br]can be very powerful.

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So the first one, the most famous[br]appointment dynamic in the world,

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is something called, "Happy Hour."

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So I had just recently[br]dropped out of Princeton

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and actually ended up[br]for the first time in a bar,

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and I saw these happy hour things[br]all over the place.

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And this is simply an appointment dynamic:[br]come here at a certain time,

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get your drinks half off.

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To win, all you have to do is show up[br]at the right place at the right time.

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This game dynamic is so powerful,

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it doesn't just influence our behavior;[br]it's influenced our entire culture.

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That's a really scary thought,

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that one game dynamic[br]can change things so powerfully.

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It also exists in more[br]conventional game forms.

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I'm sure you've all heard[br]of Farmville by now.

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If you haven't, I recommend playing it.

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You won't do anything else[br]for the rest of your day.

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Farmville has more active[br]users than Twitter.

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It's incredibly powerful,

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and it has this dynamic[br]where you have to return at a certain time

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to water your fake crops, or they wilt.

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And this is so powerful[br]that when they tweak their stats,

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when they say your crops wilt

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after eight hours, or after six hours,[br]or after 24 hours,

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it changes the life cycle[br]of some 70 million people during the day.

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They will return, like clockwork,[br]at different times.

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So if they wanted the world to end,[br]if they wanted productivity to stop,

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they could make it a 30-minute cycle,

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and no one could do anything else, right?

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(Laughter)

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That's a little scary.

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But this could also be used for good.

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This local company called Vitality

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has created a product to help people[br]take their medicine on time.

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That's an appointment.

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It's something that people[br]don't do very well.

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They have these GlowCaps[br]which flash and email you

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and do cool things to remind you[br]to take your medicine.

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This isn't a game yet,[br]but really should be.

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You should get points for doing it on time

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and lose points for not doing it on time.

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They should recognize they've built[br]an appointment dynamic,

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and leverage the games.

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Then you can really achieve good[br]in some interesting ways.

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We're going to jump onto the next one.

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Influence and status.

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This is one of the most famous[br]game dynamics, used all over the place.

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It's used in your wallets, right now.

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We all want that credit card[br]on the far left, because it's black.

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And you see someone at CVS or --

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not CVS -- like, Christian Dior --

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(Laughter)

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I don't know. I don't have a black[br]card; I've got a debit card.

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(Laughter)

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So they whip it out and you see[br]that black card, and:

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"I want that because it means[br]they're cooler than I am,

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and I need that."

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And this is used in games as well.

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"Modern Warfare," one of the most[br]successful selling games of all time.

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I'm only a level four, but I desperately[br]want to be a level 10,

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because they've got that cool red badge,

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and that means that I am somehow[br]better than everyone else.

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And that's very powerful to me.

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Status is really good motivator.

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It's also used in more[br]conventional settings,

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and can be used more consciously there.

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School -- and remember,[br]I made it through one year,

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so I think I'm qualified[br]to talk on school --

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is a game; it's just not a terribly[br]well-designed game.

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There are levels. There are C.[br]There are B. There's A.

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There are statuses. I mean,[br]what is valedictorian, but a status?

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If we called valedictorian[br]a "White Knight Paladin level 20,"

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I think people would probably[br]work a lot harder.

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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So school is a game,

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and there has been lots of experimentation[br]on how we do this properly.

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But let's use it consciously.

0:08:04.912,0:08:08.165
Why have games you can lose?[br]Why go from an A to an F or a B to a C?

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That sucks. Why not level-up?

0:08:09.736,0:08:12.291
At Princeton, they've actually[br]experimented with this,

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with quizzes where[br]you gain experience points,

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and you level up from B to an A.

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And it's very powerful.

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It can be used in interesting ways.

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The third one I'll talk about[br]is the progression dynamic,

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where you have to make progress,[br]move through different steps

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in a very granular fashion.

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This is used all over the place,[br]including LinkedIn,

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where I am an unwhole individual.

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I am only 85 percent complete on LinkedIn,

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and that bothers me.

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And this is so deep-seated in our psyche

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that when we're presented[br]with a progress bar

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and presented with easy,[br]granular steps to take

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to try and complete[br]that progress bar, we will do it.

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We will find a way to move that blue line

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all the way to the right edge[br]of the screen.

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This is used in conventional[br]games as well.

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I mean, this is a Paladin level 10,

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and that's a Paladin level 20.

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And if you were going to fight[br]Orcs on the fields of Mordor

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against the Ra's Al Ghul,

0:09:03.600,0:09:05.886
you'd probably want to be[br]the bigger one, right?

0:09:06.710,0:09:08.377
I would.

0:09:08.400,0:09:10.513
And so people work very hard to level-up.

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"World of Warcraft" is one[br]of the most successful games of all time.

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The average player spends some six,[br]six-and-a-half hours a day on it,

0:09:17.442,0:09:21.040
their most dedicated players --[br]it's like a full-time job, it's insane.

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And they have these systems[br]where you can level-up.

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And that's a very powerful thing.[br]Progression is powerful.

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It can also be used[br]in very compelling ways for good.

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One of the things we work on at SCVNGR is:

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How do you use games to drive traffic[br]and business to local businesses,

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to something that is very key[br]to the economy?

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And here, we have a game that people play.

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They go places,[br]do challenges, earn points.

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And we've introduced[br]a progression dynamic into it,

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where, by going to the same place[br]over and over, doing challenges,

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engaging with the business,

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you move a green bar from the left edge[br]of the screen to the right,

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and unlock rewards.

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This is powerful enough that we can see[br]it hooks people into these dynamics,

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pulls them back to the same[br]local businesses,

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creates loyalty, creates engagement,

0:10:00.756,0:10:04.683
and is able to drive meaningful revenue[br]and fun and engagement to businesses.

0:10:04.707,0:10:08.576
These progression dynamics are powerful[br]and can be used in the real world.

0:10:08.600,0:10:11.953
The final one I want to talk about --[br]and it's a great one to end on --

0:10:11.977,0:10:13.834
is this concept of communal discovery,

0:10:13.858,0:10:18.116
a dynamic in which everyone[br]has to work together to achieve something.

0:10:18.140,0:10:19.966
Communal discovery is powerful

0:10:19.990,0:10:23.006
because it leverages[br]the network that is society

0:10:23.030,0:10:24.498
to solve problems.

0:10:25.411,0:10:29.189
This is used in some famous[br]consumer web stories like Digg,

0:10:29.213,0:10:30.898
which I'm sure you've all heard of.

0:10:30.922,0:10:32.576
Digg is a communal dynamic

0:10:32.600,0:10:36.576
to try to find and source the best news,[br]the most interesting stories.

0:10:36.600,0:10:38.600
And they made this into a game, initially.

0:10:38.624,0:10:41.788
They had a leader board where,[br]if you recommended the best stories,

0:10:41.812,0:10:43.164
you would get points.

0:10:43.188,0:10:45.940
And that really motivated people[br]to find the best stories.

0:10:45.964,0:10:48.576
But it became so powerful,[br]there was actually a cabal,

0:10:48.600,0:10:51.999
a group of people, the top seven[br]on the leader board,

0:10:52.023,0:10:55.202
who would work together to make sure[br]they maintained that position,

0:10:55.226,0:10:56.671
recommending people's stories.

0:10:56.695,0:10:58.908
The game became[br]more powerful than the goal.

0:10:58.932,0:11:02.576
They ended up shutting down the leader[br]board because, while it was effective,

0:11:02.600,0:11:05.504
it was so powerful that it stopped[br]sourcing the best stories,

0:11:05.528,0:11:08.075
and started having people work[br]to maintain leadership.

0:11:08.099,0:11:09.866
So we have to use this one carefully.

0:11:09.890,0:11:12.245
It's also used in things[br]like McDonald's Monopoly,

0:11:12.269,0:11:14.658
where the game is not[br]the Monopoly you're playing,

0:11:14.682,0:11:18.011
but the cottage industries[br]that form to try and find Boardwalk.

0:11:18.035,0:11:21.249
There, they're just looking[br]for a sticker that says "Boardwalk,"

0:11:21.273,0:11:23.331
but it can also be used[br]to find real things.

0:11:23.355,0:11:25.088
This is the DARPA balloon challenge,

0:11:25.112,0:11:28.453
where they hid a couple balloons[br]all across the United States and said,

0:11:28.477,0:11:30.907
"Use networks. Try and find[br]these balloons fastest,

0:11:30.931,0:11:32.577
and the winner will get $40,000."

0:11:32.601,0:11:34.448
The winner was a group out of MIT,

0:11:34.472,0:11:37.068
where they created sort[br]of a pyramid scheme, a network,

0:11:37.092,0:11:40.521
where the first person to recommend[br]the location of a balloon got $2,000,

0:11:40.545,0:11:43.476
and anyone else to push[br]that recommendation up also got a cut.

0:11:43.500,0:11:46.491
And in 12 hours, they were able[br]to find all these balloons,

0:11:46.515,0:11:47.981
all across the country.

0:11:48.005,0:11:49.729
Really powerful dynamic.

0:11:49.753,0:11:52.576
And so, I've got about 20 seconds left,

0:11:52.600,0:11:54.648
so if I'm going to leave[br]you with anything,

0:11:54.672,0:11:56.454
last decade was the decade of social.

0:11:56.478,0:11:58.576
This next decade is the decade of games.

0:11:58.600,0:12:01.467
We use game dynamics to build on it.[br]We build with mindshare.

0:12:01.491,0:12:02.736
We can influence behavior.

0:12:02.760,0:12:04.623
It's very powerful. It's very exciting.

0:12:04.647,0:12:08.004
Let's all build it together,[br]let's do it well and have fun playing.

0:12:08.028,0:12:11.007
(Applause)