EVE ONLINE (eveonline.com)
WARNING… HIGHLY Addictive MMORG (spaceship game)
How can you be proud of user-generated content, Jeff?
Isn’t your thoughtful comment proof that it works a lot of the time?
Isn’t your thoughtful comment proof that it works a lot of the time?
Thank you, but I’d rather not turn the discussion into one that is primarily navel-gazing.
I just think the web has a lot of work to do to improve the signal to noise ratio. Perhaps that was actually the point I was really trying to make: that using these game elements is an excellent way to improve the quality of interactions. I’m still convinced there is a way to have a civilized discussion online with complete strangers, but we haven’t gotten there yet. The only really viable way I can see is heavy-handed moderation. When I say heavy-handed, I mean don’t allow users to post me too! replies. Don’t allow straying wildly off-topic. Don’t post threads just to chat in specialized forums. And for heaven’s sake, don’t ever let people talk about other forum people in a thread. (Meta-discussion considered harmful?)
Reputation systems tend to work well on sites where truth is mostly an objective matter (stackoverflow.com). On discussion sites, it becomes far more difficult due to group dynamics. Trying to discuss something people don’t want to hear? Forget it, oftentimes. The niche nature of many sites is an overall boon, but it means that they are that much more resistant to conflicting information because many are so like-minded. If I post on Slashdot I have 50% chance of being modded either funny/troll or just insightful. I honestly never know which, and whenever I try for the one, I end up with the other.
I think ask.metafilter.com comes as close as I’ve found to mostly intelligent, focused, on-topic discussion. That is one place I could be fairly addicted to. I have yet to find a non-questions/answers site where I could discuss programming at large sans religion.
Sorry, my comment here is indeed a comment that does not contribute to the original post in any way, but might I just remind that comment rating will usually turn into I agree - thumbs up, I disagree - thumbs down -type rating, which will backfire and defeat the original purpose…
Stack overflow failed, then?
I think the importance of interaction can plainly be seen by the phenomenal success of Facebook. The inclusion of it’s Twitterlike feed puts it at a similar stage in its development to Windows 3 (the breakthrough to mass adoption and ubiquity).
It is rich irony that the people responsible for crafting the interaction are the least lightly to be able to understand its importance. A too rigid focus on the mechanics of communication is bound to ensure the loss of sight of it’s essence ;0)
I get it now, StackOverflow is trying to be an MMORPG. I thought it was trying to be a programming QA site. Please disregard http://sqlanywhere.blogspot.com/2009/03/broken-or-worse.html
I don’t think fun is so important in fixing broken community tools.
Applications are used for entertainment, or to get a job done. When something is used for entertainment, the fun element is great (YouTube). However, it can be distracting for a task at hand, and make the tool less efficient.
If some tool bores you to death, it means it is not doing the job quickly enough, or not doing enough of it. Part of constructing fun is to create challenges for the player, have progressive disclosure, etc. Just imagine features that are only available for gurus… I think developing fun applications is more fun, which is why it appeals to some (just is making games is more fun than making database tools [for some]).
We could make many boring things more fun (driving, for instance: cool detours, ramps, big boss drivers, potholes…) that should in fact just be efficient.
ht
We use Trac for issue tracking and project management. Our group’s efforts are focused by the Roadmap which shows upcoming (or overdue) milestones (earliest first) and individual Dashboards which show the tasks assigned (most urgent first). I’ve considered that this is kind of like a game of Tetris where you are always trying to clear rows: get the top milestone off the Roadmap or top ticket off your Dashboard.
http://thenethernet.com/ lets you play games on any webpage. its not what Jeff is talking about, but its eerily similar!
Have you seen xine/gxine’s preferences window? It’s modal and lets you select between 4 levels of difficulty that enable different options for you to tweak.
This article was some of the inspiration for a new website we developed called ‘the link wars’. the concept is that you have a blog/vote-up site similar to DIGG/REDDIT that you actually gain levels and power for picking good stories. You can gain and use items and gain bragging rights by getting to the top.
My company (Bunchball) has a platform (Nitro) that provides game mechanics (points, levels, leaderboards, virtual goods, challenges, trophies, real-time feedback, competitions, etc.) as a service, that can be integrated into any website or application. Our customers include Comcast, USA, WB, NBC, Hearst and others that are using game mechanics to drive user behavior and engagement on their sites. Check out the details (and lots of good articles about the space) at http://wiki.bunchball.com
Customization is a game mechanic? That’s news to me. What did the original Super Mario Bros allow you to customize?
@ Matt comment #1
Yes, orange is two syllables. It’s called phoenetic syllabication. Two distinct spoken pieces of the word orange. Pron. o-ranj or or-anj depending on what’s more comfortable for you, but the first form is considered more correct.
MMOs and real life are a lot alike.
Keep getting certs and education and experiences. Collect some necessary as well as unnecessary cool items, keep working on making more money that is if you don’t get killed before the end-game.
I happen to like eve-online right now. Its a pretty comprehensive gaming system.
How can you be proud of user-generated content, Jeff?
Isn’t your thoughtful comment proof that it works a lot of the time?
Certainly, the game eve-online that a couple including myself have mentioned already in nearly entirely player content driven, including the economy. CCP has done an excellent job at remaining hands-off the player driven economy for the 7 years the game has been running (as a single global shard, that’s right quarter of a million other players to interact with). Other game producers of games that have made the cut and still are in production have caved into crying about I lost my stuff to that dweeb, why don’t you do something about it?. CCP has stayed the course and Eve Online is the purest player driven content game there is…other than real life of course.
I’m going to start naming all of my default buttons Execute Jumping
A very good video on the topic of gamification was made by the Extra Credits guys and can be found on Penny Arcade TV.
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