The Great Delhi Run–How FITology used an Alternate Reality Game to Break the Ice

Adventures @ FITology | #1 – The Great Delhi Run | Alternate Reality Game

This article was written by Saamir Gupta, Founder of FITology. (See bottom of article for full bio.)

Day 1: 7:00 pm, Hotel ITC, Delhi

Imagine, you have taken a long flight to India. This is your first evening in Delhi and you are having dinner with your colleagues from all round the world. You are part of this pool of 20 senior management handpicked to start a new business model for your company. And your discussions with them, as a team start tomorrow. But instead of the work agenda for the next day, at the dinner table, you are handed this brief –

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June week 3 Gamification Examples from an Octalysis Lens

Every week in the Octalysis Prime Slack group, members share gamification examples they find in the wild.

These are only a snapshot of what we’ve discovered this week. As always, from the lens of Octalysis and the 8 Core Drives.

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How Understanding Gamification Gives an Edge in Design and Product Roles

This article was written by Erik van Mechelen, based on the Octalysis Gamification framework designed by Yu-kai Chou

Getting an edge with gamification

Can you get a job in gamification?

At first glance, the pickings are slim. An Indeed job search for ‘gamification’ doesn’t return many results, but does include roles with gamification mentioned in the description, from VR software developers to instructional designers to sales specialists and customer care reps.

We do know there are jobs in gamification. (The Octalysis Group recently did a contest posted on their Octalysis Explorers Facebook page, with a contest to demonstrate gamification knowledge and potentially join The Octalysis Group.)

But it isn’t the only option.

From getting to know many people, and some people quite well, in the Octalysis Explorers and Octalysis Prime Mastermind group, I know there is a huge variety of people and professional roles that understand gamification knowledge (and understanding how to apply that knowledge in their roles) will give them an edge in their daily professional activities.

When considering gamification, the closest job postings might be for:

1. Product Designer
2. UX Designer
3. Product Manager

A thorough understanding of gamification could give you an edge in these roles.

Just like people used to say developers who knew AJAX got paid 15% higher than developers who don’t, gamification may become your edge to higher pay and better performance.

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How to Create a Gamified Chore App with Octalysis

This article was written by Contributing Writer Erik van Mechelen.

Kids don’t like chores

Getting kids active and participating in household chores has many benefits, but have you ever had trouble persuading your kids to help out around the house?

I know as I kid I wasn’t easily persuaded to do things that weren’t my idea. In Gabon, when I was four, my parents couldn’t even get me to try a single slice of pizza! (Eventually, I tried it and thought it tasted amazing.)

Chores felt like work, which was worse than homework. I’d finally finish my homework, be ready to play, then BAM, my mom or dad would show up with a chore to do. (Chores often are work.)

My guess is a lot of parents don’t bother with getting their kids to help out with household chores. These parents probably have excuses like:

  • “Too much effort to keep them motivated.”
  • “The kids will just whine and complain.”
  • “It will be faster to do the chores ourselves.”

But these parents are missing a great opportunity to implement lifestyle gamification to motivate and reward their kids for helping around the house. Busy parents, take note!

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Fitbit, Peloton – Do Fitness Apps Really Work?

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This post was written by Contributing Writer Erik van Mechelen and edited by Chief Editor Angel Cheng.  

Do Fitness Apps Really Work?

Health and well-being and fitness are hard to quantify, yet we can see health and well-being when we see it.

Even stronger, we can feel it.

We definitely feel it when things aren’t going well.

Awareness, energy, decision-making, even happiness. All these attributes increase when we are healthy. And decrease when we aren’t.

In this post, I’ll look at how positioning our wellness from a place of White Hat motivation will help us succeed in the long-term.

I’ll also discuss the pitfalls of Black Hat design in approaching a game like health and wellness. In doing so, we’ll take a look at Fitbit Blaze and Peloton Bikes in supporting our health goals.

We’ll also take a look at procrastination and short-term vs long-term thinking in routine-building for health and well-being.

With luck, you’ll learn something going into your New Year’s Resolutions…but stand by for next week’s post, because thinking about Year-End Resolutions is much more powerful.

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Why We Procrastinate On Simple Things

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This article was written by Erik van Mechelen. Content is based on a video on OctalysisPrime.com from Yu-kai Chou

Our Friend, Procrastination

We’ve all been there. You need to write an important email to a friend, client or investor. But you do other things instead.

Even if that email is simple or short, you might defer it and make progress on other tasks. You probably procrastinate because that email is important.

How could something so simple as an email throw us off? Let’s look at why you might be procrastinating on important things, even if they should be simple.

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