for the win: what businesses are learning from the world of games
TRANSCRIPT
What Businesses are
Learning from the
World of Games
Kevin Werbach
The Wharton School
Penn Homecoming
November 2011
F O R T H E W I N
A Famous Growth Story
Place a single grain of rice on the first square of a chessboard.
Double the amount on each subsequent square.
How many grains in total at the end of the board?
A Famous Growth Story
Place a single grain of rice on the first square of a chessboard.
Double the amount on each subsequent square.
How many grains in total at the end of the board?
18,446,744,073,709,551,615
Place a single grain of rice on the first square of a chessboard.
Double the amount on each subsequent square.
How many grains in total at the end of the board?
18,446,744,073,709,551,615
A Famous Games Story
A Contemporary Growth Story
Growth
Zero to 100 million users in 41 days
Growth
http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2011/02/26/facebook-groupon-zynga-off-the-chart-revenue/
“Zynga’s profit was also about $400 million in 2010, only its third full year.”
(aka “WoW”) Massively Multiplayer Online Game
11+ million players; >$1 billion annual revenue
how?
first, let’s play a game
Look in your wallet or purse.
Pull out the oldest coin (just one).
Who thinks they have
the oldest coin in the room
(raise your hand)?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/uhuru1701/2247520563
Winner!
GAME 2:
With your teammates,
make exactly 200 using either
the denominations or the
last two digits of the date.
Which was a better game?
What made the games fun (or not)?
Why is this Girl so Excited?
fun
fun games are
fun digital games are designed to be
fun designed to be
fun designed to be
fun designed to be
fun designed to be
growth of digital games
in the beginning…
…AKA 1972
And, the most successful video game of all time…
Windows Solitaire:
9 billion hours in 2003
Today
Games Today
…and mobile, too
…and social, too
…and casual.
“So we put it in a feature we
can build in a week – it’s a
ghetto build we AB test it, we
flow test it, we put it out to one
percent. We built a data
warehouse with a testing
platform so we’re running
several hundred tests at any
given time for every one of our
games. And no single user has
more than one test.” http://grattisfaction.com/2010/01/ how-zynga-does-customer-development-minimum-viable-product/
Mark Pincus Founder & CEO, Zynga Wharton alumnus
Digital Allows Feedback Loops
Put it Together = Monster Growth
Zero to 100 million users in 41 days
Overall Games Market
Source: Digi-Capital
Games are 21st Century Media
In 2011, the games industry will generate
double Hollywood box office revenues.
Games are 21st Century Media
97% of kids 12-17 play videogames (Pew 2008)
lessons (for business)?
Games for Business
fun designed to be
fun designed to be
what else
might be
?
gamification
“Suddenly, gamification is the hot new business concept, with many of the world’s most admired companies signing on.”
- Alex Konrad, Fortune, Oct. 17, 2011
Gamification is…
The use of game elements and game design techniques in non-game contexts.
3
keys
design points
interest curves
competition
narrative
challenges
appointments
rankings
surprise
customization
quests
achievements
avatars
collections
social experiences
etc.
“So we put it in a feature we
can build in a week – it’s a
ghetto build we AB test it, we
flow test it, we put it out to one
percent. We built a data
warehouse with a testing
platform so we’re running
several hundred tests at any
given time for every one of our
games. And no single user has
more than one test.” http://grattisfaction.com/2010/01/how-zynga-does-customer-development-minimum-viable-product/
analytics
motivation • competence (mastery)
• autonomy (meaningful choices)
• relatedness (social, purpose)
= Intrinsic engagement
Source: http://www.despair.com/motivation.html
http://www.gamifyforthewin.com
Twitter: @gamifyforthewin
