game thinking asia keynote

Game Thinking drive product/market fit & lasting engagement

with

What is Game Thinking?

Upgrade your user, not your product… make people better at something they want to get better at.

Kathy Sierra Co-creator,, Head First Series

Make your customers more awesome

Game Thinking Quotes

To increase your chances of success, minimize time through the Build/Measure/Learn cycle

Eric Ries Author, The Lean Startup

Accelerate your Innovation Cycle


Fun is just another word for learning

Raph Koster Author, A Theory of Fun

Treat your customers as Learners


what is

Game Thinking?

smarter, faster innovation

Game Thinking the art and science of

engaging customers on a mastery path

Amy Jo Kim, Ph.D. Game Designer &

Startup Coach

I help startups, game studios & global brands build social products that drive long-term engagement

It all started when I got laid off

I launched my own

digital design

company

wrote a book about

Community Design

then one day, I got the call

we created a breakthrough hit

Rock Band Players Apparently Have Better Music Perception

which led to more breakthrough hits

design work for major brands

a VC-funded braingames startup

hard lessons about early-stage innovation

& insights into what makes a hit

evergreen hit game

leading digital health app

online toy rental service

3 Game ThinkingTechniques to accelerate innovation & build lasting engagement

Super-fans

Learning Loop

Mastery Path

Have you ever listened to the wrong customers?

Finding the right customerscan determine whether you

thrive - or fail

innovative gaming platform didn’t find an audience

digital health app found exactly the right audience

3

Test your ideas on a handful of passionate, high-need early customers

21

Super-fans

Create something that a few people love - even if most people don’t getit right away.

Paul Buchheit Partner, Y-Combinator

Geoffrey Moore Author, Crossing the Chasm

The technology adoption lifecycle (1991)

[Innovation Diffusion Theory]Now, I’m not the first one to discover this. Way back in 1961, Everett Rogers of Bell Labs published his landmark study of how innovation spreads in social systems.

Everett Rogers Scientist, Bell Labs

Innovation Diffusion Theory (1961)

Who to listen to - & who to ignore?

don’t rely on friends & family

or people in your ultimate target market

increasing value over time

How do successful innovators find & leverage SuperFans?

your super-fans are SPECIFIC to your project

rhythm action nerds who know the basics

simulation enthusiasts who love to make things

Lego-loving families who enjoy sharing photos

customers of SAAS consulting firms

if you want to cross the chasm…

find & leverage your Superfans* FIRST

* high-need high-value early customers

then expand from that base

Mastery Path

Empower your customer over time with learning & skill-building

31 2

Discovery

Onboarding

Habit-Building

Mastery

what is my customer’s end-to-end experience?how does it evolve over time?

is for Enthusiasts

Discovery

Stage 1: Discovery is for Visitors

What is this? Is it right for me?What’s the value proposition?

is for EnthusiastsStage 2: Onboarding is for Newbies

Discovery

Onboarding

How do I learn the ropes? How do I start giving & getting value?

is for EnthusiastsStage 3: Habit-building is for Regulars

Discovery

Onboarding

Habit-Building

What urge pulls me back? What am I getting better at?

is for EnthusiastsStage 4: Mastery is for Enthusiasts

Discovery

Onboarding

Habit-Building

Mastery

What skills & knowledge have I mastered? How can I leverage that?

is for Enthusiasts

Discovery

Onboarding

Habit-Building

Mastery

Mastery Path

is for EnthusiastsStage 1: Discovery is for Visitors

Social Discovery via Friends & Colleagues

is for EnthusiastsStage 1: Onboarding is for Newbies

Learn the ropes with a friendly bot

is for EnthusiastsStage 1: Habit-building is for Regulars

Customized group chat with emojis, bots & integrations

is for EnthusiastsStage 1: Mastery is for Enthusiasts

Launch a channel, program a bot, integrate your app

Have you ever built the wrong MVP?

we’ve seen the cartoons

(gotta love those cartoons)

but… what should you build first?

Robin Allenson CEO, Similar.ai

from a polished game with no engagement…

…to a rough prototype that fashion designers are begging to get their

hands on & use

Prototype & tune a simple, engagingskill-building feedback loop

Learning Loop321

Fun is just another word for learning

Raph Koster Author, A Theory of Fun

“finding the fun” = building engagement from the inside out

What’s the right MVP?

Fake landing page?

Fake landing page? X

Operant Conditioning AKA Skinner Box?

XOperant Conditioning AKA Skinner Box?

Skill-building =

making customers more awesome

In a loop, you’re learning a skill & updating your mental model. That’s what leads to player delight.

Dan Cook Author, Lost Garden blog


Check Updates urge to connect with

your team

Read & Respond to Updates

No More Updates Need Attention

Customize your channel & expressions

Activity Chain

Feedback & Progress

Investment Path

Internal Trigger

Core Loop

Check Updates urge to connect with

your team



Customize your experience

Trigger

Activity

Engaging activity satisfies an urge or need

Internal Trigger

Core Loop

Feedback & progress promote learning & mastery

EscapeTime! urge to dive into an

escapist world




Feedback & Progress

Core Loop

EscapeTime! urge to dive into an

escapist world




Investment Path

Investment & triggers pull people back

Engaged Trigger

Check Notifications

Core Loop

Skill-building =

making customers more awesome

Learning Loop =

making customers more skillful

is for Enthusiasts

Discovery

Onboarding

Habit-Building

Mastery

Where should I focus when I’m building my MVP?

the smartest MVP is a Core Learning Loop

Putting it all Together

What to build? Who to listen to? At what dev stage?

Build your roadmap with Game Thinking

You can use an eraser on the drafting table or a sledge hammeron the construction site

Frank Lloyd Wright Architect

X-axis: customer’s journey

Game Thinking Roadmap

Y-axis: developer’s journey



Y-axis: developer’s journey



start with a Learning Loop

How do (the best) game designers build and tune their MVP?

we imagined living out a rock star fantasy…

and started by tuning & iterating a single song

we imagined a doll house come to life…

and started with tiny world-building experiments

we imagined a cooperative dress-up game…

and piggy-backed our ideas onto existing habits

Everett Rogers Scientist, Bell Labs

Playtesting Progression who do you listen to?

at what dev stage?

Early Majority

Closed Beta

Friends & Family

Team & Department

typical

play-testing

progression

Early Majority

Closed Beta

Friends & Family

Team & Department

Super-fan Community

super-fan

play-testing

progression

What can Game Thinking do for you?

• Dramatically accelerate product discovery

• Create a high-learning MVP* for exactly the right customers

• Build an experience people come back to, again and again

• Improve your innovation outcomes

*Minimum Viable Product

The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas

Linus Pauling Nobel-winning scientist

don’t fall in love with an idea; fall in love with

solving a problem & learning from your customers

Prototype to Learn

a proven system to run smarter experiments and design for learning & mastery

Game Thinking Toolkit Clarify

Identify

Listen

Distill

Design

Prototype

Test

Validate

THANK YOU@amyjokim

amyjokim.com

gamethinkinglive.com

http://amyjokim.com

http://gamethinkinglive.com