Elizabeth Lane Lawley, Rochester Institute of Technology
Libraries should be the emotional center of their communities, should be in the happiness business. One author has identified four components of happiness: satisfying work to do, feeling competent at what we're doing, interacting with people we like, being a part of something bigger.
In games, the "grind" is the repetitive tasks that you have to do over and over again in order to proceed to the next level, yet gamers are happily willing to do the "grind" because there is a reward.
Key components of the mechanics in virtually every game: collecting, points, feedback, exchanges, customization. Can we build these same mechanics into work and learning tasks? -- "Putting the fun into functional".
Seriosity's Attent: Corporate "game" where each staff member has a certain number of "serios" to spend each day. Each email/recipient costs one "serio". Effect is to diminish the number of unnecessary emails and to increase the value of emails that you receive.
Social Genius: Points for correctly identifying colleagues from their pictures and for updating your online picture and profile.
Passive Multiplayer Online Games (PMOG): Can create mission that takes persons through a number of web sites like a pathfinder. Persons get points for following the mission and you get points for persons who complete your mission.
Games can also serve as "gateway drugs" -- e.g., persons who play Guitar Hero learn to play the guitar. "Online rebound": going from real to virtual back to real again. The key for libraries is not just to get better and better at the virtual--it is rather to tie the real and virtual together.
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