I discovered Dr. Amy Jo Kim (co-founder of ShuffleBrain) at Startup2Startup today & haven’t stopped listening yet. She brilliantly, and in everyday language, talks about game mechanics, social capital, leveling up, and the unfolding, evocative way in which good games and other good experiences reveal themselves.
She goes on to talk about Cooking Mama, which I bought for my daughter, a junior foodie to myself. Not only that it’s a fun game, but it actually delivers useful information. You can actually use this game to learn how to cook.
Social Feedback and System Feedback are also covered. For anyone interested in community building and driving loyalty, this is a must-see video. I’m *so* reviewing this content again at work tomorrow. The divining rods of my personal and professional life are crossing. And there’s something really incredible about that.
In an earlier post, I wrote about the game competition from mtvU taking aim @ a financially immature populace. The winner has been announced, and it is a skiing pig:
screenshot of debt ski. -Oink!
I’ve played debt ski (on my own time). And while it’s not as fun as a penguin-whacking Yeti fest, it does offer some valueble in-game learning. Levels are fast, simple and a little bit addictive. And with Leaderboards, the social sharing and competition we all love comes to life for this game. For lovers of two-demensional (2D) games, debt ski is your choice.
Creditability was more of an ’experience’ than a game for me. It offers a relatively rich avatar customization feature. But since your customizations do not affect gameplay, this felt useless. I’ll walk across the room for a good British accent, but the voice acting here felt like volunteer work; not what I’d expect from a firm the size of Experian. The tasks (and terminology) were distinctly UK. So, in spite of my heritage, I felt a bit lost. But this was the only 3d game I found that dealt with beginner financial savvy.
If you feel like mixing a little altruism with your financial savvy, check out Karma Tycoon, sponsored by JP Morgan Chase:
I have not had a chance to play Karma Tycoon yet. I was reading last night (The Virtue of Selfishness (Signet)). So maybe the topic eroded my karmic leanings for the day. Nevertheless, the topic and concept seemed interesting because of the mix of financial management and social good. A game I will revisit and share here.
What games have you played games that taught you about financial management, resource allocation, or just good old fashioned planning?
No, this is not a reference to the WII-mote. Its a reference to life! Apologies to my reader(s?) of late. I’ve done a better job of achieving some work/life balance, and a not so great job of regular blogging.
In my absence from the wordpress dashboard, I’ve reconnected with a local group of game designers, developers, marketers and more. (A good thing!) I’m working on three game concepts for the iphone and will pitch these to the group on Tuesday night. Looking forward to what feedback I get as I work with the team. The goal state is a working piece of ‘entertainment software’ for the iphone. I would say *game*, but that label may not work. ifart is not a game at all, but has sold a lot of units. So maybe what we pitch and develop won’t be a game in the traditional sense.
FUN is the goal. I’ll share updates, as available, here. BTW: Pocket God just looks cute as hell. Is it any fun to play??
In the past two weeks, I’ve also pursued my other great passion: food. I’m cooking at a local charity/fundraiser event on Thursday to benefit the Community Culinary School of Charlotte (http://www.communityculinary.org/). Finalizing my dish now. I’ll be making the ‘national food’ of Vietnam. Hopefully, I will have time to pull a HELLS KITCHEN and tear somebody a new one when they get the sauce wrong. Ha ha.
If you follow this blog, and you not those damn Russian Spam Bots, leave me a comment. Would love to hear from my reader(s?).
Humans love stories and stories need heroes. Fortunately for us: Heroes are everywhere in modern culture. From aptly named HEROES and MEDIUM on NBC to WATCHMEN and yes even PAUL BLART, MALL COP in the theaters. -Omitted Jack Bauer on purpose (mancrush).
Why we love heroes
I think we admire heroes for three reasons: action, ability, and appearance.
ACTION: Heroes know that the end result depends on what they do. They have to act. Heroes take action because they have an internal locus of control .
ABILITY: Heroes have skills. Napoleon Dynamite knows these matter, and skills/abilities are what I’ll cover in this multi-post series.
APPEARANCE: It’s all about the hair. ‘Nuff said.
Become a hero in 6 easy steps
Sure, they make it look easy, but is it? I think so. Follow these simple steps to become a social networking super-hero!
Discover / develop your skills
The skinny: Some heroes are born, others are made. Share the skills you were born with, grow the ones that are important for your future.
Who can help: Human Resources, managers (past and present), team members.
Create an identity
The skinny: Choose to act! Decide on your persona (who you are going to be) and how you will interact in online social communities (employee intranet, external websites, etc). In this age of transparency, if you are not ‘real’, be prepared. People will call you on it.
Who can help: You! This is an inward journey and involves some self-analysis. Take time to get this step right. Unless you’re Madonna, re-invention is hard. Books on personal branding from Amazon.
Build a lair
The skinny: The heroes we know hang out in the Batcave, The Hall of Justice, The Fortress of Solitude. Choose the online communities where you will hang your cape.
The skinny: The enemies that hold us back in our career could be many. Among them: non-connectedness, time, lack of focus, complacency, the unknown. The good news is that these enemies can’t defeat us. Make a solid plan that uses your skills to demolish the foes before you.
Who can help: Human Resources, managers (past and present), mentors (Don’t have one? Get one!)
Partner up
The skinny: If the Wonder Twins taught us anything, it’s that teamwork matters. And that they really, REALLY looked like the Osmonds. But the teamwork part… It’s really important. Find someone with complementary skills to your own and start doing stuff!!
Who can help: Employee directory at your job, social networking sites, professional associations.
Do good
The skinny: It’s called Altruism, people. Heroes get our love and respect because they use their powers for the good of others. Take your skills to the next level by helping those in need.
Wanna learn how to get more social networking super powers, like: Time Travel, Hyper-Learning, Mind Reading, Super Strength, Magnetism, and even Web Slinging? Stay tuned to this blog! Which do you want first? Hit up the comments and let me know!
Before launching this blog, I shared FREE RICE with friends at work. Now, over a year later, I am compelled to share it here as well. Apologies for the delay.
FREE RICE is a game website that rewards your smarts by donating food to the needy, like some kind of mash-up between Trivial Pursuit and Sally Struthers. At launch time, the only game to play was a simple (FUN!!) vocabulary game. Now there are a number of subjects to dive into, if you don’t think it pays to enrich your word power.
And this is no small-time venture. Check the numbers:
Playing games allows you to have new experiences; take on new personas. Be a professional athelete, a secret agent or an ever-growing sphere of strangely magnetized objects (Beautiful Katamari).
Or how about taking on the role of humanitarian?
You’re gonna play SOMETHING today instead of working. So ditch MINESWEEPER for a while and go play FREE RICE. Feed your mind and feed the world.
). So maybe the topic eroded my karmic leanings for the day. Nevertheless, the topic and concept seemed interesting because of the mix of financial management and social good. A game I will revisit and share here. 