Designing for Play, Creativity and Motivation

This week at Edubacon the theme, Weekly Special, is motivating learners. As a game designer and sole writer at my blog, Learning Science Meets Game Design, I'll be taking a look at this from the point of view of designing motivation into a user experience, which is as applicable to motivating learners as players. There are also good points for making a work environment with playfulness.

I look at how motivation is handled and I don't like it. When such views are brought up, it's common to hear that something being good for you should be enough, and I agree that it should. However, that doesn't mean it is. See, there's a problem with one good point, even a really good one, trying to outweigh a lot of bad points. Unless it is a stellar good point, the person isn't likely to think the action(s) is/are worth the effort.

Each of the following TED talks shows a part of the picture. I'll highlight the parts I think are most relevant after each. There are also a few web pages that I think are relevant, with commentary on each of those. So, let's get the show on the road.

NOTE: There's about eighty minuets of video in this post. If you don't have that kind of time, you might want to be selective of which ones you watch.

Sir Ken Robinson
Current style stifles play and creativity.

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html



Most of the current systems of education, training and instruction say there is a single right way. (I'm guessing this comes, in part, from education and religions interacting over the centuries.) That way is to be memorized and repeatable. That's pretty much it.

If you make a mistake, you are punished. This makes it so mistakes become taboo. Mistakes, things that could potentially cause pain, things that could potentially limit profits, actions without guaranteed positive results etc. are taboo and limit exploration of possibilities, innovation and creativity.

Recently this idea has come up in a Copyright Summit. The blog post about this occurrence was also picked up by Stephen Downes via OLDaily. Take a look to see what Stephen Downes says about this and also the post itself. It gives me hope just reading it.
http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=49235
http://copyrightandtechnology.com/2009/06/09/gridlock-at-the-world-copyright-summit/

Tim Brown
Linking play and creativity.

http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_brown_on_creativity_and_play.html



Having reminders of the intended playful atmosphere is a very good thing to have. Silly activities and symbols of play remind each person that while there is some seriousness to what's going on that there should be play and creativity too. With the fear of failure out of the way, more creativity can shine. In essence it is supporting the people to be free and playful, rather than just having the option.

Stuart Brown
More on the importance of play.

http://www.ted.com/talks/stuart_brown_says_play_is_more_than_fun_it_s_vital.html



More about play, but it focuses on the importance of play on being a balanced person and how it changes interactions. I know that personally I prefer to be around people who are willing to laugh at themselves and things they find funny. It's a way of being emotionally open to the world. This and the previous video are wonderful for sharing play as a concept. Simply put, it' important for your mental, emotional and physical well being to play, at least in some way, preferably many ways.

JJ. Abrams
This is playful, exploratory learning.

http://www.ted.com/talks/j_j_abrams_mystery_box.html



Not only is it important to deal with the fun and reminders of play, but also things like mystery. When should information be withheld to improve the method? What information should be withheld? Sharing everything at once would just cause a problem, covered in another TED talk called the Paradox of Choice (http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html). The idea is that sometimes it is better to hold back the information, rather than giving all the options and information. Reaching the happy balance of participating to a significantly beneficial level without being overwhelmed is perhaps not easy to design, but we should strive to reach it for ourselves and others.

Dave Egger
There are ways for everybody to help.

http://www.ted.com/talks/dave_eggers_makes_his_ted_prize_wish_once_upon_a_school.html



I'd say this is the big one for showing how it can work. There is play and work, assessment and amusement. The other big thing is that participating is the important part on both the student's part as well as the tutors. Both sides need to participate, like in play where both sides submit to the rules of engagement. Everybody who "applies themselves" gets more out of it, because they are willing to play. It doesn't take much to help, but that little bit can mean a lot to those you help. It's also important to noticed the cooperation between those being helped and those giving the help. Just because you are helping doesn't mean you're the best choice to determine what should be done.

Influencing Others

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1573/becoming_a_stellar_games_industry_.php

While I do like this article, it seems a little aggressive in it's approach to what should be done with influence. "In a perfect world, you would be able to influence everyone around you – your team, your developer (or publisher), and management – to do things exactly your way." I think that the truth is in a perfect world everybody would agree to implement the best answer, but since we don't live in a perfect world we should try to help people, including ourselves, to explore different points of view to help determine the best answer. That, and we should all remember that the answer we choose isn't likely to be the absolute best answer, but it doesn't have to be.

Avoiding Meltdown

http://bbrathwaite.wordpress.com/2008/12/10/team-meltdown/

This blog post shows ways to avoid a team meltdown. The title says as much, but it's a good place to start. Preventing a meltdown is important to creating a playful environment.

Building Environments

http://www.thejonjones.com/2009/02/08/speccing-out-contracts-smartly-aka-automatically-building-awesome-teams/

This post is about preventing problems and making the way you do things create a positive work environment. I like it, and think it fits well.

All in all I really haven't said much in this post, but rather have strung together several pieces of the internet together to form probably a two hour presentation's worth of content that could be made into a multi-day event. I guess for once in my life I am being concise. It all works together to help motivate the people providing the service and those receiving the service.

Have fun, spread the word and tell me what you think,
Igen Oukan

Designing for Play, Creativity and Motivation

View Blog Reactions