Games. Because who wouldn’t rather be playing?

In which Tactica doesn’t win, but doesn’t mind because the gameplay was so good.

We were just out at the Games for Change conference in New York, getting inspired by other game producers who work for social, environmental, and educational change. One Ocean was up for two awards (neither of which it won, but we were in good company: check out the amazing winners & nominees).

Cory Archangel’s Pro Tools at the Whitney made it past our eyeballs: a show examining “the interplay among digital technologies, internet culture, and fine art”. Think video games that can never be won, gutter balls, Photoshop gradients and robots that draw palm trees. Here’s a quick look.

Gamification in 2011 is quickly becoming the buzzy add-on that social media was in 2009. They’re saying “every startup CEO should understand” the potential of games to “acquire, engage & retain” users (and indeed they probably should). “Badgification” (so named in honour of Foursquare’s badges & the facile copying thereof)—the lame addition of not-very-good, tacked on “games” to products—is the down side of the trend.

Like any tactic designed to spread a message, games need to:

  • be on brand (advertising: look, feel and carry the values you want to be associated with)
  • be more rewarding than they are work (game theory: be fun)
  • give people such a good experience that they want to share them with others (social media: viral, voluntary or remunerated word-of-mouth)

Reality is broken, but games can probably fix it.Tactica’s summer poolside reading includes Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. We’ll let you know what we learn.

And…here’s a comic about what will happen when everything is eventually gamified.