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Clash of clans

The little one is now a fan of Clash of Clans.

Whatever the merit of the game - I like the way it is organized. And since gamification is the rage now, it made me think of a combination of gamification and 'social' as the means to achieve a goal.

Now if you 'gamify' and 'social' anything, does not mean it will work. But I think there are some thumb rules - purely based on what I see in Clash of Clans.

  • Degree of difficulty - it has to be 'so near, yet so far'. Anything too easy is not worth a challenge, anything too difficult may cause the kids to give up.
  • You play by yourself upto a point and just at that point of inflection where you may feel inclined to give up (because with stingy dads who wont buy you anything, it is a steep climb) there comes a breather and a new motivation -you get to join a clan and meet your friends online and play.
  • Small rewards along the way - not too easy and not too tough.
  • Even if you lose you dont lose everything - someone attacks, but you lose a little gold and elixir - not all of it, enough to demotivate you.
  • You can see what success looks like. You can see other clans and their villages and the way they are set up with fire breathing walls and dark elixir and it is very motivating to look at our own little hut and wooden wall - and thinking that we can get there.
  • Limited resources - so there is a constant cost -benefit thought going on in the head.
  • It has to be 'wow'. Just wrapping a few exams and assessments and making it 'gamified' and 'social' is a sureshot way to disaster.
  • Hidden treasures - every small actions and even small actions need a payoff. Just when you are about to give up, there is a small thing that you can do to get those motivation levels up.
 Anyway, I gotta go now. We have to get 40000 Gold to build that castle that will let us join a clan!

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