In my last posts I was talking about Stronger and Weaker Goals. They stem from the internal human motivation to pursue something. There are three main problems why people are not consistently going towards them: 𝗟𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗨𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 People want to achieve some goal but don't feel that they necessarily need to do anything today - action can start tomorrow. This is procrastination. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘁𝘆 People get overwhelmed by the number of possible ways to achieve any given goal. They jump from one path to another, then to another, then maybe go back to first etc. This is a lack of focus. 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘆 People are overly optimistic about how easy it is to change so they fail to execute the plan that is just too difficult in a given point of time. These three problems aren't present in games (at least good games). This is because they provide a necessary urgency motivation, they are designed to make players be focused (be in "flow state" if possible) and they are not too difficult and not too easy. 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒. 𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑐 𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑎𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 - 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑡'𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡.

People have goals. Apparently, (most) games have goals too. Gamifying Life means we play a game with a goal that is aligned with our goals. Thus let's review what types of goals people can have. On the most basic levels there are two strongest meta-goals: 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗹 and 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. Survival meta-goal is about doing everything that decreases the possibility of a person's death. Reproduction meta-goal is twofold: is about doing everything that increases the probability of extending person genes and/or memes. Extending genes is rather self-explanatory - is about having children and raising them. Extending memes is about leaving some legacy - that is some product of our work that we will be remembered for by other people when we are gone. Majority of things people do and most of the goals people have can be explained in pursuing one or both of these meta-goals. From the game design perspective it's important to understand that 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗮-𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀. Why are goals that are related to these meta-goals so important? They give a huge, constant drive to do something. In this sense they are easier to gamify because people can focus on them for a longer period of time. In other words - the game can have more design flaws but still will be working because the goal is important. In another post I will put attention on "weaker goals" that aren't directly coupled with mentioned meta-goals. Let's list most common goals people have and how they relate to each meta-goal. 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗶𝗱𝗲 - Getting into a healthy lifestyle - Getting a job - Learning a language - Quitting bad habit like drugs, cigarettes, alcohol - Reduce anxiety - Finish education - Learning certain skills (like programming) - Saving money 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗶𝗱𝗲 - Be more fit/athletic - Finding a partner - Starting a family - Launch a business - Get a promotion - Be a better parent - Buy a flat/house - Improving relation with others - Actively participating in social life - Developing interpersonal skills

Not everything can be simplified to survival and reproduction meta-goals. There are certain things people want to achieve or do just because: - It's a realization of one's creativity (e.g. making a beautiful garden) - they are just pleasurable (e.g. they want to finish a computer game) - they don't like doing something (e.g. working in a job they don't like) If you take a look at top of the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs#/media/File:Maslow's_Hierarchy_of_Needs2.svg) you will see that these are Self-fulfillment needs. Such goals are typically less motivating (less painful if we don't have it satisfied) than goals fueled by meta-goals. Therefore it's more difficult to gamify such a goal because people are less tolerant of any design mistakes. It still can make sense to gamify them though. The biggest gain of it is decreasing the complexity of a given activity. Consider for example learning how to play a new instrument or learning a language. The initial complexity can be overwhelming so creating a system of learning (a game) that simplifies learning can be greatly beneficial. What these weaker goals can be? - Realisation of one's hobby: cooking, writing a book, planning a travel, gardening, making a game, learning to play an instrument - Volunteering - Being more Eco 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒. 𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑐 𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑎𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 - 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑡'𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡.