The casual gamification of the world as investment opportunity

Dean Takahashi had a good talk with a number of venture capitalists over at Venture Beat. The most interesting point I thought came from Tim Chang who had this to say:

Gaming 3.0 is about leveraging game mechanics and models to re-invigorate other markets: humans are inherently geared towards addictive behaviors and biases that can be exploited through game mechanics like points, achievements, and leveling up. Gaming + Commerce = Swoopo. Gaming + Music = Red Octane, Harmonix. Gaming + Healthcare = Lumos Labs. Gaming + Local Search/LBS = FourSquare. I often joke that “gaming will rescue us all.” I don’t mean that we all become hardcore WoW players, but that we can utilize game constructs to perhaps revive other industries which no longer monetize as effectively via macro-transaction or advertising.

It’s definitely something I kept thinking about while writing Casual Game Design. More and more I think the lessons of casual game will make a greater impact outside of the game industry than in it. Now I wish I had chapters in the book looking at the “game” mechanics of things like collecting friends on Facebook or bidding on eBay auctions.

Casual Game Design out in February (I hope).

My book, Casual Game Design: Designing Play for the Gamer in All of Us is due out in February.  Quite a mouthful, I know.  The book lays out some basic frameworks for thinking about game design, then delves into the specific mechanics of a number of different casual games.  While I was writing it, I had E.M. Forster’s Aspects of the Novel in mind.  I’ve always admired the way he offered tools for thinking about the writing fiction by looking at specific choices and elements from novels good and bad.  It’s all about reading and appreciating.

When I sat down to write this book, I wanted to do something similar with games.  I won’t claim to match Forster’s wit or insight, but hopefully the book provides thought provoking analysis of game mechanics.  It’s all about playing games and then thinking about them–why they work, why they don’t.  Hopefully people will find it useful.  I know I found writing it enlightening–I got to spend months playing games and thinking about them, talking with other designers about games.  And really, there’s no better practice for a game designer than playing games and thinking about them.