https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct 2018-06-03 20:19:32 -0400 Keynote for IEEE SeGAH 2025, the 13th International Conference on Serious Games and Applications for Health, August 6, 2025 in Manchester, UK. These days, reading through the abstracts of any given conference proceedings or journal on serious games or gamification fills me with a profound sense of déjà vu: all (or most of it) is good and solid work, and yet – pilot after pilot, trial after trial, framework and review after framework and review, what have we really learned? In this keynote, I will draw on my experience as designer, researcher, and editor to speculate on some of the barriers to cumulative scientific progress in gaming for health, and chart some possible solutions. Keynote for IEEE SeGAH 2025, the 13th International Conference on Serious Games and Applications for Health, August 6, 2025 in Manchester, UK. These days, reading through the abstracts of any given conference proceedings or journal on serious games or gamification fills me with a profound sense of déjà vu: all (or most of it) is good and solid work, and yet – pilot after pilot, trial after trial, framework and review after framework and review, what have we really learned? In this keynote, I will draw on my experience as designer, researcher, and editor to speculate on some of the barriers to cumulative scientific progress in gaming for health, and chart some possible solutions. Wed, 06 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0400 https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/groundhog-day-seeking-process-in-gaming-for-health https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/groundhog-day-seeking-process-in-gaming-for-health Talk at the BIG Bristol Interaction Group on April 3, 2025. Talk at the BIG Bristol Interaction Group on April 3, 2025. Tue, 08 Apr 2025 00:00:00 -0400 https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/chasing-engaging-ingredients-in-design https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/chasing-engaging-ingredients-in-design Before AI ethics and human-centred AI, before Frank Pasquale's "The Black Box Society", before Brett Fischmann and Evan Selinger's "Re-Engineering Humanity", before Jerry Z. Muller's "The Tyranny of Metrics", before Kars Alfrink's "Contestable AI", before Dan Davies' "The Unaccountability Machine" --- we (= the tight filter bubble of second gen Internet intelligentsia) were musing gently about what it means when more and more of everyday life gets offloaded into and organised by software. Oh those innocent days. Part of that was me joining the stage with Tom Armitage (Hello Lamppost!) and Kars Alfrink to talk about games. I used Zuckmayer's play The Captain of Köpenick about an ex-con hacking a Prussian bureaucratic infinite regress to discuss how offloading social regulation into automated decision-making will require such manual overrides and invite and necessitate both bad and desirable forms of "gaming the system". In hindsight, I think many of these ideas have been fleshed out and evidenced way better since, including in the concept of contestability (https://contestable.ai/). But I still think there is some unexplored purchase in the idea that automated rule systems = game-like = invite gaming, and my throw-away taxonomy of types of gaming the system. Enjoy. Talk given at Lift'12 in Geneva, February 23, 2012. Before AI ethics and human-centred AI, before Frank Pasquale's "The Black Box Society", before Brett Fischmann and Evan Selinger's "Re-Engineering Humanity", before Jerry Z. Muller's "The Tyranny of Metrics", before Kars Alfrink's "Contestable AI", before Dan Davies' "The Unaccountability Machine" --- we (= the tight filter bubble of second gen Internet intelligentsia) were musing gently about what it means when more and more of everyday life gets offloaded into and organised by software. Oh those innocent days. Part of that was me joining the stage with Tom Armitage (Hello Lamppost!) and Kars Alfrink to talk about games. I used Zuckmayer's play The Captain of Köpenick about an ex-con hacking a Prussian bureaucratic infinite regress to discuss how offloading social regulation into automated decision-making will require such manual overrides and invite and necessitate both bad and desirable forms of "gaming the system". In hindsight, I think many of these ideas have been fleshed out and evidenced way better since, including in the concept of contestability (https://contestable.ai/). But I still think there is some unexplored purchase in the idea that automated rule systems = game-like = invite gaming, and my throw-away taxonomy of types of gaming the system. Enjoy. Talk given at Lift'12 in Geneva, February 23, 2012. Mon, 23 Sep 2024 00:00:00 -0400 https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/ruling-the-world-when-life-gets-gamed https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/ruling-the-world-when-life-gets-gamed Meetings, particularly in large organisations, and unavoidable, and unavoidably boring. But why is that? And is there an escape? Lecture at the Alibis for Interaction Allstars conference, Malmö, November 11, 2016. Meetings, particularly in large organisations, and unavoidable, and unavoidably boring. But why is that? And is there an escape? Lecture at the Alibis for Interaction Allstars conference, Malmö, November 11, 2016. Mon, 05 Aug 2024 00:00:00 -0400 https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/un-boring-meetings https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/un-boring-meetings Keynote presentation at the "Meta" 20th Tampere Spring Seminar in Game Studies on May 8, 2024: a historical look at how the meta or dominant strategies for discursive success in games research have changed over 20 years. Keynote presentation at the "Meta" 20th Tampere Spring Seminar in Game Studies on May 8, 2024: a historical look at how the meta or dominant strategies for discursive success in games research have changed over 20 years. Thu, 09 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400 https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/meta-game-studies https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/meta-game-studies Presentation from a workshop given at the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London for PhD students on how to write CHI papers, targeting #chi2024. With big thanks to those who came before, especially Lennart Nacke and Lisa Anthony, Brett Mensh and Konrad Kording. Presentation from a workshop given at the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London for PhD students on how to write CHI papers, targeting #chi2024. With big thanks to those who came before, especially Lennart Nacke and Lisa Anthony, Brett Mensh and Konrad Kording. Tue, 18 Jul 2023 00:00:00 -0400 https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/how-to-write-a-good-chi-paper-that-might-just-get-accepted https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/how-to-write-a-good-chi-paper-that-might-just-get-accepted It’s a good decade after gamification made it on the public stage of Gartner hype curves, tech conferences, business magazines, and airport bookstalls. In the course, the idea of “fixing broken reality” with game design has lost a lot of its glamour, like any technology and design trend ultimately does. But we have also learned a lot about the actual possibilities and limitations of using game design and technology beyond games. This talk will take a look back over ten years of gamification to tease out where its sceptics and critics were proven right; what successful application areas have survived and thrived, like crowdsourcing or change management; how gamification is being mainstreamed in design for behaviour change; and practical advice for game designers and developers interested in breaking into the field today. SUBOTRON pro games lecture held July 2, 2020. It’s a good decade after gamification made it on the public stage of Gartner hype curves, tech conferences, business magazines, and airport bookstalls. In the course, the idea of “fixing broken reality” with game design has lost a lot of its glamour, like any technology and design trend ultimately does. But we have also learned a lot about the actual possibilities and limitations of using game design and technology beyond games. This talk will take a look back over ten years of gamification to tease out where its sceptics and critics were proven right; what successful application areas have survived and thrived, like crowdsourcing or change management; how gamification is being mainstreamed in design for behaviour change; and practical advice for game designers and developers interested in breaking into the field today. SUBOTRON pro games lecture held July 2, 2020. Thu, 02 Jul 2020 00:00:00 -0400 https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/reality-check-gamification-10-years-later https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/reality-check-gamification-10-years-later Surprising lasting lessons from a comparative literature education presented at the University of York's Humanities Research Centre's 10 Year Anniversary, October 18, 2019. Surprising lasting lessons from a comparative literature education presented at the University of York's Humanities Research Centre's 10 Year Anniversary, October 18, 2019. Fri, 18 Oct 2019 00:00:00 -0400 https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/confessions-of-a-recovering-humanist https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/confessions-of-a-recovering-humanist A quick set of guidelines for students doing a design crit, particularly for games. A quick set of guidelines for students doing a design crit, particularly for games. Sun, 29 Sep 2019 00:00:00 -0400 https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/presenting-and-critiquing-design https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/presenting-and-critiquing-design Wed, 03 Oct 2018 00:00:00 -0400 https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/joys-of-absence-a-defence-of-solitary-play https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/joys-of-absence-a-defence-of-solitary-play My #ICM2018 keynote. My #ICM2018 keynote. Thu, 16 Aug 2018 00:00:00 -0400 https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/designing-for-motivation-bridging-the-gap-between-psychology-and-design-practice https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/designing-for-motivation-bridging-the-gap-between-psychology-and-design-practice Thu, 16 Aug 2018 00:00:00 -0400 https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/presentation-180815-designing-motivation https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/presentation-180815-designing-motivation Presentation at FDG'18 on how to design games that collect human subject data where you have no ground truth. Presentation at FDG'18 on how to design games that collect human subject data where you have no ground truth. Thu, 09 Aug 2018 00:00:00 -0400 https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/intrinsic-elicitation-a-model-and-design-approach-for-games-collecting-human-subject-data https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/intrinsic-elicitation-a-model-and-design-approach-for-games-collecting-human-subject-data Panel introduction at FDG 2018 on the new ethical issues and challenges around game data and engagement optimisation in games. Panel introduction at FDG 2018 on the new ethical issues and challenges around game data and engagement optimisation in games. Wed, 08 Aug 2018 00:00:00 -0400 https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/the-coming-sh-star-t-storm-game-design-and-research-ethics-after-facebook https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/the-coming-sh-star-t-storm-game-design-and-research-ethics-after-facebook Presentation at the Persuasive Gaming in Context Conference in Amsterdam, October 17, 2018. Presentation at the Persuasive Gaming in Context Conference in Amsterdam, October 17, 2018. Mon, 16 Oct 2017 00:00:00 -0400 https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/mechanics-messages-meta-media-how-persuasive-games-persuade-and-what-they-persuade-us-of https://speakerdeck.com/codingconduct/mechanics-messages-meta-media-how-persuasive-games-persuade-and-what-they-persuade-us-of