3DWire 2015: Gamification Results

Authors: Dr. Flavio Escribano >> @ludictador & Jordi Moretón Galí >> @jordimgali

Spanish version / Versión en castellano: Descarga

Gamifying 3DWire

3DWire is an annual event for animation and digital audiovisual production (New Media, ICT and Videogames) held in Segovia (Spain) that brings together lots of professionals, both national and international. The creator and organizer of the event is Paramotion Films, a production company from Segovia and Madrid dedicated to the production of advertising films, short films, animation and digital postproduction.

In the previous edition we designed a gamification strategy that contributed to the already successful event and we published a report that was widely acclaimed (link).

This year we wanted to go further in all aspects.

Download the full report (English / Spanish)

The complete dataset is available sending us an email to info@gecon.es

Differences with 3DWire’s 2014 edition

As in the previous edition, gamification had specific objectives on which we have deepened and extended: to facilitate the discovery of certain areas of the venue, to encourage attendees to share their activity, to further improve networking, to integrate diverse attendee profiles and nationalities, to further improve fun, etc. avoiding extra efforts by integrating the gamification layer in the normal flux of attendees.

• We’ve polished and added quests. A total of 11 quests distributed in the space and related to the event’s agenda with dynamics of exploration, altruism, betting and individual & team achievements, all of it garnished in a 8bit fantasy decoration with two confronted factions: ElfCubes and OrkCubes, driving the event’s storytelling.

• We’ve introduced the use of LINE and VINE apps, both to inform as well as for viralization purposes. With LINE we wanted to expand what we already did during the 2015 Inngames event gamificación, the report of which can be read at this link.
• We’ve introduced emerging mechanics detected last year through new betting quests.
• We’ve translated manuals and signage into English, given the significant influx of foreign visitors.

• We’ve integrated the volunteer collaborators team not only in the execution of the event, but also during the design and analysis of results.
• Last but not least, gamification activities lasted 3 days, instead of 2, to give room to attendees to engage with a higher diversity of quests.

We also took the opportunity to continue experiments on event’s gamification. We think it’s very important to provide empirical evidence of operation and effectiveness of gamified projects (link), which is why this time we have improved the experimental methodology to respond with grater rigor and firmness to the hypothesis raised in the previous edition.

Results

The following is a summary of the statistical results. Please consider downloading the full report to get a more detailed view of the methodology and results.

Participation Indicators

• We analyzed data on 435 of the total 960 attendees, similar to 2014 edition. However the proportion of them that participated in the gamification is slightly higher than in the previous edition (176, that is 40%).
• Many more men than women interacted with the gamification, but in proportion to the size of each gender, the difference is much smaller.

• Results show that gamified attendees were slightly younger. The <20 and 30-34 segments, proportionally, were the most representative in the gamification.

• Many more attendees came from the animation sector, but in proportion to the size of each sector, the representation is similar, if somewhat less in the Transmedia and New Media sector.

• Many more senior professionals participated in the gamification, however rookies and junior professionals were, proportionally to their segment, the most representative.

• The number of unique quests completed is 605 and 795 if we include repetitions. That means each gamified attendee (n = 176) completed from an average of 3.4 to 4.5 quests. This represents aprox. a 23% increase in quests completed compared to 2014.

Hypothesis Testing

We constructed 9 hypotheses and used different statistical techniques to test them. In some cases we drew conclusions and in some others we still need to experiment further.

Hypothesis 1, 2, 3 & 4: Results suggest the overall rating of the event increases significantly with subjective experiences of fun, interest, socialization and/or networking. However results also show no statistically significant differences between gamified and non-gamified attendees on ratings of these factors. These results might, however, arise from randomness or systematic differences not tested between the two groups (i.e. who signs up for gamification and why), leading us to hope that future studies could find clearer effects of the gamification in itself on these factors.

Hypothesis 5: Results show a weak but significant association between gender and faction: It was slightly more likely for males to choose the Ork faction and for females the Elf faction.

Hypothesis 6: No statistically significant relationships between gender and competitiveness were found. In any case the observed differences between males and females were too small to be deemed practically relevant.

Hypothesis 7: Overall, results show a weak but significant negative correlation between age and number of quests done. Specifically, our results suggest that an increase in the age of the participants is correlated with a slight decrease in the number of quests done, both in variety and quantity (incl. repetitions).

Hypothesis 8: Overall, results show a weak but significant negative correlation between professional experience and the number of quests done. Specifically, our results suggest that an increase in the professional experience of participants is correlated with a slight decrease in the number of quests done, both in variety and quantity (incl. repetitions).

Hypothesis 9: Results show a strong significant association between gender and risk willingness: It was more likely for males to keep betting their rupees than females.

Conclusions

Conclusions we extract in 2015 fundamentally consolidate our opinion regarding the 2014 experience:

Benefits of Gamification both for attendees and production team

Events are a perfect scenario to experiment with Gamification techniques: in general events gather large groups of people for a set time (creating a space and timing different than in the workplace) with high levels of social interaction and a high willingness to learn, interact and have fun.

Thanks to 3DWire we have been able to experiment –in two consecutive times– how the proposed Gamification has enhanced the experience and overall satisfaction of the event for both participants and organizers. Key aspects we’d like to highlight about the potential utility of Gamification of events are:

• Improvement of assistance to various program events. Gamification can improve attendance flow to less frequented areas and communication of the event’s agenda, increasing inflows at times less likely of attracting attendees.
• Improvement of socialization and networking. Gamification can facilitate meetings and cooperation between attendees (and VIPS, product managers, etc.), either by stimulating a playful state of mind that predisposes to socialize or because by using elements like the gamified accreditation or quests that require cooperation, helps attendees to break the ice.
• Improvement of media impact. Gamification, thanks to its innovative look – although the hype diminishes – and transversality of its application, can facilitate the generation of excitement and interest in the media, as well as easily sharable fun/significant situations in social networks by the participants themselves, enforced or not by quests mechanics. This can also improve the reach of the dissemination and the media interest in the project and its contents.
• Added fun to the event. Although Gamification doesn’t transform the event into a game, playful elements remains one of the great aspects that can enhance the experience and global rating of the event. In this sense Gamification can generate fun by facilitating the previous benefits and, in turn, substantially increasing attendee loyalty.
• Encouragement of the production team by including them in a meta-narrative and interaction layer over the production of a conventional event that keeps them motivated.

About the integration of Gamification in events

Gamification should be integrated within the event but not overshadow it. Gamification should not be the focus, but to support the objectives of the event and enhance the experience. Gamification is not the creation of a game but the application of game design elements in the event design, supporting its program requirements.

As a mostly analogic environment –although in this edition we included more digital elements-, the challenge is to integrate Gamification in the event’s flows and at the same time cover the requirements. In this sense, one criterion set at the beginning of the design was Gamification should not divert effort and time from the participants. We have to focus on gamifying activities and flows that different profiles usually would do (or should do) during the event, also helping to visualize all the agenda and venue space opportunities.

Importance and role of scenic storytelling

In some cases Gamification requires a context and in ours this was the storytelling and the supporting elements. In this edition of 3DWire, as in 2014, we’ve used a set with a fantasy aesthetic, with ElfCubes, OrkCubes, potions, dungeon exploration and factional battles.

We have been able to directly ask participants about their assessment of the various components of gamification and the set has been the highest rated.

Without these elements much of the power of immersion and commitment to the experience and the Gamification would have been lost and would had become a more mechanical exercise. The storytelling has to be aligned with the audiences, who have to be familiar with the terminology, visual elements and even with the dynamics and mechanics.

About attendee profiling

We reiterate the importance of a good analysis of the potential public during the design phase. To do this the information available on previous registration processes was very useful. If, as in our case, we already have an annual series started, the profiling is more accurate and allows us to further improve the gamification strategy to the public.

About statistics

Data collected in an event like 3DWire allow us to take a picture of what happened during the event as well as infer generalizable behavioral characteristics of the audience.

While collecting data on attendees is not a simple task, the use of game elements as intermediaries, such as coins or badges coupled with a strategy of “data mining” (digital and/or analog), provides and transforms the capacity of data collection of organizations.

That is why gamification is presented as a very useful tool for statistics, valid to analyze –among others- attendance, participation and user activities and complement the classic event’s registry and monitoring.

The collected data set, inferences and knowledge generated by the different gamification experiments being -shyly- carried in the research world will gradually shed even more light on the value of Gamification as a useful and effective technique in a more scientific way.

Open Access

As in 2014, we hope that this report and the collected dataset serve the Gamification community and researchers to support their work. We believe that open access policies are the way to a more efficient and effective progress, both in terms of documents and data.

Acknowledgements

GECON.es wishes to express our gratitude to the Paramotion Films staff, specially to its director José Luis Farias, for having entrusted us the Gamification of 3DWire -for the second time-, as well as the excellent collaborators team: Andreas Lieberoth, Luis Vallejo, Marta Fernández, Miguel Simón Bermejo, Oscar Luis Fermosel, Pablo Franco Corral, Ruth Contreras, without them it wouldn’t have been possible to develop a project like this and with this success.

Download the full report (English / Spanish)

The complete dataset is available by sending us an email to info@gecon.es

Event photos at https://www.flickr.com/photos/106314026@N08/albums/72157659433289480