All of us heard about how games can become addictive and a way of escaping reality. I was supporting this idea too, that they are only a form of escapism and nothing good can come out of playing games. I have been playing games since I ever got my first console when I was 10 years old.
我们都听说过游戏如何会成为一种上瘾和逃避现实的方式。我曾经也支持这个观点，认为它们只是一种逃避现实的形式，玩游戏没有任何好处。我从10岁起就开始玩游戏，当时我得到了我的第一台游戏机。
And of course, we can hold many judgements, moral debates on how addictive they are. But I would like to dive into the basics of games, on how, contrary to popular belief, they fill in genuine human needs and help us become better people. And also, how gamification can be applied in designing products better products.
当然，我们可以对它们的成瘾性进行许多评判和道德辩论。但我想深入探讨游戏的基本原理，即与普遍观念相反，它们满足了人类真实的需求，并帮助我们成为更好的人。此外，我还想探讨如何将游戏化应用于设计更好的产品。
The fact that so many people all over the world are ready to spend (in total) 3 billion of hours a week playing games is a sign of something. A sign that the reality we’ve built is broken and the virtual world offers more of what we need. A sign that reality isn’t able to provide us what we need.
全世界有如此多的人每周愿意花费总计30亿小时来玩游戏，这是一个征兆。一个表明我们所建立的现实世界已经破碎，而虚拟世界提供了更多我们所需的东西的征兆。一个表明现实无法满足我们的需求的征兆。
Games provide rewards that reality isn’t. They are teaching, inspiring and engaging us in ways that reality is not. And unless we do something dramatic in the next decades, half of the population of the planet will spend a lot of energy and devotion to the game world. So we can play around this trend and design products that can help us to improve ourselves.
游戏提供了现实世界所没有的奖励。它们以一种现实无法比拟的方式教育、激励和吸引着我们。如果在未来几十年内我们不采取一些戏剧性的举措，地球上一半的人口将会花费大量的精力和热情投入到游戏世界中。因此，我们可以利用这一趋势来设计能够帮助我们提升自己的产品。
I finished reading Jane McGonigal’s book Reality is Broken and would love to share some thoughts I learned and what we can do better about gamification.
我读完了简·麦克冈尼尔的书《现实被打破了》，很想分享一些我学到的思考和关于游戏化的改进方法。
Data that will give you a bigger picture
能够给你更全面的了解的数据
Let’s start with some statistics from one of the biggest gaming markets in the world, which is US. The research says that:
让我们从全球最大的游戏市场之一，即美国，开始一些统计数据。研究表明：
- 69% of all heads of household play computer and video games; 69%的家庭户主玩电脑和视频游戏；
- 97% of youth play computer and video games; 97%的年轻人玩电脑和视频游戏；
- 40% of all gamers are women; 所有玩家中有40%是女性；
- One out of four gamers is over the age of fifty; 四分之一的游戏玩家年龄超过五十岁；
- The average game player is thirty five years old and has been playing for twelve years; 平均游戏玩家年龄为三十五岁，已经玩了十二年；
- Most gamers expect to continue playing games for the rest of their lives; 大多数游戏玩家都希望能继续玩游戏直到生命的尽头；
I usually say that learning human behaviour is one of the most important skills because it allows you to see things differently. But looking at this statistics, which is only growing, I would say that investing in gamification is only going to bring you a positive impact in the future.
我通常说学习人类行为是最重要的技能之一，因为它能让你以不同的角度看待事物。但是看着这个不断增长的统计数据，我可以说在游戏化方面投资只会给你带来积极的影响。
Why would you learn more about games and how they work?
为什么要更多地了解游戏以及它们的运作方式呢？
Game developers know better than anyone else how to inspire extreme effort and reward hard work. They know how to ease cooperation and collaboration before at unimaginable scales. They are innovating with new ways on how to motivate players to stick with harder challenges longer. In much bigger groups. And these crucial skills will have a significant impact on us. Whether you are designing an app with online courses or you are cafeteria around the corner.
游戏开发者比任何人都更懂得如何激发极致努力并奖励辛勤工作。他们知道如何在难以想象的规模上促进合作与协作。他们正在创新，寻找新的方法来激励玩家在更困难的挑战中坚持更久。在更大的团队中。而这些关键技能将对我们产生重大影响。无论您是设计一款带有在线课程的应用程序，还是位于街角的咖啡馆。
What is a game? 什么是游戏？
When you take off all the technical parts of a game, you are left off with four elements: a goal, rules, a feedback system and voluntary participation.
当你剥离游戏的所有技术部分后，你会剩下四个要素：一个目标，规则，一个反馈系统和自愿参与。
The goal 目标
The specific outcome players are working towards. The goal provides players with a sense of purpose.
玩家们努力追求的具体结果。目标给玩家提供了一种目的感。
The rules 规则
Rules place a limitation on how players can achieve the goal. As I also mentioned in my article Why Small Teams Win and Bigger Ones Fail, limitations unleash creative ways of fixing a problem or achieving a goal.
规则对玩家如何实现目标进行了限制。正如我在我的文章《为什么小团队胜出，大团队失败》中也提到的，限制释放了解决问题或实现目标的创造性方式。
Feedback system 反馈系统
It tells players how close they are to achieving their goal. It can take form of points, levels, progress bars, etc. For more, you can read my article The Importance of a Feedback System. Or if speaking in plain words: “The game is over when…”.
它告诉玩家他们离达成目标有多近。它可以采取积分、关卡、进度条等形式。想了解更多，请阅读我的文章《反馈系统的重要性》。或者用简单的话来说：“游戏结束时……”。
Voluntary participation 自愿参与
This requires everyone who is playing the game to acknowledge the goal, the rules and the feedback system.
这需要每个参与游戏的人都承认游戏的目标、规则和反馈系统。
And this definition may surprise you because we are so used to saying that games are all about narrative, winning, graphics, rewards. And these elements are necessary, but they are not what defines a game. A game made of the four things I wrote above: the goal, the rules, feedback system and voluntary participation.
这个定义可能会让你感到惊讶，因为我们习惯于说游戏都是关于故事情节、胜利、图形和奖励。这些元素是必要的，但并不是定义游戏的关键。游戏由我上面提到的四个要素构成：目标、规则、反馈系统和自愿参与。
Playing a game is the voluntary attempt to overcome unecessary obstacles — Bernard Suits玩游戏是自愿尝试克服不必要障碍的行为-伯纳德·苏茨
Getting the basics right 把基础打好
What most people who try to implement gamification get wrong, is that it’s not about the points or badges you receive. But about the grind and the effort, you put in. 大多数试图实施游戏化的人都弄错了，它并不是关于你获得的积分或徽章，而是关于你付出的努力和努力程度。
We are somehow used to say that gamers are lazy and all they do is play games all day. But how then do you explain the fact that they are able to put all of that effort into the game? All the work and grind that is required? How can we explain the fact that they can overcome multiple and painful failures and keep grinding until they achieve success?
我们有点习惯说游戏玩家懒惰，整天只会玩游戏。但是，那么他们如何解释他们能够将所有的努力投入到游戏中呢？所有必须付出的辛勤劳动和努力？我们如何解释他们能够克服多次痛苦的失败，并坚持不懈地努力直到取得成功的事实呢？
Contrary to popular belief, games show us that we love hard work. But not as it is in the current reality we live in. So we need to think a bit broader than badges and points when we talk about gamification. Badges and points are only a small part of a feedback system that acknowledges that we’ve made some effort. And we have to think on how to encourage more hard work.
与大众的观念相反，游戏向我们展示了我们对辛勤工作的热爱。但这并不是我们目前所生活的现实。因此，当我们谈论游戏化时，我们需要思考得更广泛一些，而不仅仅局限于徽章和积分。徽章和积分只是一个反馈系统的一小部分，它们承认我们已经付出了一些努力。我们必须思考如何鼓励更多的辛勤工作。
A good game is when you are always playing on the very edge of your skill level. You always have a big chance to fall off. But when you fall off, you feel the urge to climb back on. That’s because there’s virtually nothing as engaging as this state of working at the very limits of your ability — or what most game designers and psychologists call “flow”. When you are in a state of flow, you want to stay there: both quitting and winning are equally satisfying — Jane McGonigal, Reality is Broken一场好的游戏就是当你总是在自己技能的极限边缘挑战的时候。你总是有很大的机会失败。但是当你失败的时候，你会感到重新爬起来的冲动。这是因为几乎没有什么比在自己能力的极限状态下工作更吸引人的了，这也是大多数游戏设计师和心理学家所称之为“心流”的状态。当你处于心流状态时，你希望能一直保持在那里：放弃和获胜同样令人满足。——简·麦克冈尼格尔，《现实被打破了》
Games make us happy through hard work
游戏通过努力工作让我们快乐
Games make us happy because they are hard work that we choose for ourselves. And it turns out that nothing makes us happy than good and hard work. We don’t normally, think of games as hard work. After all, we play games, and we have been taught of play as the opposite. But nothing could be further from truth.
游戏让我们快乐，因为它们是我们自己选择的辛勤努力。事实证明，没有什么比艰苦而有意义的工作更能让我们快乐。通常我们不会把游戏看作是辛苦的工作。毕竟，我们玩游戏，而我们一直被教导玩耍是相反的。但事实并非如此。
The opposite of play isn’t work. It’s depression — Brian Sutton-Smith, Psychologist
A game is an opportunity to focus our energy on something better. On something that will make us better. On something we are good at, or getting better at and enjoy. As mentioned above, a gameplay is the opposite of depression.
游戏是一个机会，让我们将精力集中在更好的事物上。集中在能让我们变得更好的事物上。集中在我们擅长的事物上，或者正在变得更擅长并且享受的事物上。如上所述，游戏是抵抗沮丧的对立面。
And that’s why so many games are addictive. Because they are able to boost our positive thinking that we are capable of doing and achieving something. When we’re in a state of optimistic engagement, it suddenly becomes biologically more possible for us to think positive thoughts. We start believing that we are worth something and we can achieve something in life. If only hard work in the real world had the same effect.
这就是为什么很多游戏会让人上瘾的原因。因为它们能够增强我们的积极思维，让我们相信自己有能力去做和实现一些事情。当我们处于乐观的投入状态时，我们突然发现在生物学上更有可能产生积极的思维。我们开始相信自己是有价值的，可以在生活中取得成就。如果现实世界中的辛勤工作也能产生同样的效果就好了。
Why reality is broken? 为什么现实是破碎的？
Sometimes it’s even worse, real-world hard work isn’t hard enough. You read it right. We become bored and feel underutilised. And this happens specifically in bigger companies where you feel that you don’t make a big impact by doing your small work. This is one of steps from Maslow’s hierarchy — feeling appreciated for what you do. For all the hard work you put in. And games are able to reward you very well for that.
有时候情况甚至更糟，现实世界的辛勤工作并不够辛苦。没错，我们变得无聊并感到被浪费了。而这种情况特别发生在大公司中，你会觉得自己的小工作无法产生重大影响。这是马斯洛需求层次理论中的一步——感受到对你所做的工作的赞赏。对于你所付出的辛勤努力。而游戏能够很好地回报你。
Imagine how world-changing it would be to have a world that can provide better hard work to everyone. And that’s exactly what the game industry is doing today. So if you are designing your next gamified app or product, you have to think of: “How can I give my users better hard work?”
想象一下，如果世界能够为每个人提供更好的努力，那将会是多么具有改变世界的力量。而这正是游戏行业今天所做的。所以，如果你正在设计下一个游戏化的应用或产品，你必须考虑：“我如何能够给我的用户提供更好的努力？”
A research psychologist, Sonja Lyubomirsky, wrote about why hard work makes us happy:
一位研究心理学家索尼娅·卢博米尔斯基写了一篇关于为什么努力工作会让我们快乐的文章
One of the chief reasons for the durability of happiness acitivies is that…they are hard won. You have devoted your time and effort…You have made these practices happen, and you have the ability to make them happen again. This sense of capability and responsibility is a powerful boost in and one itself.幸福活动持久的主要原因之一是它们来之不易。你投入了时间和努力...你让这些实践发生了，并且你有能力再次让它们发生。这种能力和责任感本身就是一种强大的推动力。
Intrinsic rewards in games
游戏中的内在奖励
For your product/app to stick with a gamification model, you have to provide better intrinsic rewards. Because more you can provide through hard work, happier people would be. There are a lot of intrinsic rewards, but here are a couple of them:
为了让您的产品/应用采用游戏化模式，您必须提供更好的内在奖励。因为您能够通过努力工作提供的奖励越多，人们就会越开心。有很多内在奖励，但以下是其中几个：
We crave satisfying work 我们渴望有满足感的工作
No matter when and how, it’s every day. Of course, it depends from person to person, but everybody craves it on a daily basis. It allows to see the impact of our efforts.
无论何时何地，都是每天。当然，这取决于个人，但每个人都渴望每天都能看到我们努力的影响。
The hope of being successful
成功的希望
We want to feel powerful in our own lives. We want to show people what we are good at. We want to have high chances of achieving success. And we want to see signs that we are getting better over time and can become somebody.
我们希望在自己的生活中感到强大。我们想向人们展示我们擅长什么。我们希望有很高的成功机会。我们希望看到迹象表明我们在不断进步，能够成为有所作为的人。
Social connection 社交联系
We are social creatures. We like to build bonds, new relationships, be part of a community or a tribe. And we like to work with that tribe on a meaningful job.
我们是社交动物。我们喜欢建立联系，建立新的关系，成为社区或部落的一部分。我们喜欢与这个部落一起从事有意义的工作。
Meaning 意义
It may be similar to the first point, because we crave meaning in our satisfying work. We want to be part of something bigger, and contribute to it on a long-term.
这一点可能与第一点相似，因为我们渴望在令人满意的工作中找到意义。我们希望成为更大事物的一部分，并为其做出长期的贡献。
These intrinsic rewards are an essential part of a great human experience. Beyond the basic needs of course (food, safety, etc.). So if you can implement them into your product, you have a higher chance of helping people achieving a certain goal.
这些内在的回报是一个美好人生体验的重要组成部分。当然，除了基本的需求（食物、安全等）。所以，如果你能将它们融入你的产品中，你就有更大的机会帮助人们实现某个目标。
Learning gamification from World of Warcraft
从《魔兽世界》学习游戏化
One of the most popular games on the planet, developed by Blizzard Entertaiment, can teach you a lot about gamification and what we crave for. So what made this game so popular? As Jane McGonigal writes in her book — “blissfull productivity”.
地球上最受欢迎的游戏之一，由暴雪娱乐开发，可以教会你很多关于游戏化以及我们渴望的东西。那么是什么让这款游戏如此受欢迎呢？正如简·麦克冈尼格尔在她的书中所写的那样——“幸福的生产力”。
Blissfull productivity is the sense of being deeply immersed in work that produces immediate and obvious results. The clearer the results and faster we achieve them, the more blissfully productive we feel. 幸福的生产力是指深入投入于能够立即产生明显结果的工作中。结果越清晰、我们越快速地实现它们，我们就会感到越幸福地有生产力。
Your primary goal in World of Warcraft is self-improvement. A kind of work that all of us love. So in the game, you get an avatar, and your job is to make that avatar better, stronger and richer in many ways possible: more experience gain, better armor, more abilities, more skills and a bigger reputation. And each of these traits are displayed on your avatar.
你在《魔兽世界》中的主要目标是自我提升。这是我们所有人都喜欢的一种工作。所以在游戏中，你会有一个角色扮演者，你的任务就是让这个角色扮演者在各个方面变得更好、更强大、更富有：获得更多经验、更好的装备、更多技能和更高的声望。而这些特点都会显示在你的角色扮演者身上。
What we get wrong about leveling systems
我们对于层级系统的误解
Most of the gamified apps nowadays, don’t even get the basics of a levelling system and points. Not that they don’t work and we should think beyond them.
现如今，大多数的游戏化应用程序甚至连基本的等级系统和积分都没有。并不是说它们不起作用，我们应该超越它们。
Let’s take as an example of how WoW works. You grind your face off, and put in more than 500 hours of hard work to achieve max level. If not mistaken, the max level right now is 120. And you put in all of that work only to achieve the max level where the real game starts. This is what we get wrong with a levelling system — at the end of it we should be unlocked different opportunities, but for most of the products it’s an “end game”.
让我们以魔兽世界为例来说明它是如何运作的。你要不停地刷怪，付出超过500个小时的辛勤努力才能达到最高等级。如果没有记错的话，目前的最高等级是120级。而你所付出的所有努力只是为了达到最高等级，而真正的游戏才刚刚开始。这就是我们对于升级系统的误解——在升级结束后，我们应该能够解锁不同的机会，但对于大多数产品来说，这只是一个“终点”。
For each level, a user should be able to unlock different skills, stories, quests, challenges, you name it. And not use it only as a feedback system of progress. Same goes for badges. They are only a small part of a feedback system that shows we achieved a task. They shouldn’t be the core reward system of your product. The hard work and grind is the reward and a badge only acknowledges that.
对于每个级别，用户应该能够解锁不同的技能、故事、任务、挑战，你可以随意命名。而不仅仅将其用作进度反馈系统。徽章也是如此。它们只是反馈系统的一小部分，用于显示我们完成了一个任务。它们不应该成为产品核心奖励系统。辛勤工作和努力是奖励，而徽章只是对此的认可。
How can we apply this in real life?
我们如何将这个应用到现实生活中？
Let’s say that you offer online courses. You can implement points, badges or a levelling system for your product and allow the user to start only with a couple of courses. Once they nail the first ones or the basics, then you unlock more and more. With each level, you experience a new type of tasks and challenges.
假设你提供在线课程。你可以为你的产品实施积分、徽章或等级系统，并允许用户只开始几门课程。一旦他们掌握了最初的课程或基础知识，你就会解锁更多的课程。随着每个等级的提升，你将体验到新的任务和挑战。
Also, it’s essential to understand that we have to make it also hard to achieve the max level and unlock the best courses. Why? What’s the point for me grinding my face off if I reach the top level and see that everybody could do it? People need to feel a sense of pride that they achieved something which others couldn’t.
另外，理解我们必须让达到最高级别和解锁最佳课程变得困难也是至关重要的。为什么呢？如果我达到了顶级水平却发现每个人都能做到，那我辛辛苦苦地努力有什么意义呢？人们需要感到自豪，因为他们取得了其他人无法达到的成就。
So you give points for each task, that adds up to your level. With each level, you could probably receive a new avatar/illustration that represents your profile. And people could see clearly that you are at a certain level of progress. And this is only a glimpse of how the elements can be implemented.
所以你为每个任务给予积分，这些积分会累积到你的等级上。随着每个等级的提升，你可能会获得一个新的头像/插图来代表你的个人资料。人们可以清楚地看到你在某个进度水平上。这只是元素实施的一个简要概述。
How does a game motivate someone to spend more than 500 hours?
一个游戏如何激励一个人花费超过500个小时？
Only to realise that the fun part is about to start. World of Warcraft makes a couple of promises. For some players, it’s the promise of ultimate challenge that makes the incredible workload worth it. At the highest levels, you tend to experience the extreme adrenaline rush. It’s a promise for players who crave high-stakes work and extreme mental activation level up as fast as they can to reach the end game. Why? Because that’s when you get to fight the most challenging opponents. That’s when you receive the most rewarding items, discover new locations and stories, and other stuff.
只是意识到好玩的部分即将开始。《魔兽世界》给出了一些承诺。对于一些玩家来说，最终挑战的承诺使得那些令人难以置信的工作量变得值得。在最高级别，你会感受到极度的肾上腺素飙升。这是给那些渴望高风险工作和极度心智激活的玩家的承诺，他们会尽快升级以达到游戏的最终阶段。为什么呢？因为那时你将面对最具挑战性的对手。那时你将获得最有价值的物品，发现新的地点和故事，以及其他的东西。
And one critical point here is to realise, that the levelling up system is as important as the end game grind. If not more important. As one player says in the book “If all I wanted to do is run around and kill stuff… I would play Counter-Strike. And that game is free\*.” This again proves the fact that we shouldn’t strive to make stuff easier for our users if we are about to put in place gamification. But make it harder with each level, so people can feel stimulated and motivated. So they can try harder to achieve their initial goal or task.
在这里有一个关键点需要意识到，即升级系统与最终游戏的磨练一样重要，甚至更重要。正如一位玩家在书中所说：“如果我只想四处跑来杀敌……我会玩《反恐精英》。而且那个游戏是免费的\*。”这再次证明了一个事实，即如果我们要实施游戏化，我们不应该努力让用户的事情变得更容易，而是要让每个级别都更加困难，这样人们才能感到刺激和动力。这样他们才能更加努力地实现他们最初的目标或任务。
\*World of Warcraft requires a monthly fee subscription
《魔兽世界》需要每月付费订阅
People are paying to play WoW for productivity, hard work, failures, and high stakes rewards.人们为了生产力、辛勤工作、失败和高额回报而付费玩魔兽世界。
INTERESTING FACT: When fans found out that the new MMO, Age of Conan, would take only 250 hours to complete on average, most game critics worried that fans would reject the game. Why? Because it requires too little effort.有趣的事实：当粉丝们发现新的大型多人在线游戏《柯南时代》平均只需要250小时就能通关时，大多数游戏评论家担心粉丝们会拒绝这款游戏。为什么呢？因为它需要的努力太少了。
Jane McGonigal in her book writes that, computers were made to work for us, but video games have come to demand that we work for them. This is true, but in the end, it’s us who have come to demand more work.
简·麦克戈尼格尔在她的书中写道，计算机是为我们工作而设计的，但是电子游戏却要求我们为它们工作。这是事实，但最终，是我们自己要求更多的工作。
Pretty insane to think about that isn’t it? When everybody tries to escape the rat race and not work for the rest of their lives. And this happens because most of us were not able to experience meaningful work before. We want to be given more work — or rather more satisfying work.
想想这个真是太疯狂了，不是吗？当每个人都试图逃离那种拼命工作一辈子的生活。而这种情况发生是因为我们大多数人在之前没有能够体验到有意义的工作。我们希望能够得到更多的工作，或者更准确地说是更令人满意的工作。
How to provide more satisfying work?
如何提供更令人满意的工作？
Jane McGonigal also writes that satisfying work always starts with two things: a clear goal and actionable next steps toward achieving that goal. Having a clear goal motivates us to act. We know what we are supposed to do. And following actionable steps ensure that we can make progress toward the target immediately.
简·麦克戈尼格尔还写道，令人满意的工作始终始于两个要素：明确的目标和可行的下一步行动以实现该目标。拥有明确的目标激励我们行动起来。我们知道自己应该做什么。而遵循可行的步骤确保我们能够立即朝着目标取得进展。
World of Warcraft offers a clear and guaranteed productivity with all the quests you take. You have a mission to complete — for example, kill 10 NPC’s or bring a particular item. You bring that item, and you receive a reward for completing the quest. You also earn “experience” that allows you to level up and get to the next level with new quests and stories. Each quest has a step-by-step on what to do, where to go and whom to ask/kill/bring/etc.
《魔兽世界》提供了明确且可靠的任务系统，让您在完成任务时能够提高效率。您需要完成一项任务，例如杀死10个NPC或者带回特定物品。完成任务后，您将获得奖励。同时，您还能获得经验值，升级并解锁新的任务和故事情节。每个任务都有详细的步骤指引，告诉您该做什么、去哪里以及向谁询问/击杀/带回等等。
WoW is not a puzzle game or trial-and-error investigation. You simply have to get the job done to collect your rewards. 《魔兽世界》不是一个拼图游戏或试错探索。你只需要完成任务来获得奖励。
Why do we crave this kind of productivity?
为什么我们渴望这种高效率呢？
Sonja Lyubomirsky in The How of Happiness writes that the fastest way to improve someone’s daily quality of life is to “present a specific goal to a person, something to do and something to look forward (rewards)”. When a clear goal is attached to a task, she writes, it gives us energy to push, a sense of purpose. So the real work in WoW is to be rewarded with more opportunities for employment. The game is, with each level, challenging you to try something a bit harder than what you did before. And we love that.
索尼娅·卢博米尔斯基在《幸福的方法》一书中写道，提高一个人日常生活质量的最快方法是“向一个人提出具体目标，给他们一些事情去做和期待（奖励）”。她写道，当一个明确的目标与任务相结合时，它给予我们推动的能量和目标感。所以在《魔兽世界》中真正的工作是通过更多的就业机会来获得奖励。每个级别的游戏都在挑战你尝试比之前更困难的事情。而我们喜欢这样的挑战。
Image source: 42courses.com
图片来源：42courses.com
Motivation and reasonably assured progress
动力和合理的进展
This is the start of satisfying work. But for it to be gratifying, we have to finish our work as clearly as we started. To complete the work, we must be able to see that results of our efforts as directly and immediately possible.
这是令人满意的工作的开始。但要让它令人满足，我们必须像开始时一样清晰地完成工作。为了完成工作，我们必须尽可能直接和立即地看到我们努力的结果。
Visible results are satisfying because they mirror back to us a positive sense of our capabilities. When we can see what we accomplished, we can build our self-worth. And the brilliant heads-up display of World of Warcraft shows us an improvement in real time. It flashes in front of our eyes +1 stamina, +1 intellect, +1 strength. We can count our internal resources by these points, watching as we become more powerful with every effort.
可见的结果令人满意，因为它们向我们反映出我们能力的积极感。当我们能看到我们所取得的成就时，我们可以建立自我价值。而《魔兽世界》中的精彩头顶显示实时展示了我们的进步。它在我们眼前闪现出+1 耐力，+1 智力，+1 力量。我们可以通过这些点数来计算我们的内在资源，观察我们在每一次努力中变得更加强大。
We can also see the progress we have made by looking at our avatar. It provides visual feedback with more and better armour, jewels and weapons over time. The same thing can be applied to apps. With each task completed, we should reward users with something different at all levels. And when users compare their results to each other, you can clearly say who is at a higher level or who worked or grinded more.
我们还可以通过查看我们的化身来看到我们取得的进步。随着时间的推移，它会提供更多更好的装甲、珠宝和武器的视觉反馈。同样的道理也可以应用到应用程序上。每完成一个任务，我们应该在各个级别上用不同的东西奖励用户。当用户相互比较他们的成果时，你可以清楚地说出谁处于更高的级别，或者谁工作或努力更多。
When we don’t have visible results that we can clearly link to our own efforts, it is impossible to take real satisfaction in our work. Unfortunately, for many of us this is true of our everyday work lives — Jane McGonigal当我们没有明显的结果可以清楚地与我们自己的努力联系起来时，我们无法对我们的工作产生真正的满足感。不幸的是，对于我们许多人来说，这在我们的日常工作生活中是真实存在的。
And it’s not only self-improvement that the game provides, but also a sense of belonging and community. Players are able to join the so-called “guilds” in which they gather parties of 10 to 25 people to go on raids, etc. There is also an interesting statistic that proves people are able to stick to something more if they do it with a friend.
游戏不仅提供了自我提升的机会，还能带来归属感和社区感。玩家可以加入所谓的“公会”，组建由10至25人组成的团队进行副本等活动。有一个有趣的统计数据表明，如果与朋友一起做某事，人们更容易坚持下去。
Image source: 42courses.com
图片来源：42courses.com
This experiment was done with people who practice fitness. You have 90% higher chances to finish a workout plan if you do it with a friend or a fitness trainer. Meanwhile, if you do it by yourself, you have a 50% chance rate to drop off. And this is also an essential aspect of gamification — the community you build around it. Playing with friends is, sometimes, always better than alone.
这个实验是与进行健身的人们一起进行的。如果你和朋友或健身教练一起锻炼，你完成训练计划的机会增加了90%。而如果你独自进行锻炼，你有50%的概率会放弃。这也是游戏化的一个重要方面——你所建立的社区。有时候，和朋友一起玩总是比独自一人更好。
And in the end, that’s what it takes for work to be satisfying: it must present us with clear, immediate actionable goals and show us direct and immediate feedback that we achieved them.最终，这就是工作令人满意的要素：它必须向我们提供明确、即时的可行目标，并向我们展示我们已经实现了这些目标的直接和即时的反馈。
In the end 最后
It does not matter if the rewards we receive are not real. We don’t care about that. What we care about is the emotional reward which is real. World of Warcraft is an example of extreme-scale satisfying work. Players commit to this work environment for long periods of time. Or as McGonigal mentioned, the unemployment rate is 0% in World of Warcraft. And if you are able to put in place these type of principles of “gamification” into your product, you nailed it.
不管我们获得的奖励是否真实，都无关紧要。我们不在乎那些。我们关心的是真实的情感回报。《魔兽世界》是一个极具满足感的工作的例子。玩家们长时间投入到这个工作环境中。正如麦克戈尼格尔所提到的，魔兽世界的失业率为0%。如果你能将这种“游戏化”的原则应用到你的产品中，那就成功了。
P.S. A lot of data and information was used from Jane McGonigal’s book Reality is Broken. So if you are a numbers person, then I recommend reading it to get all the data and research necessary. But if you are not, the book is still a highly recommended read.附言：本文中使用了许多来自简·麦克冈尼尔的书《现实被打破了》的数据和信息。所以如果你是一个喜欢数字的人，我建议你阅读这本书以获取所有必要的数据和研究。但如果你不是，这本书仍然是一本强烈推荐的读物。