gamification in portuguese

And so it came to pass that in May 6th I took another step in my quest for a better understanding of gamification. This step had two main objectives:

1. to understand who're the key players on the subject in Portugal;
2. to hear about gamification Portuguese.

It consisted of me participating in a User Experience Design & Gamification workshop organized by APMP and led by a gentleman called Rui Cordeiro.

I must admit that I was a bit skeptical about this workshop. I was quite content with saving my money for other flights. Such as this. 

And my skepticism was mostly due to two reasons: first was the fact that I hadn't heard much about gamification being done or discussed in Portugal, and therefore was expecting beginner's level content; second was my very portuguese habit of doubting other portuguese talking about stuff that came from abroad. Yes, we can be a little conceipted.

But the truth is that when you think about it, if the goal is, like my friend Ricardo says, "to become the parents of gamification in Portugal", it might be useful to at least get to know the playing field. Worst case scenario you learn a few things and hurray for networking! It bears notice that it was after this conversation that the need to also blog in portuguese came up.

So, it was with all this in mind that Murphy decided to slap me across the face.

As I walked in I was faced with a really heterogeneous group: professionals from several fields, ages, genders and of course musical tastes! But most of all, I was faced with this gentleman.

Rui Cordeiro is, as is stated in the workshop page, a game designer with more than 20 years of experience, that after a sucessful career making videogames at some of the biggest companies in the field (Activision/Blizzard, Gameloft, Sony, 2K Games), decided in 2010 to start looking at what he calls "...the 'intrusion' of games in life and other 'things'...". Since then he became an expert in UXD (user experience design), working internationally with topics such as Gamification, Design Thinking and User Centered Design.

And I knew nothing about this.

So it was that for almost 3 hours I was presented with some content I already knew from the online courses I took, delivered with a clarity, enthusiasm and sheer mastery that put me in my place. Also, to hear about gamification in portuguese is another experience in itself, particularly the terminology - "stuff" (cenas) was priceless.

In the second set of 3 hours I got my first real exercise in colaborative gamification design, with a less than expert approach at using Design Thinking and positive and constructive feedback at the end.

Also of notice was the fact that my lunch hour was spent mostly talking about gamification, discussing the subject and of course fooling around. Networking made fun. ;)

To sum it up, it was a day well spent at ETIC that renewed my faith in this subject in Portugal and my will to leave a mark in it. 

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state your name and purpose...

I've always felt that boring stuff would be easier to get done if I thought of them as a game.
On the rare occasions when my mother got me to tidy up my room, I'd be all talking to myself "come on, throw that paper ball that you just crumpled while putting away into that basket! Ok, just one more! Now from further away! Now with your back to the basket! Wow! You sure are sexy!". I think that's why it always took forever...

So, without further ado, I'd like to present myselfit, and myself since we're on it, and state what's the deal with this blog.

Hi! My name is Manuel! 
I'm a portuguese dude from Lisbon, just wrapping up my twenties and finding myself wondering what I've done so far and what I should've been doing. Or what I could have been doing if I wasn't always wondering what I should be doing. You see the problem...

So, my evil plan is this: to be so darn interesting and funny that people won't be able to resist reading my posts and following my blog and laughing their arses off. 

What will I talk about? Well, I plan to focus on gamification (hence the until-now-seemingly-random introductory paragraph), but since I tend to digress, I'll just say "gamification and music and other stuff".

Why gamificaiont? gamifctianon?!... you know, it's the funniest thing: I've been reading articles and watching videos and taking online courses about this thing for two years now, and my fingers still trip over themselves while tiping it!
So... ga-mi-fi-ca-tion. Why this? Well, to me gamification is not only epically logical as it fits almost perfectly with my way of thinking. That and it naturally seams two of my biggest topics of interest. They're three actually: games, people and technology.

Tech comes in last on purpose: first because unlike Gartner, I don't think it should be a defining trait of gamification, despite being, alongside the "engagement crisis", one of its hypers (not sure if this word exists...). Second, it comes in third also on my "love it" scale - I'm a programmer 60% by necessity and 40% by choice. I like to think about the technological solutions and to participate in their development, but only up to a point. I'm more about the brainstorming and the high-level definitions, both in taste and in talent. Also, not one for details.

Now onto my goals: am I gonna be a star in the gamification community? Not sure. Will I be average? Not sure either, but it sounds kinda meh.
What I do know is that I think I have a natural knack (is it redundant to say it like that?) for it, both from my past as a gamer - I'm still a gamer but it sounds better if I look distant and insightful - and my scouting background (badges plus non-formal learning... seems familiar?). And of course, it's about the people. For the people, by the people, with some people and so on. That is, I want to get to know everyone that gamifies. In the world.

So on a final note: I aim to misbehave... and if I talk about gamification and create a cool network of people in the process it'll be great I guess!

Catcha later Space Cowboys!

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