The Practical Guide to Defect Prevention

Game Design Checklist

Any productivity game should accomplish the following:

• Get players to be more productive (and have data to prove it)

• Be easy for people to play and compete

• Have well-thought-out rules and scoring

• Be competitive and/or fun

• Keep players engaged and looking at their scores

• Keep a history of player activity

• Let players play at their own pace

• Let players compete against themselves

• Be tested with a small group first

• Evolve and be refined over time

• Be careful with games that overlap existing work.

A great resource on the use of games for productivity and to change behavior is the Serious Games Initiative (www.seriousgames.org). This organization helps to connect game designers and organizations using games for health care, social change, ...