TL;DR

Gameful isn’t shiny. It just works.

Mick and I are high school teachers, not business people.

We don’t want customers, we want co-conspirators.

School sucks. Let’s fix it.

Get Out of Reading Free Card: If you’re not interested in Gameful’s nuts and bolts, scroll down and click through.

Visitor: I’ve covered much of this in Stage 2. (That wasn’t my plan when I originally wrote this.) Feel free to click through without reading.

Originally published 122623

The best tool for the job is the one that fits your needs.

What if you could create your own?

Game On, our little WordPress plugin, evolved into a gamified learning management system—a tool rebel educators could use to change the culture and trajectory of their learning environments.

How? Well, that depends on how individual GameMasters decide to leverage it. (Gameful is flexible and customizable.)

Game On was free.

The catch? Users needed a domain (not free), a host (not free), and the willingness to maintain their WordPress website (not common).

Teachers have enough on their plates, so we built Gameful.

Update: We now have built-in Help Docs and Google Docs integration (Summer ’24).

Learning Gameful takes time and effort, then more time and effort to build your game.

And then…

If that sounds like fun, it’s not really work.

Let’s scratch Gameful’s surface and get started…

My 2022/23 Site Settings:

The first day of school…

My settings require players to select their computer number and class section from drop-down menus when joining the game. (I let kids choose their seats first.)

I also asked the players to change their default display name to a school-appropriate Gamertag (that doesn’t contain any part of their actual name).

When completed, the registration page automatically redirects each new player to the Map (where quests reside), and their asynchronous learning adventure begins.

While doing so, Gameful collects, sorts, and displays player data. On the Clipboard, class lists, seating charts, and the rest auto-populate.

The Display column reveals who did and didn’t follow the instructions. (You know, please change your default display name.)

Fun Fact: I used the Attendance feature to automatically award Inventory Items daily. I’d record attendance (via Clipboard info) without interrupting class. Gameful also displayed totals at a glance:

Leave and Return are restroom passes players purchased (on both ends of the journey).

I set this up so they kept track, not me.

Here are the attendance items in that player’s Inventory:

As explained in 049, I expect players to begin before the bell. Yes, my enticement is sweet, but Gameful offers additional incentives.

Little things add up.

Fun Fact: When dealing with virtual currency early in the school year, less is more (for the GM).

We have three forms of (primary) Loot: XP, Gold, and Rep.

XP is for leveling, Gold is for spending, and Rep is a pressure valve.

Rep affects the amount of Gold each quest awards. In ’22, my players began with 0.1 Rep. That meant they earned 0.1% of the gold each quest offered.

I also set the Early (attendance) Inventory Item to award 0.3 Rep and On Time to add 0.1. Tardy simply awarded the Mr. T meme. All items are date—and time-stamped. (Think about that.)

Gold and Rep trickle forth, reinforcing other desired outcomes as days pass and players begin to grasp the benefits of our system.

Setting up those Attendance, Inventory, and Store Items took an hour or two (we had quite a few different bell schedules). Think of how much time and energy that saved the rest of the year.

And that’s just dull classroom management stuff.

Now, imagine what you could do with Quests.

Continuing with the rest of the Clipboard column header (I’ve hidden the email address), the first four blue icons link to additional player data—Map, Blog, Stats, and Profile.

The megaphone is an in-game messaging system.

Message a player, group, or class.

Filters and granular data in the Clipboard’s Quest tab.

Sorting by Time On can be revealing. (Blue icons are Reset, Player Submissions, History, and Feedback.)

Players also have a record of all their interactions with the game.

GameMasters see the Next button to view the next player’s data. (I’ve hidden the player’s name and Gamertag.)

A player bar (from 2020):

We’ve eliminated the forum since then. (Too time-consuming.)

My Mac Lab admin bar (2023):

GameMasters don’t level; they set the limits. (We provide thousands of icons for GMs to use.)

If you’d like to try it, here’s the player view of my most recent how-to-Gameful (2021). Get up and rolling in a few hours.

Yellow is available. Gray is locked. Quests turn green when completed. (And red if reset by the GameMaster.) Each player’s map reflects their progress at a glance.

Mick modified (improved) Gameful’s interface in the interim, so things look a little different but work (mostly) the same. (In-game help files are now available.)

Gameful tools are at the GameMaster’s fingertips (on the front end):

I built this map from scratch, recording every step in the process. (Many of the videos are in the 60-second range.)

Gameful Features: An overview—not a comprehensive list.

• GameMaster (GM): You control all aspects of your game.
• Players: Individuals formerly known as students.
• Display Name (Gamertag): An in-game identifier is used to ensure a measure of privacy amongst players. (Only the GM sees all.)
• Who, What, Where, When? All player interactions are automatically date and time-stamped.
• Clipboard: The GM’s ultimate tool. Access all player data.
• Manual Override: GMs can adjust XP, Gold, Inventory, Rep, or Quest status for any player or group.
• Reader: GMs can review, revise, respond, or reset player blog submissions.
• In-Game Messaging: All GM contact with individuals, groups, or classes is preserved.
• Attendance: Add game mechanics to promote engagement (and aid in recording attendance accurately).
• Canned Content: Click and edit. (For repetitive tasks.)
• Customization: From colors and fonts to naming conventions, customize Gameful to match your game lore.
• Experience Points (XP): Earned via engagement with quests.
• Levels: Gameful does the math for you.
• Gold: Virtual Currency. Used for in-game purchases (and hoarding to stay atop the leaderboard).
• Rep: Reputation. Classroom management tool. Rep directly affects the percentage of currency earned.
• Bonus Loot: Randomize loot drops. (You set the odds.)
• Map: One location for course content. (Use any number of maps.)
• Quest: Call it a mission or challenge if you prefer; just never call it an assignment!
• Chain: A collection of quests to complete sequentially.
• Pod: A collection of quests to complete (all or X of Y) in any order.
• Nest: A compact collection of related quests (chain or pod).
• Lock: Various methods to restrict player access to content.
• Key: Various methods to enable player access to content.
• Blog: Container for player’s course submissions.
• Stats: A personalized date and time-stamped record of each player’s activity.
• Leaderboard: This may be limited to the top X% of players. (May be filtered by date).
• Inventory: Badges, tokens, keys, etc., that players may earn, collect, and utilize.
• Store: Contains passes, privileges, supplies, and other items for sale or exchange.
• Discoverable: Items, quests, or maps remain invisible until the player earns the key.
• User Management: Hide individual player blog posts or hide them on the leaderboard (among other options).
• Custom Icons: Thousands to choose from.
• Are You A Gamer? Create unlimited forms of loot, gathering and crafting professions, hidden and discoverable content, random or rare loot drops, and Easter Eggs. Endless opportunities await.

A peek at blank Quest options:

This is my first quest from last year. (Note the checked boxes and additional tabs.) The Shortcode addresses each player by their Gamertag: Visitor.

Shortcodes are available via the pull-down menu.

Players can receive XP (Entry Reward) for encountering the Quest:

Quests, videos, and images open in a Lightbox (above the Map). Each player’s Blog, Stats, Leaderboard, and Store open in a Lightbox. When finished, the Map always awaits.

Front-End GM Tools:

Icons: Clone, Edit, Quick Edit, Reader, and Trash.

Because we wanted convenient access to these settings:

The Reader link opens player submissions for that Quest:

Feedback options are available at the end of each submission. (I’ve hidden player info.)

Icons: Unread/Read, Favorite, Revision History, Edit, and Reset.

Click on the green toggle (add loot) to change it to red (subtract loot).

The Reset button opens different options:

Bonus Loot (The Mystery Box) = Random Drops (You set the odds.)

Store options abound:

The Add Row button offers a world of additional game mechanics. (Inventory is the wild card. It’s whatever you want it to be.) Buy, sell, or trade any combination of items you can imagine. Red is the cost, and Green is the item(s) players receive.

Gameful isn’t shiny. It just works.

Mick and I are high school teachers, not business people.

We don’t want customers. We want co-conspirators.

School sucks. Let’s fix it.

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Context: I needed to explain enough about Gameful for the idea in 053 to make sense when we return to it. This is just a start.

Plus, I owe it to the teachers who are crazy enough to try something like this in their learning environment. (Your students will thank you.)

Featured Image: Purpose, patience, and persistence. (Ooh, that’s going on a T-shirt.)

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