The Game of Life +flaws

Gamification is trending this decade... From Super Mario and Donkey Kong, gaming has evolved to a point where gameplay is so immersive that it can barely be told apart from reality. Video game designers simplify the real world: physics and psychology- into rules that create alternate realities for us to explore. As we spend more time in these worlds we learn to play by it's rules. It's led to an idea that we could use the theories of game design to complete our quests in the real world.

Gamification can be applied to almost any task: everyday chores [www.getyedone.com/], busting that beer belly [https://blog.fitbit.com/category/challenges/], planning your finances [www.mint.com] learning maths or science or arts [www.khanacademy.org/] or languages [www.duolingo.com/].

Or finding the cure to AIDS?!

In 2008, University of Washington scientists released the game Foldit, hoping a sort of critical mass of gamers would mess around with proteins and, in the process, uncover some of their intrigue.

In a matter of 10 days from its launch, gamers were able to do what biochemists have been trying to do for a decade: decipher the structure of a protein called retroviral protease, an enzyme that is key to the way HIV multiplies.

This article really sums up the  best gamification has to offer!
http://www.yukaichou.com/gamification-examples/top-10-gamification-examples-human-race/#.VZzo-Pmqqko

Our lives allow gamification, with goals that we must complete ,rewarding us along the way, so that we can start the next challenge,  : this covers everything from frequent flyer miles to even school examinations!

School is a game where you keep completing the challenges set, which improves your skills in taking on the boss level, terminal exam. At the end of the game you could get rewarded for setting a highscore.
Parenting involves a level of gamification.

Your parents must have at some point played the game with you. So the rules are, you score a certain grade and you will get a new mobile phone, for instance. So you work hard and you do win the game. This leads on to another game and another. At what point does your game become about getting that final result rather than learning. Of course this doesn't matter as long as you're learning, right! However, we are becoming increasingly conditioned to expect rewards. We work with our eyes on the prize, which reflects the fact that our society is very materialistic.

How do we make ourselves productive if there isn't a reward? What keeps us motivated?

Motivation theories are split into two categories: Extrinsic motivation and Intrinsic motivation.

Common extrinsic motivations are rewards (for example money or grades) for showing the desired behavior, and the threat of punishment following misbehavior. Competition is an extrinsic motivator because it encourages the performer to win and to beat others, not simply to enjoy the intrinsic rewards of the activity. A cheering crowd and the desire to win a trophy are also extrinsic incentives.

Intrinsic motivation is the self-desire to seek out new things and new challenges, to analyze one's capacity, to observe and to gain knowledge.

Neither are exclusive of the other. However the balance between them shifts towards extrinsic rewards when life is gamified.

Quest to Learn is a school that uses gamification to encourage children to learn what they want. We live in an information rich world, information that's easily accessible. Q2L aims to equip their students with the ability to access the information they want and do something productive with it.
Learning happens through games often created by the students themselves.

http://upperschool.q2l.org/

The biggest glitches appear when real life doesn't play by the rules. What happens when you don't get that gadget you worked for or the promotion you wanted? Real life doesn't have pre-programmed end sequences, unless you believe in Fate.

What do you do when the game of life doesn't reward you?

Uninstall the app?


If you spend your life chasing flyer miles for that exclusive platinum card, you end up like Ryan Bingham (played by George Clooney in Up in the Air), disillusioned by the goals you've been chasing and by the disregard that real life has for rules.

Interestingly enough, as important as the final product is;

Design is all about the process. 

Design ISN'T a Career Choice.

IDC [Industrial Design Center] at IIT Bombay just opened an undergraduate program this year (having had just a PG program till now). This is great for potential d-school students in India. Over 5 thousand students gave the UCEED,the entrance test for IDC.
The big catch is that there are only 30 seats (which I believe is a good number).  Naturally this attracted a lot of students, to many of whom getting into an IIT means a lot. To many of whom, design is something very new.

Many websites began to put up information about this course and answered questions posted by aspirants.. Of course this led to a lot of the wrong questions being asked.. 

These Q-A conversations got so rabid in fervour that trying to reason out with would be pointless..

Anyway so here goes and I hope it helps clear the air around some of the most basic misconceptions about design school..

The syllabus is quite new for a 12th std student.Can you suggest any books for this syllabus?

No, you mook. None whatsoever, this isn't your typical entrance test! Each design school looks for something specific in the people applying. It could be Creativity or Visual Awareness or your Awareness about Arts and Crafts or your Logic and Reasoning skills, the list goes on.

A good suggestion would be to look up previous papers if they exist, not to look for patterns because there are always new ways to test students, but to get familiar with having to put out your best in a limited time span. That's the real challenge.

I will like to suggest you all that don’t get deviated from your jee exam because its very crucial time for it .On the other hand i like to say that for – in a company there is not as many recruitment of designers as that of engineers so opportunity is more of an engineer . Thus i would like to suggest not to deviate from your path ,concentrate on your pre-planned goal.

By looking some famous designers like Dilip Chhabria we should not change our goal .Think about every other designer qualified from an iit ,are every one famous like Dilip Chhabria ?

This takes the cake. Before I dissect this post, I've got to admit that the guy does have a point. Design is not an alternative to Engineering.

Design is a relatively new field and there are a lot of opportunities to build a good career out of it. I'm not the best person to tell you this, but once you start looking you'll find that almost every area can use design. You just have to figure out what matters the most to you.
Then it comes to designers being famous. Some say that car designers are the rockstars of the industry. It is true to an extent because you may know the name of the person (who led the team) that designed your favourite car. Its highly improbable that you'd know the names of the people who designed the biscuits you're dipping into your tea. Yeah, the tea-time snack Aliva was designed by a team!

Your earning potential doesn't always depend on your fame in public and the impact your work can have is definitely not limited by your compensation.
Your work as a designer will have a huge impact on people, on the world we live in.

Every decision you make as a designer has an effect- whether it's a product designer choosing sustainable materials to reduce the cost of manufacturing on the environment or a graphic designer choosing a font that can be read easily by elderly people with poor vision.

Design is meant to help people live their lives. It could be by making something that makes people happier or makes their lives easier or allows them to live without damaging the world.

Beta when do you have exams.
Its taken my grandparents a while to accept that there aren't any exams. Semesters are a string of assignments one after another and you're gauged by these. As a designer, your life becomes a series of assignments. Learning, observing, imagining and creating never stops.

Being a designer isn't just a career path, it is a lifestyle you choose- to constantly question the norms and create new possibilities within the constraints of the real world.