GAMIFICATION: FINAL REPORT

An Introduction to Social Computing Paper Presented to The Faculty of the College of Computer Studies De La Salle University Manila

In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Information Systems

Submitted By: David Alonzo Miguel Elisan Gabriel Garcia Raymund Norada Rem Tiangco

Submitted To: Mr. Oliver Malabanan (Chair, Information Technology Department)

April 2, 2012

Chapter 1 Introduction Foursquare What is foursquare? Foursquare makes the real world easier to use. We build tools that help you keep up with friends, discover whats nearby, save money and unlock deals. Whether youre setting off on a trip around the world, coordinating a night out with friends, or trying to pick out the best dish at your local restaurant, foursquare is the perfect companion. Foursquare by the numbers (last updated January, 2012) Community: Over 15 million people worldwide Over 1.5 billion check-ins, with millions more every day Businesses: Over 750,000 using the Merchant Platform (more information atfoursquare.com/business) Employees: Over 100 between headquarters in New York, NY and an office in San Francisco, CA When was foursquare founded? Foursquare co-founders Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai met in 2007 while working in the same office space (at different companies) in New York City. Working from Dennis' kitchen table in New York's East Village, they began building the first version of foursquare in fall 2008, and launched it at South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, Texas in March 2009. Learn more by following Dennis' A brief history of foursquare list! Who are foursquares investor? We're funded by Union Square Ventures, O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital and a handful of angel investors. How can my business, brand or agency work with foursquare? Whether you're a mom-and-pop shop, a national chain, or a brand, foursquare can provide you with tools to engage with your customers and fans. Please visit foursquare.com/business for information on how you can start working with foursquare. I have a cool idea for a social service. Is there a way to build this onto foursquare? Yes! Just like Twitter, foursquare has an API that allows developers to build their ideas on the foursquare platform. Developers have already used the API to build new check-in functionality, cool games, and interesting data visualizations. Browse through the hundreds of apps and read up on the documentation here. Is foursquare hiring? Yes! We're always looking to hire amazing talent for our New York and San Francisco offices. For a list of open positions, check out foursquare.com/jobs. So is it check-in or check in? Its both! When you use it as a verb, its check in. (For example, Are you going to check in here? They have a free massage Special.) Check-in is the noun form. (For instance, That was my most amazing check-in ever, I can't believe I got a free massage!) And never use checkin. Every time you do, we cry on the inside.

Foursquare Brand Platform By establishing a brand presence on foursquare, you can connect with your followers and community on foursquare. Millions of people turn to foursquare every day to explore the world around them, find their friends, and learn interesting things.

Sample Screen Shots of Foursquare on Mobile Phones:

Figure 1.1 Sample screenshot of the place where users can check in

Figure 1.2 Sample screenshot of your foursquare timeline

Figure 1.3 Sample screenshot of the explore feature

Figure 1.4 Sample screenshot of comments

Waze About Us Waze is all about contributing to the 'common good' out there on the road. By connecting drivers to one another, we help people create local driving communities that work together to improve the quality of everyone's daily driving. That might mean helping them avoid the frustration of sitting in traffic, cluing them in to a police trap or shaving five minutes off of their regular commute by showing them new routes they never even knew about. So, how does it work? After typing in their destination address, users just drive with the app open on their phone to passively contribute traffic and other road data, but they can also take a more active role by sharing road reports on accidents, police traps, or any other hazards along the way, helping to give other users in the area a 'heads-up' about what's to come. In addition to the local communities of drivers using the app, Waze is also home to an active community of online map editors who ensure that the data in their areas is as up-to-date as possible. FAQs about Waze How was the idea for Waze created? The idea for Waze originated years ago, when Ehud Shabtai, a software engineer with a degree in Philosophy and Computer Science from Tel Aviv University, was given a PDA with an external GPS device pre-installed with navigation software. Ehud's initial excitement quickly gave way to disappointment when he saw that the product didn't reflect the dynamic changes that characterize real conditions on the road, or have real-time info, like where speed traps were located. An experienced open-source developer with a passion for social services and apps, Ehud took matters into his own hands and started to build the first dynamic traffic platform which combined GPS, open-source software and a community of drivers. His goal? To accurately reflect the road system, state of traffic and all the information relevant to drivers at any given moment. When did Waze begin and who funds the company? Ehud's open-source mapping project, named Freemap, began officially in 2006 and was enthusiastically received by the community of drivers in Israel. Two years later, he got together with entrepreneurs, Uri Levine and Amir Shinar, and together they founded Waze (formerly called Linqmap) which was initially funded by the Blue Run Ventures, Magma Venture Partners and Vertex Venture Capital and recently received additional funding fromKleiner Perkins and Li Ka-shing's Horizon Ventures. What are the key benefits to drivers? Roads are dynamic and are changing all the time, yet maps and GPS devices fail to reflect this, leaving drivers in the dark as to what's really happening out there on the road. With Waze, though, the key benefit is the community-contributed element of our app - in fact, it's what really set us apart. When users drive with the app open, they passively contribute real-time road information that gives other Wazers an up-to-the-minute, highly accurate picture of conditions out there on the road. Users can also actively create road reports that give even more information about what's going to others in the local driving community, making Waze incredibly useful - plus, it's a whole lotta fun! How does Waze work? By simply driving with the app open on your phone, you passively contribute traffic and other road data that helps the Waze system to provide other Waze drivers with the most optimal route to their destination, including live traffic information. But you can also take a more active role by reporting on accidents, police traps, or any other hazards along the way, helping to give other users in the area a 'heads-up' about what's to come and contributing to the common good out there on the road. Some of the Waze community members with a passion for maps also take an even more active role by editing and updating the Waze map, itself. Most of the editing work is done on the Waze website, but some parts, such as the naming of streets, can be done through the application directly. What are the gaming and social elements of Waze?

Keep your eyes open for treasure chests and other 'road goodies' on the streets you travel for the chance to earn extra points or win real-world prizes. You can also complete a few actions, found on the 'me' tab of the Waze scoreboard, to unlock bonus point candies that have the potential to take you to the next rank level - and even all the way up to Waze royalty! The social side of Waze has a lot going on, too. You can create or join local driving groups, 'Check in' to locations on Foursquare to earn Waze's 'Road Warrior' badge, use Twitter to tweet your activities on Waze to your followers and connect to Facebook to see all of your Waze-using Facebook friends around you on the map - it's lotsa fun! What are Waze driving groups? While drivers may be alone in their cars, they're often a part of a broader group of drivers that drive to the same destination, share the same challenges or have a common interest. Waze lets these drivers easily create, or join, groups that allow members to view each other on the map and better communicate with each other while on the road. More information can be found here. Is Waze really free? What is the company's business model? Yes, Waze is completely free for our users. Since the map itself is based on community contributions, it's only natural that Waze is available at no cost for those who contribute to building it. We generate income via location-based advertising. Isn't there a potential privacy violation in using the Waze service? Absolutely not. We respect the privacy of our users and enable them to use our app in almost total anonymity. We do not require personal details apart from an email address - for registering or using Waze. What is needed to participate? A GPS-enabled smartphone and a data plan (we recommend an unlimited data plan). We support iPhone, Android and selected Blackberry, Nokia and Windows Mobile devices. Why is a data connection required to use the service? Connectivity is required to allow Waze to both receive and deliver real-time road information. In addition, your connectivity allows Waze to immediately re-route you as conditions on the road change. Why doesn't Waze work with OpenStreetMaps? We are committed to keeping Waze free for our end users who help build the system, yet we're a commercial company who's looking to generate revenue. When looking at the OSM licensing terms, we felt that they might limit us from certain business models in the future, and, therefore, decided to use TIGER maps instead. This may change in the future, however, and we are open to potential cooperation with OSM, and other, similar, services down the line. Waze Groups: While drivers may be alone in their cars, they're often a part of a broader group of drivers that drive to the same destination, share the same challenges or have a common interest. They can be commuters, professional drivers or a group of families on their way to a weekend destination. Waze lets these drivers easily create, or join, groups that allow members to view each other on the map and better communicate with one another while on the road. Waze groups can be helpful for friends to use when travelling in a multi-car caravan. By creating a group, they'll be able to keep track of each other all along the way to their destination. Cab drivers can also use groups to view their fleet's locations on the map and see where coverage is needed in the city that they service.

 And, of course, waze groups are super useful for those who share a daily commute from the suburbs to a major metro. Commuters will be able to inform other group members about things like road conditions or closures, specific to their particular route. Key Features of Waze Group: Instantly form a group to share info with those commuting to the same destination, or create a group with people that you already know. Be creative! See your group members on the map. They are marked next to their avatar with the group icon that you selected during set up. Communicate directly with your group(s). The road reports and other content you send will be pushed directly to them. Follow as many groups as you like - you can be as selective or as broad as you want. Stay connected with your group outside of waze on Twitter or Facebook. o Groups can also have a Facebook fan page. o Communicate directly with your group(s). The road reports and other content you send will be pushed directly to them. Sample Screenshots of Waze:

Figure 1.5

Figure 1.6

Figure 1.7 Screenshot of Waze where you can report an event

Figure 1.8 Screenshot of Main Menu of the Waze Application

Localmind Localmind is currently Lenny Rachitsky, Beau Haugh, Nelson Gauthier, and Nick Adams. We kicked off this party in Montreal, Canada at an awesome startup accelerator calledYear One Labs. With a fresh round of capital from a great team of investors, we have moved our HQ to San Francisco and are hiring an elite squad of coworkers. We are building a real-time, location-based Q&A platform that sits on top of existing check-in services. We give users the power to remotely see through other people's eyes, hear through their ears, touch through their fingers. Localmind is the power of omniscience the ability to know what's happening anywhere in the world, right now. The future really is coming fast, and we are building it. Localmind Team Lenny Rachitsky Beau HaughCo-Founder/CEO Co-Founder/CTO

Nelson Gauthier Secret Weapon Potsie Rivera Lead Designer Nick Adams Android Engineer, Intern Localmind Investors Granite Ventures Inovia Capital Real Ventures Ian Sobieski Peter Bordes Ty Danco Zach Aarons Ash Jhaveri

Localmind Advisors Ben Yoskovitz Raymond Luk Randy Smerik Perry Evans FAQs about Localmind What is Localmind? Localmind is a new online service that gives you the ability to know what's happening anywhere in the world, right now. How does Localmind work? Localmind gives you the ability to send any question you want to someone that is at a location you are interested in. That person (who is either a Localmind user or one of your Foursquare friends) receives the question to their phone and responds, in real-time. Is Localmind magical? Pretty much.

How do users become available to answer a question? When you check-in with your favorite check-in service (such as Foursquare, Gowalla, or Facebook Places) you become available to be sent a question about that location. If a fellow user has a question about that location, you receive a notification and can respond in realtime. What is this message I got that you "swept under the rug"? This simply means that we were not expecting a message from you, so we were unsure what to do with your SMS. This generally means that you replied to a question after it was already too late. I received a question but I never signed up. Whats up? One of your Foursquare friends, who is a member, sent you the question based on a recent check-in of yours. Only your Foursquare friends are able to send you questions. If you'd like to opt-out, or get more details, please contact us. I just got notified that I'm a "Localmind Recruit" or a "Localmind Hotshot", what does that mean? This means that we've finally realized how awesome you are. We have leveled you up in Localmind expertise at a particular venue as a result of your helpfulness to the Localmind community and your expertise at that venue. Each time you answer a question, or check-in, or do anything to contribute value to the Localmind community, you earn karma points. Once you reach enough karma points at a specific venue, you level up at venues, showing the world how amazing you truly are. The Localmind levels are: Localmind Recruit (Level 1) - 25 karma points Localmind Expert (Level 2) - 50 karma points Localmind Champion (Level 3) - 100 karma points Localmind Legend (Level 4) - 200 karma points How do I earn karma points? You earn 5 karma points for checking-in into a venue, and 10 karma points for answering a question at a venue. We are also tracking how many of your answers are considered "helpful", and how quickly you are able to answer questions. Over time we will add other ways to earn karma and proclaim your expertise at your favorite places. What if I don't want to be an expert for a venue? Simply log in, click on the "karma" tab, find the venue you'd like to opt-out of, and click the "Opt-Out" button.

Sample Screenshots of Localmind App:

Figure 1.9

Figure 2.0

Figure 2.1

Figure 2.2

Chapter 2 Gamification in the Application How does each of the application implement gamification? First, what is Gamification? o Gamification typically involves applying game design thinking to non-game applications to make them more fun and engaging.(gamification.org) The applications that we used implemented gamification by challenging ourselves to beat our friends with scores that can help us achieve to be the top scorer on the list. Not only that they used the high-score tactic, they also implemented gamification by giving rewards and prizes. For example, on foursquare, one of the reward systems is having the opportunity on becoming the mayor of that specific place where you always check into. The second one is having badges. Different badges represent different accomplishments and these accomplishments represent how long or how often do you use and check into place using the application foursquare. The last one was the point system wherein, for every check in that you make on that specific place, you get points and, for example, if you were the first from your friends to check into that specific place, you get an additional point that says first check-in between your friends. Localmind implemented gamification by challenging ourselves to also beat our friends scores and also to achieve to be the top scorer among our friends. Localmind has a feature wherein there are levels that users can achieve. The levels challenge the users to use the application more thus this implements gamification because it makes the application more fun and engaging. There are 4 levels in Localmind, the first one is, Localmind recruit wherein you need to have 25 karma points. The second level is the Localmind expert wherein you need 50 karma points. The third one is Localmind Champion wherein you need to have 100 karma points. And the last one and the most difficult one to achieve is the Localmind Legend wherein you need 200 karma points. There are different ways on how to gain karma points. Each time you answer a question, or check-in into a place, or do anything that contributes value to the Localmind community, you can earn karma points. Once you reach enough karma points at a specific venue, you level up at venues. Waze

What kind of engagement are they trying to promote using gamification? With the features that the applications have, we think that the engagement that they are trying to promote is to use the application more often than usual because the people who use the specific application will be challenged to beat their friends and to be the number one scorer on the application. They are trying to promote this because when people use these applications, even if they are free, the people who made this application can still earn a lot of money because of the information that they get from the many people that uses the application that theyve made.

Chapter 3 - Our Achievements in Gamification

Foursquare I have been using foursquare application for some time now before creating a new account for our final exam. For the past 7 days of using it, I unlocked only two badges, the Newbie and the Adventurer badge. I also came in 14th place out of my 25 foursquare friends. For a student living near the school, I had a hard time finding a place to buy my food. Most of my group mates already had gone to that place and I had to go to a mall to find a new place to eat and sometimes, my budget for the day is not enough to buy snacks. Some of my friends from other groups achieved a higher score because there are a lot of snack houses or restaurants located on their way home. And since I lived in the province, it also hindered me to go out and explore around Taft because I might get lost easily. For me, reaching the 14th place and unlocking two badges is not a bad result. In my opinion, it is very hard to achieve a high place and unlock badges in just a week. Even though I do eat a lot every day, we are prohibited to repeat eating in the same place. I would recommend the application to my friends because first, it is a new way of socializing with your friends. Scoring and leaderboard also makes this gamified application very interesting because it motivates users to check in more into different places. However, some might get bored easily because the game only has one point system. Foursquare also requires internet connection, only some of us have mobile internet access with our mobile phones or tablets. Using Foursquare might also be expensive for users who are not subscribed to mobile internet data plans.At first, the user might enjoy with using it especially if he travels and eats a lot in different places. But as he go along, he might get used to the app and want to try others. My best contributions in using Foursquare app would be my check ins to new and interesting places Ive never been to. Since it was also my first time to eat in that place and took pictures of the food, sometimes my friends would ask me on where this place located is, and how they can get there. Checking in with attached pictures would also be helpful to other people because they will know the different kinds of foods sold in that place. As for the food company or restaurant owners, every check in on their place counts. This means that for every check in registered in Foursquare, their popularity will also increase and they may be well known if their place gets recommended in Foursquare. Every time I check in to a different place, my foursquare friends will also know that I have gone to that place and this might be of interest to them. A lot of my friends love to go out and explore around whats new, whats trending and which is the best place to go. And in my opinion, foursquare is not only a great application for people who are always on the go and curious but for business owners as well. Made by Rem Tiangco

Chapter 4 Gamification in the Philippines What other areas of the Philippine Society (except for Higher Education) best attract engagement using gamification? For our groups answer to this question, we analyzed first what are the things that Filipino people often do. We found out that they always commute using public transportation like buses, jeepneys, and trains to go to work or to go shopping at the mall with their family or their friends. The Filipino people also want to eat at fast food restaurants or any restaurant where they can have a quality time with their family and friends. Selecting one are in Philippine Society to gamify, how will the gamification be like? Our group selected the area of commuting because most of the Filipino people are only middle class citizen wherein they can only spend their money on the things that are very necessary to them. Most Filipino people do not have a car to travel with so they use public transportation to go to a place. Our group was thinking that the gamification in the transportation area will be like, for example, if you commute with your friends or your coworkers, there is this specific application wherein, you will check-in with your friends on that specific vehicle or train or whatever form or transportation you are into. Then the application checks the location of your friends and the user, and then if the application says that you are not with them on that specific vehicle then it will not count. But if the application says that youre with your friends, then that is the time where the application will give you points.

What do you think are the different factors that will make gamification of application successful or not successful in the Philippines?

Chapter 5 Gamification and Increasing Student Collaboration in Higher Education

Bibliography: Foursquare: About Foursquare (2012) Retrieved March 27, 2012, from https://foursquare.com/about/ Foursquare: Business Brands (2012) Retrieved March 27, 2012 from https://foursquare.com/business/brands Waze: About Waze (2012) Retrieved March 27, 2012 from http://www.waze.com/about/about_us/ Waze: FAQ (2012) Retrieved March 27, 2012 from http://www.waze.com/faq/ Waze: Waze Group (2012) Retrieved March 27, 2012, from http://www.waze.com/groups/about/ Localmind: About (2011) retrieved March 27, 2012, from http://www.localmind.com/about Localmind: FAQs (2011) retrieved March 27, 2012, from http://www.localmind.com/faq