The Beginner’s Guide to Gamification (19 of 90): White Hat vs Black Hat Gamification

The Mysteries of White Hat vs Black Hat Gamification

Up to this point, I have mostly been covering the foundation of my Octalysis framework, through blogposts, videos, and talks. I have finally covered enough that I am charting into new territories.

This is the first piece of work I’m sharing with the public that is specifically honed in on the topic of White Hat vs Black Hat Gamification.

Expect more to come, especially in my upcoming book Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards.

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17 thoughts on “The Beginner’s Guide to Gamification (19 of 90): White Hat vs Black Hat Gamification”

  1. So CD4 & CD 5 are grey (gray?) hat or are they bald, like me? (I know you said they could be either… I was just pondering alternative ways of looking at them).

  2. Strange feeling appears =) You know, we, together with Yu-Kai had some messages between each other in LinkedIn just some days ago, and now, writing this comment, to a video, that is almost 2 years ago…
    There is a strange “timeshift” feeling, like, this video was done yesterday, so these two years are passing so rapidly.
    And discussion, which is put here is, maybe, one of the most important ones – Black VS White Hat techniques. In business there is no exact answer – when to use this or that, but almost everywhere (in terms of different business-processes) you need to keep balance of both these Forces – Dark or Bright =)
    And, by the way – about exact employee motivation topic raised – sometimes elements from Black Hat techs could be useful to motivate temas like Production and/or Logistics, Engineers and even Sales too. But for each type of team – quality and quantity of Black Hat elements should vary and, according to overall modern leadership concepts, be less heavily presented in the system than White Hat elements. White Hat should be 80% and Black – 20% – that is what I think.

  3. The more I learn, the more I want to know.
    I have the feeling I always knew this stuff and only now i realize step by step why I did.
    Thank you so much for your work Yu-Kai!

  4. Hey maydotsies, when I first started to watch the videos I though “man, how could I even make it through the first three clips…”. Luckily the content was so valuable and the videos really entertaining so that I stuck with them. After watching a couple of videos I got used to their style and that’s what makes them special in my opinion. It sets them apart from the big mass of educational clips out there and I’m always looking forward to what surprises the next video will hold (CD7).

    @Yu-kai, keep up your great work!

  5. Yu-kai Chou I think me being prone to motion sickness didn’t help much! 

    I can understand the time and technical constraints you have while travelling around affects what you can achieve with your videos.You do pick the most interesting places to film though, which you can make the most of!

  6. maydotsies Thanks for the feedback Maydotsies. Indeed the reason why I produce the same content in so many different ways is that different types of people like to learn differently. Some like to read blogs, white papers, or books. Others like to watch a lecture. My video series, as described, was more of a hobby where I could explain similar content while I’m traveling or inbetween meetings. 

    Unfortunately, the choppy editing and the handheld is for practical reasons…every hour I’m working on something beyond my client work literally means I’m sleeping less for an hour (or spending less time with my family…which is already lacking). The only way for me to do these videos is to use my iPhone while I walk around, and then edit it when I squeeze time into it. I would love to hire professional camera sets and editors, but it’s just impractical that they follow me around when I do my meetings.

    I do know some of my biggest fans became that because of these videos, and whereas for a while I was embarrassed myself to show to people, eventually enough people/clients showed excitement for it that I shared them more. Sometimes the way to learn if the video is too distracting, is to be on another tab and just listen to what I say.

    Perhaps I can start making up to par videos once I start to charge for them ^_^

  7. maydotsies I believe up to par is a subjective phrase in this context.  Perhaps “not my cup of tea” would convey subjective disapproval for the video style…I think it is perfect for the ADD and ADHD crowd to keep their attention engaged…Yu Kai is not a boring talking head news anchor…he has a personality. ;o)

  8. Hi there, I just wanted to comment that you’re doing a great job documenting your thoughts and teachings on this site. 

    However when I started watching the videos, I got nothing out of it. Not sure why you went for the choppy editing, shaky handheld cam style but there is way too much noise for me to focus on what you’re saying. 

    You’ve spent a great deal of time on this site, with fun gamification tools built in to it, so it’s too bad that your teaching videos are not up to par.

  9. great series, looking forward to the rest when you get the time 🙂
    Are any of your university course resources online?

  10. I like how the delineations are drawn. Players leaving the system because of too much Black Hat and not sufficiently urgency in White Hat. The middle core drives are neutral and can be managed based on the situation/context.

You must engage in the conversation!!