[OSM-talk] Gamification and OSM (Was: Upgraded map controls)

[Johan C]

2013/7/29 Michal Migurski <mike at teczno.com>

> Gamification can refer to a lot of things, but it boils down
> comparing/pitting users against one another. Around 9:10, Saman highlights
> Strava, "designed to incentivize activity". At 10:10, the suggestion for
> OSM includes comparisons to others ("mapper level") and what looks like a
> leaderboard. The word "gamification" is used at this point in the talk.
>
> Strava and Facebook are example social sites that are not generative in
> themselves. The product of Facebook and Strava is eyeballs, while the
> product of OSM is a free and open map. We bring people together for the
> sake of creating a better, more complete map, and increasing numbers of
> mappers and changes is just one component of this. It's my belief that
> game-inspired social mechanics bring all the boys to the yard while
> discouraging more collaborative, social, and goal-focused mappers.
>
> OSM needs "we" mappers more than "me" mappers.
>
> OSM's social model needs to account for the quality and resilience of the
> resulting map, and for that we need collaborative social activities rather
> than competitive ones. Alex's recent US post on editathons explains this
> better than I can: "a great regular excuse for people to get together to
> get work done and socialize" (
> http://openstreetmap.us/2013/07/why-editathons/). I believe that a more
> fitting model for social activity and groups in OSM can be found elsewhere:
> Github, Metafilter, and Twitter.
>
>
OSM has set a high goal. Steve Coasts 'OSM will evolve in to the best and
most complete map possible' (
http://blog.openstreetmap.org/2010/02/20/openstreetmap-the-best-map/) is
about the same as 'Our amazing community is making OpenStreetMap the best
map of the world.' (http://donate.openstreetmap.org/server2013/). In my
words: that means better than Google Maps. Not only in quantity and quality
of streets, but also in addresses, POI's etc.

Given that point into the horizon, any decision made should answer to the
question: 'does it contribute to our goal'? Regarding this thread: 'Does
gamification contribute to make OSM the best map of the world?' To do that,
users of OSM games should contribute back to the map.

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Kort_Game:  "The app uses the concept of
gamification to motivate users to regularly use it. This means, that
game<http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Game>-like
elements are used like winning points and badges to climb the highscore. The
points (so called *Koins*) are collected by the players by fulfilling
tasks. Examples of tasks are
POIs<http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Points_of_interest>
 without a name, where the user has to enter the missing name. All
proposals for solutions to the tasks are then validated by other players.
If a certain amount of players (3 to 5 depending on error type) validated a
proposal it is considered complete and is therefore ready to be integrated
on OpenStreetMap."

Stefan understood what it's about: compliments for that Stefan, and I hope
your game will eventually attract millions of users. And with that huge
numbers of mappers.

Waze also understood what it's about:
'As Bret McVey, a graphic designer in Omaha who made 280,000 changes to
Waze’s maps in the last year told *Bits*, “They created this culture where
you can really help others.” That culture rewards Waze users with points
and badges and gives the top 500 map editors direct access to Waze
employees to close the gap between reality and what Waze depicts.' (
http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2013/06/11/four-reasons-for-google-to-buy-waze/
)

And of course editathons, online or offline, can also be helpful in
achieving OSM's goal.

Cheers, Johan
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