Using Gameplay to Make a Big, Boring, Complex Industry Approachable and Fun The big boring complex industry I’m referring to is financial services Kapitall is an online investing site that’s focused on making investing approachable and engaging. We’ve been called the Wii of investing I’m going to show you how we applied characteristics of games to provide an experience that’s quite different than that offered by traditional online brokers I’ll note a few standard characteristics used by games and then demo how we translated these to online investing to make our site more But first let’s look at the state-of-the art web design for online brokers Cordell Ratzlaff Kapitall

Note: Main call to action Navigation header at the top Sign in on the right-hand side

Note: Main call to action Navigation header at the top Sign in on the right-hand side Three sub-promotions at the bottom

Note: Main call to action Navigation header at the top Sign in on the right-hand side Three sub-promotions at the bottom

Note: Main call to action Navigation header at the top Sign in on the right-hand side Three sub-promotions at the bottom

Note: Main call to action Navigation header at the top Sign in on the right-hand side Three sub-promotions at the bottom Are you seeing a pattern here? These are all the same site! But it’s also complex. You can find what you’re looking for at TD Ameritrade, but it looks something like this…

Here we pulled apart the navigation header, so you can see this is also complex These are all successful companies, so this design must be working for them But we know from our research that there’s a large population of people that this doesn’t work for Talk about demographics

Investing is: Goal directed Balance of risk and reward Time-sensitive decisions based on dynamic information Well defined rules and a clear scoring system Collaborative This is a pity, because investing can actually be fun and exciting Note the characteristics of investing <click for build> These are many of the same characteristics of games Our hypothesis was that we could use many of the conventions found in games to make investing more fun and approachable

Games take place in their own worlds Game worlds are an escape from reality Sports arenas Race tracks Locations – jungle, snow, outer space Different weather conditions Players have more control over game worlds Game worlds evolve over time faster than the real world

Games as worlds are nothing new

Games have characters Characters enable stories and drama within a game Good vs. evil The character could represent the player (avatar) People play games to be the people they wish they could be A persona the player inhabits A team A car

Creating a character can be as much fun as playing the game itself Enable customization, players can make the game their own Character attributes can effect gameplay Creating a character can be as much fun as playing the game itself

Tools are applied to objects in the environment Tools are used to affect things in the game world Tools and objects could be: A weapon applied to an opponent A golf club applied to a ball A potion applied to a character Tools are applied to objects in the environment

Information overlays provide real-time situational awareness Information is provided in context to help the player make decisions

Games use missions to create engagement Missions provide direction to help achieve an objective Provide a path for improving skills In Farmville, they also encourage social interaction Games use missions to create engagement

Demo