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-Game Compendium-

Avatar: Generally speaking, an avatar is the embodiment of a person or idea. However, in the computer world, an avatar specifically refers to a character that represents an online user (https://techterms.com/definition/avatar). Check out Class Craft.

Autonomy: Autonomy refers to the initiative and freedom a person experiences when engaged in an activity in the absence of external pressure with respect to his or her personal goals (Ryan & Deci 2000). See Karl Kapp's Create Autonomy in Gamification and Other Learning Environments.

Badges: A badge is a medallion received for a specific accomplishment or as a result of another reward. It can be a public marker of whether one is competent or an expert on a given topic or skill. Check out Badgelist.

Digimodernism: Digimodernism is the impact of computerization on all forms of art, culture and textuality. It is also the dominant cultural force field of the 21^st century, the successor to a postmodernism which reigned supreme throughout the 1980s and 1990s... [I]t is a revolution in the nature of the text itself, seen vividly in the platforms of Web 2.0 (blogs, chat rooms, message boards, Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, [video games,] etc.). Such a textuality is onward, haphazard, evanescent, and fluid-bounded: it exists in its own current expansion or elaboration; its content is up for grabs, though surreptitiously patrolled; it does not last and is not reproducible in its original form; and its temporal and spatial boundaries are, though perceptible, very hard to fix (http://ben-research2point0.blogspot.com/2010/06/what-is-digimodernism.html). If Postmodernism was about "interpretation," digimodernism is all about "manipulation" (see Alan Kirby's Digimodernism: How New Technologies Dismantle the Postmodern and Reconfigure Our Culture).

Failure: Failure is simply part of the iterative steps towards mastery. It simply means try again. "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better" (Samuel Beckett Worstward Ho!).

Fiero: An Italian word that is used in gamification to describe a sense of great achievement or triumph over adversity – the sort that has you fist pumping in the air! (https://www.gamified.uk/2014/09/19/language-gamification-short-glossary/).

Flow: In gamification we talk about it as a place between boredom and frustration where the skills of the player match the level of challenge. They lose all sense of self and time seems to go by much faster (https://www.gamified.uk/2014/09/19/language-gamification-short-glossary/).

Games: "Games are an action-based medium... If photographs are images, and films are moving images, then games are actions… one takes a photograph, one acts in a film. But these actions transpire before or during the fabrication of the work… With games, the work itself is material action… What used to be the act of reading is now the act of doing… What used to be primarily the domain of eyes and looking is now more likely that of muscles and doing, thumbs, to be sure" (from Alexander Galloway's Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture).

Game Narrative: The story within the game design itself. For instance, in a Geometry class, students might immerse themselves into a story of being an architectural archeologist who is traveling the world to study the geometrical characteristics of ancient wonders such as the pyramids. By way of this story, students are invited to engage in the act of studying and practicing Geometry skills, but they do so in a way that stimulates the learner's imaginative faculties as well, thereby making him/her feel a sense of agency within the confines of a game world.

Game-based Learning: Unlike gamification, game-based learning relates to the use of games to enhance the learning experience. Educators have been using games in the classroom for years... Game-based learning dates back to the 1970s with games like The Oregon Trail that are geared toward education (Steven Isaacs The Difference between Gamification and Game-Based Learning).

Gamification: Gamification is the process of taking something [that is not a game] that already exists – a website, an enterprise, an online community, [a curricular unit in school] – and integrating game mechanics into it to motivate participation, engagement, and loyalty (https://www.bunchball.com/gamification).

• Content Gamification: This is the application of game elements and game thinking to alter content to make it more game-like. For example, adding story elements makes the content more game-like but doesn’t turn the content into a game. It simply provides context or activities which are used within games and adds them to the content being taught (Karl Kapp Two Types of #Gamification). (Examples: Game narratives, avatars, tribes)
• Structural Gamification: This is the application of game-elements to propel a learner through content with no alteration or changes to the content itself. The content does not become game-like, only the structure around the content (Karl Kapp Two Types of #Gamification). (Examples: XP points, Leveling up, "Failing towards mastery")

Grind Assignments: Grinding refers to the playing time spent doing repetitive tasks within a game to unlock a particular game item or to build the [XP points] needed to progress smoothly through the game (https://www.techopedia.com/definition/27527/grinding). Grind assignments are usually "low hanging fruit" assignments that students can engage in at any level of the game to earn extra XP points in smaller increments. Grind assignments are also a great way to provide a variety of assignment options that appeal to different learner profiles.

Leader/Point Boards: The purpose of a leaderboard is to show players where they rank in a gamified system. Those at the top enjoy the notoriety it brings; as for everyone else, the leaderboard shows them where they stand relative to their peers. It's a way of displaying/ranking publicly the top XP point earners.

Leveling Up: In terms of design, games usually have a series of levels whose scale corresponds to the level or depth of challenges a player may face as he or she moves up. A player's ability to "level up" can be determined by the amount of XP points earned or by the mastery of certain required assignments or tasks at any given level.

Mastery: By definition, mastery learning is a method of instruction where the focus is on the role of feedback in learning (http://www.nyu.edu/classes/keefer/waoe/motamediv.htm). In a gamified context, mastery is emphasized in conjunction with a revaluation of failure (namely seeing failure as an invitation to "try again"). It allows the instructor to decouple feedback from giving grades, thereby making the learner more receptive to an instructor's comments and suggestions.

Motivation

• Extrinsic Motivation: Something that is external, such as monetary rewards for doing something (examples of rewards might be badges, XP points, class privileges, etc.) (https://www.gamified.uk/2014/09/19/language-gamification-short-glossary/).
• Intrinsic Motivation: Personal / internal reasons to do something. Relatedness, Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose are examples of this (https://www.gamified.uk/2014/09/19/language-gamification-short-glossary/).

Tribes: Tribes can be understood as grouping students into teams for purposes of incentivizing competition between groups (using a score board, for instance) or encouraging students to help each other succeed in a peer-to-peer, collaborative framework.

XP Points: An experience point (often abbreviated to exp or XP) is a unit of measurement used in tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's progression through the game. In an educational context, students start with Zero XP points (instead of a 100% average), and as they master assignments and move up levels, they are awarded more and more points to measure their level of achievement. The idea is to make grading an affirmative process, as opposed to a punitive one.