There are certain online sites which tend to evoke in people a feeling of the true nature – or the DNA – of the internet.  Chatroulette was one of these and 4chan is another. Usually what people mean by  ‘the DNA of the internet’ is unbridled raw expression which is often tainted by porn or other social vulgarity. Using this criteria the public bathroom wall has functioned in much the same way as the internet.

One of the big keynotes at sxsw was from 4chan founder – Christopher ‘m00t’ Poole -  who went for Facebook’s jugular by deriding their identity-driven model as contributing to the web’s “loss of innocence.”  Almost in the same breath m00t used the event to push 4chan’s newest product called Canvas.

Two ingredients which have kept 4chan’s message boards legendary are anonymity and images.  These are the same levers which have fostered liberated communication for thousands of years – whether it’s WikiLeaks whistleblowers or the increasing slope of visual culture provided for anyone with a cameraphone or the tendency to deface ads when people get within striking distance. Canv.as reaches the lowest common denominator of conversation – - and what’s novel about it, they provide the rudimentary tools to keep things creative (think MS Paint).

Want to play a fun game? Ask a child to draw an object. After he or she is done, it’s your turn. Add a line – curved, straight, spiraling, jagged. Then it’s their turn, so on and so forth. It gets wild quick – the whole process is a great way to let go of preconceptions.  Canvas is the same (except the group is larger and not innocent kids). For all that’s contrived about today’s packaged and over-produced culture, having your preconceptions challenged is a noble pursuit – even if it’s done from a bathroom stall.

Games used to be about consoles and phones and farm-related status updates on Facebook. But games have already moved into other areas that impact our purchases of everything from airline tickets to 1950s era office chairs on eBay.

The idea of a game layer for the world, seems very plausible. In fact if the game layer involves using mechanisms to cause new behavior, the game layer is most definitely already here – its just that most marketers aren’t thinking of themselves as game designers, yet.

Loyalty versus Deals deathmatch

Groupon has fast become the king of deals. It uses a simple combination of game mechanics to create irresistible offers:

+ the qualified “free lunch”: get 50% off! (but only if 100 people agree to the deal)

+ communal gameplay: only 53/100 have agreed so far, get your friends!

+ countdown: hurry, only 2 days and 1 hour left!

It’s JUST these game mechanics and an e-mail list (and a massive sales team) that keep Groupon running. SCVNGR believes they have a counter-measure to discounts to induce loyalty using a different set of mechanics around leveling up, fittingly called, “Level Up”.

Marketers are game designers

Groupon and SCVNGR are just the latest to take advantage of game mechanics. At the core, game mechanics are nothing new: they’re about understanding individual and group behavior and creating systems to get specific outcomes as a result of these insights.

Marketers should feel right at home, right?

Actually, marketers already design much more complex games. They get to draw on libraries of game mechanics from how people might respond to a story, to A/B tested copywriting in e-mail. Loyalty systems keep me from switching to a cheaper ticker because now I get special treatment in security lines. Social media added a host of new mechanics to cause behavior in people that causes other behavior in other people, so complexity has gone up again.

No wonder marketers get the feeling they may be missing opportunities – how could one possibly choose the right mix of approaches to changing behavior to get an optimal result?

How do I know it will work?

At the end of Seth’s session, 3,000 people frantically gestured to one another and began trading pieces of colored paper. It looked a little like the trading floor behind a TV announcer explaining a sharp equities sell-off.

The objective – work together to win a game, by organizing ourselves to create patterns using different colored cardboard sheets. There were a few rules, a clock, and a clear objective.

At the outset, if you had polled the room, my guess is most people would have voted against  a successful outcome. Yes, after 60 seconds, were were done. #epicwin

More experiments, fewer attempts to plan

Too often I encounter the following.

“We want to do something innovative”

[insert untested idea that might cause desired behavior here]

“How well will this work?”

“I’m not sure, but we have a way to test it”

“Oh, what else do you have?”

Seth could have tried to model and analyze what might have happened when 3,000 played a new game. But it was cheaper and more conclusive to simply run the game on a small scale as an experiment.  Real-world evidence trumps survey data every time.

Developers have been using this strategy for years, working and playing in sandboxes: places designed to test ideas and understand what works.

Maybe its time for a marketing sandbox?

[If you want to learn more about the SCVNGR panel at SXSW, we liked the thoughts from The Guardian and Made by Many.

Top Image: SCVNGR founder Seth Priebatsch doing behavior hacks on 3,000 of us at his SXSW keynote. ]

I love it. But will it work?

Heading into SXSW, many people are asking themselves this question of their new products, panels or parties.

So, using my very special mix of trend analysis, chatter analysis and witchdoctory, some prognostications for Epic Winning at SXSW.

1. Holler Gram

Remember backchannel? Now there is something new for presenters to contend with and a new way for session attendees to join in. Actually its likely also something that barkeeps, Austin TSA officials and a host of other people will come to know in short order.

The smart folks at Made by Many have created a physical messaging platform.

This is just genius because it is going to enable a bunch of new experiences in a simple elegant way. It’s an instant classic example of what we call scaffolding – the stuff organizations can make to enable others make.

2. Groupme

Ah the joy of social networking reduced to the core. Thank you Groupme. I can finally fill in the massive continuum between public and private without trying to understand Facebook privacy settings. Plus there are some fun power-ranger-esque features like a single button that instantly summons everyone in the group.

While I suspect many people don’t want to bother setting up a new Social Network, Groupme makes it so easy, it will be hard to not to.

3. GroupGram

In the spirit of good ideas having sex (combine the top 2 with MIT’s Flyfire), a new concept (possibly ready by the end of SXSW?). The idea is simple – enable screens to be networked together to create much bigger screens by defining groups.

Any takers?

Games are increasingly at the center of how learning is done. The US Army realized this some time ago, when they introduced Americas Army. So it’s no coincidence that in the book Generation Kill, a military engagement in Iraq inspired this comment – “I was just thinking one thing when we drove into that ambush,” he enthuses. “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. …”. So games can teach killing. Yes thats the same sales-record-setting GTA .

But what else can games teach? Recently, Harvard Business School weighed in on the matter in Leaderships Online Labs. Here they discuss how collaboration in multi-player games is providing training for a new generation of leaders. This is not just target practice.

So could games be used to solve bigger problems? Or at least to help people learn to think through a complex issue and potentially lead to a solution. It does seem hopeful. So we were excited to see a new game, built for Greenpeace by Almap BBDO in Brazil (Parabens Sergio!).

The game encourages players to collaborate to understand and solve climate change problems – its call WeAtheR. Its beautifully crafted and playful, but the issues at hand are deadly serious. It’s an inspired way to educate (and be educated) and we look forward to seeing this in schools, soon, not just in Brazil, but around the world.

Learning is not just limited to online either – there is a board game created from recycled materials, of course. Maybe the characters could be sold too and funds channeled back to expand development of the game – I’d love to get one for Max. More background about the project, is provided in this case study.