Travel Gamification – the Way to Fun

Outline of the Article:

Gamification for Travel

Travel is a great Hobby, but it’s not the most popular one.
And Money is not the only variable.
Most of the popular hobbies are Expensive.
Hunting is expensive, if you’re into sports you’re putting a ton of money in equipment, and nowadays people are training with coaches.
More & more people get into Hiking, Mountain Climbing, Scuba Diving or Sky Diving.
These are expensive.
Even Reading isn’t cheap if you are buying a new book, at 10-20$, every week or every month.
Maybe Drawing can be construed as cheap is you only buy regular A4 and use the same pen & pencil for the whole year.
- But even there, you know you’ll get the fancy stuff.

The issue is Travel can be boring or tedious.
1 of the common complain about travel, especially in the case of theme parks, is that you have to wait to get to the attraction/landmark and in the end it isn’t that great.

1 of the biggest aspects of cooperation is arguing.
You can argue when you’re 2 or 3.
As a matter of fact you can even argue with yourself.
Although when you’re 4 can start to polarize the opinion while at the same time benefiting from diverse opinions.
These intense discussions, especially if they end to be big successes & big failures, will become the memories you are looking for.

Our Travels Posts are divided in 4 categories : Shopping districts, Landmarks, Parks & Restaurants.
Now, your team could have 4 types of Adventurers: The Shopper, The Explorer, The Rester & The Fooder.
And it will only make the journey smoother.
You will always have someone who knows what to eat, where to rest & what the plan is in every place you go.

What are your hobbies?
How can they enhance your journey?
What if you were guided solely by the things that will always bring you joy.
Even if you don’t go to all the ‘essential places’ in Madrid or Miami during your travel, you would have only done what you wanted.
What you truly wanted.

You’ve got a top 10 list of the things you need to do in the place you are visiting.
Do you want to do them?
Or does your characters has other plans?
If you’re a reader/writer, become a storyteller.
If you’re a drawer/painter, craft a piece which depicts where you are.
If you’re a sportif, give them a quick session.

For every Attraction, every Place you are visiting craft Quests.
Give your team members step-by-step tutorials, and then let them play.
Let them go through a nice steep progression curve so that they can feel a sens of accomplishment.
Balance is the key.

What’s your favorite color?
1 of the greatest rewards is ownership.
You’ve already been to Barcelona and now you can show everyone around.
You know the best restaurants & museums in the city & can give a private tour.
Owning your setting, owning your game brings you the opportunity to build a narrative.
You can monitor the attachment to the setting.
You can give your team a sense of protection through your ownership, which in return will entice them to show you more of themselves.
You can help them achieve Personal victory conditions though experiences tailored for them.
You can develop a progressive system of rewards adapted to the difficulties encountered.

Another essential element of games is Replayability.
You’ve visited all the stadiums in the United Kingdom?
- Will another match look the same?
You’ve visited all the museum in Berlin, can you visit them again?
- How will you proceed?
You could try another sport, another type of visit, but would it be enough to surprise you?
Make a small deck of cards with the names of the places you want to go to and let your teammates pick 3 of them at random.
Make another deck with the things you could do in these places & repeat the process.
Unpredictability is a core element of fun.
What about allowing things to be unpredictable?

Traveling can be extremely taxing.
But resting can be difficult as well.
Especially if you’re visiting a bubbling metropolis.
Unless you’re in a cool village in the country, finding a calm space can be difficult.

Meditation will become a challenge.
Find a quiet spot in a park & breathe.
Your Rester will help.
Ask her what you should do.
She can propose you any type of relaxing games.
If you’re in a water garden, or another open space that allows you to broadcast music it could be the perfect opportunity to learn outdoor meditation.
It may feel uncomfortable in the beginning, but you own this uncomfortable situation.
Controlled discomfort really is the path to fun.

Another great place to chill are cafes.
They’re more obvious too.
How do you turn this into a game?
Do you want to turn this into a game?
You really don’t have to, but if you want it’s easy.
If you’re in a foreign country, order in the language.
It requires a little bit of speech preparation but if you’re there for a couple of days it can be achieved fairly fast.
Now, this is tedious, and you have to learn the language and whatever…

Still there?
Ask for 10% off.
Not on your order, on the bill.
Most of the time your interlocutor will be really surprised.
They may tell you “This is [whatever chain brand], you know?”
Answer, “I know, but it would make me a really happy customer.”
Only do that if you’re in a Big Brand location.
- We don’t want to cripple small businesses.

How will you use your world map?

How will you use the World?