Bing Gordon and Chloe Gordon join us with their guide to building better products and delighting customers using the billion-dollar secrets of video game design.
About the Book
Video games are the biggest entertainment industry in the world for a reason: they tap into human psychology and drives like nothing else. So how can we recreate the satisfaction we feel playing games in day-to-day life? How can we harness that feeling to grow better businesses?
These are the questions Bing Gordon has been trying to answer over his forty-year career in tech. Affectionately known as the godfather of the video game world, his influence and canonized “Gamification Checklist” have shaped the games and companies we engage with every day: EA Sports, FarmVille, The Sims, Amazon Prime, Zynga, Spotify, Audible, Twitch, Duolingo, and Cameo, to name a few.
Now, in Everybody Wins, Bing and his daughter, Chloe Gordon, dive into each of the eight core elements of his checklist, lessons extracted from a lifetime in games:
Wow Moments: Lead with unforgettable moments of exaltation
Invest and Express: Create opportunities for self-expression and recognition
Session Economics: Make every session feel worth the time it took
Social Integration: Prioritize integrating social connection, always
Retention Hacking: Build “forever franchises” that delight and grow
Game Loops: Design satisfying repetition
Quantify Everything: Measure achievements at the micro-level
Packed with unforgettable stories of Bing’s mind-boggling career, Everybody Wins imparts hard-earned wisdom that any business and anyone can implement for creating irresistible products and experiences. As all well-designed games show, when these principles are applied, you’ll always feel like you’re winning.
About the Speakers
Bing Gordon is a video game man. He was the Chief Product Officer for Kleiner Perkins, a consultant to Amazon, and an advisor and mentor to dozens of gaming and social-tech start-ups. Before wading into the buttoned-up world of venture, Bing was co-founder, Chief Creative Officer, and long-time executive at Electronic Arts, from its founding in 1982 until his “retirement” in 2008. Bing was awarded the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences’ Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. He has an MBA from Stanford and a BA from Yale. Bing’s favorite games of all time are World of Warcraft, The Sims, Diablo, Pogo, Civilization, and FarmVille.
Chloe Gordon is an LA-based director, writer, and documentarian who explores the intersections of technology, storytelling and culture. Her career spans multiple media forms, including creating and writing Amazon’s first scripted comedy series for Twitch, Two Joysticks and a Couch, and working on 108 episodes of Saturday Night Live, which earned her a spot on Billboard’s 2015 TV Top Music Power Players list. Her portfolio spans narrative film, non-fiction, journalism, and the occasional viral article. Chloe frequently collaborates with tech founders and investors to craft essays, investment theses, and narrative pieces for organizations including Y Combinator, Uptake, and Dwarfstar.
Paul Saffo is a Silicon Valley-based forecaster who studies the dynamics of large-scale, long-term technological change, and advises corporate, NGO and governmental clients worldwide. Paul has taught foresight as an Adjunct Professor at Stanford for the last two decades. He is a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, and a Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.
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