The power of unlocking
Image by JoshSeamans
Ever since my family got a Nintendo Wii I’ve been witnessing the power of unlocking in action – repeatedly. Unlocking is exciting, rewarding, fun, addictive, and a very clever strategy for making someone love your product. Wouldn’t it be cool if you could carry that experience over to other media?
Unlocking is slick
Unlocking, in the sense of the word that I’m using, is performing actions that cause previously unavailable features to become available. Video games make extensive use of unlocking features to make games more exciting and rewarding.
Mario Kart Wii is a simple but effective example of the use of unlocking. This is a simple racing game using characters made famous from Donkey Kong, Mario Bros, and the myriad of sequels. You can race on four difference “cups” (collections of four races) using one of 12 different characters and an assortment of karts, motorcyles, and race cars. But that’s just the beginning.
As you achieve various awards and goals during gameplay, new features “unlock” and become available for your play: more race tracks, characters, and vehicles. Soon the game (which is pretty fun on its own) becomes a never-ending quest to find out what’s next.
So yeah, I’m a bit caught up in that excitement. I’ve seen this happen in other games. Sometimes you know what will happen as a game unfolds and you look forward to what is supposed to happen – this is especially true in multi-player online games. During other games, everything is a complete mystery, often leading to a delightful experience as each previously hidden piece of the puzzle is revealed.
Can unlocking work in other media?
I might be obsessing over a cool game function, but I think this idea of unlockable content can be used to great effect in other media. For example:
- Parts of movies, novels, stories that only become available through unlocking (like the “easter eggs” that are placed in DVDs).
- Various contests require actions to reveal the next step
I’m wondering if there’s a way to use this concept in blogging, online content, etc. outside of the examples that I’ve mentioned above. I don’t mean in terms of paying money to unlock content; I mean in terms of performing certain actions to get access to more content. Maybe it’s like the ARGs (alternate reality games?) that have been created for TV shows like Lost and Heroes. Maybe not.
Maybe this could be used for educational purposes? Prove mastery of a topic or skill in order to get access to more content, but not through overt testing.
I wonder if there’s a way to couple “unlocking” with the needs of public education to make it a more interesting experience for the students.
Have you seen or experienced the power of “unlocking” outside of video games?
Stephan Miller:
Actually despite the issues No Child Left Behind has caused, there are some public education tools that uses a form of unlocking. My daughter is so ahead of her class that a lot of her education at school is done by computer. In reading, she is up to a 6th Grade level in 2nd Grade. They have a program that gives her increasingly harder and harder books to read. See also uses a similar program with math. It is when she has to join the rest of the class that she becomes bored.
9 March 2009, 7:12 amMark Dykeman:
Thanks Stephan. To be honest, I think I see a similar issue within my own family, but we don't have the same kind of programs in my children's school to help them keep moving ahead so quickly.
9 March 2009, 8:51 amGard:
I wished I had the same option when I went to school. Alas, the idea has struck me earlier, that the entire “class moves ahead in slow pace” concept is pushing the talents down and is also unfair: If you get a C in any subject at a specific point in time, that C will follow you, assuming you won't learn the subject at any point in your life – ever.
An entire education system based on “unlocking” the next level would remove grades as we know it, replacing them with “which level have you reached?” which is a lot more interesting than what grades you had in a subject 20 years ago.
22 March 2009, 5:26 pmAddictive Shooting Games:
Very nice blog i like it
14 February 2010, 11:06 pm