Kidpoints

Purpose

Kidpoints was created as a way of gently encouraging or discouraging certain activities -- a set of mild punishments and rewards, so that we wouldn't have to resort to harsh punishments or major rewards in order to get what we needed.

Related: gamification - turning work into a game through a set of formal rules, with or without software

History

Version 1 worked well for several years when the kids were lower-school age, but as they moved into middle school:

• it became difficult to introduce new tasks, refine the definition of existing tasks, or change the reward/punishment value
• it became more of a nuisance to maintain than it was worth -- constantly hopping up to add points, needing to keep track of totals, remembering to deduct points for various infractions, etc.

Version 2 was an attempt to make it possible for the kids to do more of the maintenance work, and give more accurate incentives for both old and new tasks in order to help the kids feel like they were actually earning their rewards rather than just going along with parental requirements. It never really got implemented.

Given that the kids are both avid gamers, and having come across some information indicating that game-scoring techniques work well in education, we decided to try using them for this system as well; that became Version 3.

Here is (revision 0.2 of) the Version 3 rule sheet; I have a list of changes to make which hopefully I will get to before the sheets are lost.

Software

For the next incarnation, I am thinking that this really needs to be handled in code. Although the complexity of the points system does seem to help motivate the kids, it (of course) makes the maintenance task worse -- but absolutely perfect for software.

I picture something like this:

• Each kid has their own log in; parents also have log-ins.
• Kids can enter tasks that they have done.
• Some tasks require parental checking, so if a kid enters that they have done one of these, parents receive a notification to check and make sure the task was done properly. Once the parent has verified the task, the kid receives the appropriate reward on their account.
• The software will report current status:
  • what each player's current "level" is
  • number of HP, XP, and "poings"
  • whether certain privileges are active (e.g. unlimited computer time)
• The software will send reminders when privileges are about to expire.
• The software will allow certain defined transactions, e.g. buying "poings" with HP
• The software could automatically deduct points for required tasks not done

...and so on.

This would also allow the system to be more "game like", as I could introduce more random elements (which, I'm told on reliable authority, are often the best motivators) and narrative to accompany each event, such as:

• Since you did not brush your teeth last night, a grue scented you and has attacked. You survived, but lost 30 XP.
• Because the table has not been cleaned off for 3 days, a small colony of brain-borer bugs has taken up residence in the pile of dishes, cutlery, bits of crust, gnawed bones, etc.. You will lose 10 HP each day fighting them off. There is a chance they may succeed in boring into your brain, in which case you will lose XP as they eat your neurons.

(I need to think of some more positive events to go with these, but you get the idea.)