Ribbon Hero turns learning Microsoft Office into a game

Ribbon Hero turns learning Office into a game:

This post has two goals. One, I want to share with you something amazing; a thing that according to most views of the tech universe should not exist. Two, I want to talk about a coming revolution in application design.

The amazing thing

Imagine Microsoft Office turned into a video game. One where learning a productivity app is a delight. One where the core loop of gameplay involves using and gaining skills in Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

It sounds a bit unlikely doesn’t it?

Well, I’m happy to announce the availability of Ribbon Hero, a new download from Microsoft that turns using Office into a game.

The coming revolution

Ribbon Hero, in part, was born from a speech I gave back in October 2007 on applying the design lessons of Super Mario Bros. to application design. I made the following bet:

• If an activity can be learned…
• If the player’s performance can be measured…
• If the player can be rewarded or punished in a timely fashion…
• Then any activity that meets these criteria can be turned into a game.

Not only can you make a game out of the activity, but you can turn tasks traditionally seen as a rote or frustrating into compelling experiences that users find delightful.

Danc goes on to make a supremely interesting case for merging User Interface / User Experience design (UI/UX) with game design. That is, using the principles of game design to improve, mature, and evolve UI/UX. His whole post is very much worth reading. I’ll summarize here:

The field of UI/UX tends to orient itself towards the “don’t make me think” approach — human computer interfaces must be simple and present all there is to be absorbed at first blush. In contrast, Dan recognizes that people are natural explorers and learners and enjoy doing these things. Further, he argues that slavishly following the “simple” user interface design model fundamentally limits the power of a full-featured piece of software and undermines users’ abilities. He advocates the principles of game design and gameplay to engage users in actively exploring and learning the advanced features of a piece of software. Early stages of a video game tend to prepare players for the later stages. Why can’t even office software do the same? Dan essentially states that the UI/UX design approach currently in vogue lacks depth — limiting applications’ power and treating users like invalids:

Of course, people stumble when they use an application for the first time. They don’t understand the interface because it is new to them. And users will stay at that inexperienced level if we do not make an attempt to teach them how to improve. We’ve diagnosed a burbling baby as a hopeless invalid, blind to the fact that babies grow, learn and flourish.

What a fantastic idea. Go ahead. Create complex, powerful software but design it such that it’s fun to learn as it reveals ever more advanced features in stages. Dump the manual. Have fun. Learn your software by playing a game and get some serious work done.