I recently held a workshop on applying game mechanics, in this case to a calendaring system.<p>Details are here: <a href="http://vi.to/workshop/20100426/" rel="nofollow">http://vi.to/workshop/20100426/</a><p>My notes are here: <a href="http://vi.to/gmnotes" rel="nofollow">http://vi.to/gmnotes</a><p>Between going through the exercise (especially with others doing it and then collaborating on additional iterations) and all of the reference material, coming up with compelling game mechanics and metagame mechanics should be doable for anyone.