4 Application Fields of Gamification

This is an excerpt from the second part of the introduction of Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and LeaderboardsBuy a copy here or listen on Audible.

4 Application Fields of Gamification

Now that we have covered the different implementation methods for gamification, we will explore the various applications of gami- fication in several industries.

In general, the majority of my clients represent four fields that I consistently see innovating time and time again, indicating a tremendous amount of application and growth in these sectors:

  • Product Gamification
  • Workplace Gamification
  • Marketing Gamification
  • Lifestyle Gamification

 

Product Gamification is about making a product, online or offline, more engaging, fun, and inspirational through game design. Most companies struggle to create products that customers fall in love with, continue using, and passionately share with their friends. Some of these products have great “functional” purposes, but don’t focus on the motivation and Core Drives of their users.

In a previous era, consumers didn’t have adequate information and were accustomed to slow gratification. Along with immense barriers for starting new companies, it was not as detrimental for a company to simply assume that customers would use their products – provided that they were marketed correctly. However, people today are spoiled with instant gratification through the Internet, with immersive empowerment and real-time feedback through games, and the constant connection to their social network. Your users, customers, and employees are becoming less tolerant of badly designed products that do not take into account their motivations, especially when they have a variety of competitive alternatives they can choose from.

Many corporations and startups excitedly tell me, “Our product is great! Users can do this; users can do that; and they can even do these things!” And my response to them has been, “Yes, you are telling me all the things your users can do. But you have not explained to me why the user would do it.”

That’s the problem with a majority of company products – great technology and functionalities, but no traction. People don’t have a reason to go out of their way to use the product. Sometimes, a startup founder tells me, “Hey, Yu-kai, there’s no reason why people wouldn’t use our product. We save them money, we save them time, and we make their lives better.” On lucky days, customers themselves would even say, “Yeah, there’s no reason why I wouldn’t use your product. It saves me money, it saves me time, and it makes my life better. I’ll definitely sign-up sometime tomorrow.”

For those who have run startups or launched products before, you know the crucial part of the entire phrase is the ending. When people say they will do it “tomorrow,” more often than not it means “never.” This is because at this point they are motivated by Core Drive 8: Loss & Avoidance, and specifically by something I call Status Quo Sloth (Game Technique #85) – they are avoiding a change in their habits and behavior.

Remember how we talked about how Gamification is actually Human-Focused Design learned from decades, even centuries of game design experience? When you are launching a new product, its motivational standing is very similar to a game. No one has to play a game. You have to do your taxes; you have to go to work; and you really should go to the gym. But you never have to play a game, and let’s be honest, oftentimes you shouldn’t.

Because games have invested an amazing amount of creativity, innovation, and resources into figuring out how to get people to want to spend more time on them, there are definitely many great lessons you can learn from games for your own products. The key here is to make a product so exciting that customers become obsessed with using your product and are compelled to share how exciting their experiences were to their friends.

Workplace Gamification

Workplace Gamification is the craft of creating environments and systems that inspire and motivate employees towards their work. More often than not, employees show up to work every day just so they can earn a paycheck (Core Drive 4: Ownership & Possession) and to not lose their jobs (Core Drive 8: Loss & Avoidance). As a result, employees only work hard enough to earn their paychecks and to not lose their jobs (if you recall, Core Drives 4 and 8 are great examples of Left Brain, Extrinsic and Black Hat Motivation).

In fact, Gallup’s 142-country study shows that only 13% of employ- ees are categorized as “engaged” with their work27. In comparison, 24% of the workforce is categorized as “Actively Disengaged,” which means they are so unhappy with their work that they minimize their productivity, spread negativity, and even sabotage productive efforts that require them to do more work to keep their jobs.

That is something pretty scary to think about. It means that, chances are, a quarter of your company is poisonous! How can any organism be competitive at anything if 24% of its body is composed of cancer cells?

Contrary to popular self-denial, it is actually not the employees’ fault they are disengaged. Companies like Zappos and Google (especially in the old days) are known to get their employees motivated, driven, and excited about their work on a daily basis2829. I firmly believe that everyone has the capacity and the longing to become motivated and driven for something that is worth their cause. It is bad environmental and cultural design that turns good employees into toxic cells.

Of course, you don’t need a Gallup study to know how disengaged employees are at work. Just think about how often people close to you complain about their work or their bosses. Think about the movie Office Space, the quintessential comedy about life in a typical bland, rigid, and oppressive company in America30. The movie was such a great hit and now a cult classic because people can actually relate to the frustration and disengagement of the characters in the movie (a good example of the “relatedness” piece within Core Drive 5 at work).

Why does that matter? Because research has shown that on aver- age, the companies with disengaged and unmotivated employees only obtain 50% of profits and only 40% of revenue growth when compared to companies with engaged and motivated employees.31 If I told you that you could double your profits and improve your revenue growth by 250% without opening new markets and without introducing new breakthrough technologies but by simply making your workplace more engaging and motivating, would you do it? Most people would say yes. But from my own personal experience, there will still be people who say no, simply because, “I don’t want my employees playing games. It’s a distraction!”

Workplace Gamification is critical for today’s economy and the future of creative innovation. The Gen-Ys entering the workforce (and they are thirty now) are used to being in environments that provide them Epic Meaning, Relatedness, Autonomy, and more. This will only get worse as the even-younger generation enters the workforce, so it is wise for companies to start setting up the correct motivations systems as early as possible to avoid the devastation of having a surplus in labor but a shortage in talent.

 

Marketing Gamification

Marketing Gamification is the art of creating holistic marketing campaigns that engage users in fun and unique experience designed for a product, service, platform, or brand. Not too long ago, people clicked on online ads because, more often than not, they couldn’t tell the difference between ads and content. But nowadays, users are becoming more sophisticated in filtering out unwanted promotions, decreasing the effectiveness of many advertisement campaigns (thanks in large part to ad blocker apps too).

Then you have TV commercials, where everyone simply tunes them out, switches the channel away, or just fast-forwards if they have a TiVo. As for other traditional methods like ads on billboards or newspapers…don’t even get me started.

In the past decade, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) have proven to be fairly effective tech- niques for gaining exposure and improving sales. In fact, a search engine is just a large leaderboard, and the industry of Search Engine Optimization is simply the game to climb to the top of that leaderboard. This works because 1) you can target the right people who are searching for your exact solution, and 2) you can target them at the right time they are searching.

However, SEO and SEM still lack the trust component in online marketing. If a website you trust and have followed for two years sells something you need, you are likely not going to go searching for a random site on a search engine to purchase from.

Enter Social Media Marketing. Through platforms like blogs, Face- book, Twitter, and Youtube, brands are able to build relationships with potential customers, create unique value, and establish trust that leads to future engagement. Unfortunately, social media plat- forms are just the delivery channels for engaging content; in and of themselves, they do not motivate or successfully engage with users.

This is where Gamification comes in. Marketing Gamification specifically utilizes game elements and strategies throughout a player’s journey by first focusing on why a user would engage with you in the first place. Marketing shouldn’t just be one action done from the marketer and one response back from the customer, but should be an entire ecosystem where both the marketer and customer are able to experience fun and feel continuously engaged through a variety of interactions.

Marketing Gamification utilizes the platforms and vehicles de- scribed above as well as others: SEO, Social Media, Blogging, Email Marketing, online/offline competitions, viral vehicle strategies, and reward schedules to continuously engage users throughout an engaging and gamified experience.

Lifestyle Gamification

I mentioned in Chapter 1 that my life completely changed when I was struck by an epiphany that I should treat everything like a game. Since gamification is great at motivating people towards cer- tain activities, why wouldn’t you apply that to motivate yourself?

Lifestyle Gamification involves applying gamification principles and the 8 Core Drives into daily habits and activities, such as managing your to-do list, exercising more often, waking up on time, eating healthier, or learning a new language.

There are also many technological enablers that make Lifestyle Gamification more popular, including big buzzword trends such as Big Data, Wearable Tech, Quantified Self, and The Internet of Things32. The interesting thing about all these trends is that it enables all your activity to be tracked allowing you the ability to manage your Feedback Mechanics and Triggers.

Games have historically been able to track every single action that a player makes. A game would automatically know that this particular player is on Level three, she has picked up these four items, learned these three skills, talked to these six characters, but not those other three characters, and because of that, this door does not open for the player.

A game remembers everything you have done and customizes your experience based on that. In real-life, most of your “data” is not recorded, and so it is hard to craft a optimized lifestyle. The trend with wearable tech and quantified self finally allows us to track more of our own behavior on a daily basis. Of course, even companies that claim they wield the power of Big Data don’t yet compare to the level of customization that gamers take for granted. Many still stick to generalized demographics and non-actionable reports, instead of creating a unique experience for each user in real-time33.

Lifestyle Gamification branches into a few sectors such as Career Gamification, Health Gamification, Productivity Gamification, and Education Gamification. It can be utilized to gamify big picture activities such as accomplishing your life goals, or very tactical activities such as using a dice to determine how you should reward yourself (which is derived from Core Drive 7: Unpredictability & Curiosity).

Since Lifestyle Gamification fundamentally changed my life, I am extremely passionate about how it can help people achieve their dreams through 1. Finding their game, 2. Analyzing their initial stats 3. Formulating their skill trees, 4. Connecting with allies, 5. Finding the right quests, and 6. Beating the game. Since this is a huge topic that warrants its own book, I won’t be spending time in this book covering the topic in detail.

So far we have laid out a wide net that covers many terms, concepts, Core Drives, Experience Phases, natures of motivation, and implementations of design. Don’t feel intimidated. For the next few chapters, we begin to dive deeper into all the things we already talked about, which will allow you to have an even better grasp of the foundation of the Octalysis Framework.

 

This is an excerpt from the second part of the introduction of Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and LeaderboardsBuy a copy here or listen on Audible.

Simón Duque’s Habitica Design Challenge

Gamification Design Challenge for Habitica

Simón Duque is a Colombian Industrial Engineer who’s not comfortable with the way the world works. Thankfully for him, Gamification came to his life on 2015 and gave him the tools to re-think the world he lives in. For more about Simón, see his credentials at the bottom of this post. 

The Habitica Design challenge was hosted in 2017 by The Octalysis Group. Simón was a finalist. 

Design summary

Habitica’s goal is to build (positive) habits, altough it is now dealing with long-term engagement issues. This Design Challenge was therefore tought out based on the pschological approach to procrastination and the means to identify solutions using the Octalysis Framework.

The analysis of Habitica ends up with different theories and approaches that build up a final list of new and improved features that reflect benefits as it leads users to stay connected to chats and other social features and even invite more friends to join them in their experience.

These social interactions are the ones that support the core desired actions within the app. It also helps improve the dynamics involved specially in CD2 and CD5 by affirming Basic Human Psychological Desires such as Competition and Altruism.

As Tyler Renelle himself said — “In case of building good habits, social accountability is essential”.

 

Continue reading Simón Duque’s Habitica Design Challenge

June week 3 Gamification Examples from an Octalysis Lens

Every week in the Octalysis Prime Slack group, members share gamification examples they find in the wild.

These are only a snapshot of what we’ve discovered this week. As always, from the lens of Octalysis and the 8 Core Drives.

Continue reading June week 3 Gamification Examples from an Octalysis Lens

Ivan Milev’s Habitica Design Challenge: Using Octalysis and the Strategy Dashboard to Recommend Product Changes

In Spring 2017, The Octalysis Group opened a challenge to Octalysis fans and experts.

The challenge was to improve the design of popular productivity app, Habitica, using Octalysis and gamification design.

Several of these designs were so strong we wanted to share them. Over the next few weeks, we will share some of the best designs.

Today we take a sneak peek at Ivan Milev’s submission.

Continue reading Ivan Milev’s Habitica Design Challenge: Using Octalysis and the Strategy Dashboard to Recommend Product Changes

How the Great eCourse Adventure Rapidly Increased Community Engagement through Gamification

This article is written by Brad and Andy of the Great eCourse Adventure based on the Octalysis framework designed by Yu-kai Chou

We had an inspiring conversation with Yu-Kai Chou a few weeks ago.

He is one of the top gamification experts in the world. He’s even done a TED talk about it.

Yu-kai has created what is called “The Octalysis Gamification Framework.

Gamification is the craft of deriving all the fun and engaging elements found in games and applying them to real-world or productive activities. This process is what I call “Human-Focused Design,” as opposed to “Function-Focused Design.” It’s a design process that optimizes for human motivation in a system, as opposed to pure efficiency.

Screen Shot 2017-04-13 at 1.23.50 PM

If you’re building online courses, educational experiences or a team, then check out this post from Yu-Kai’s blog ?

Our conversation with Yu-Kai really affirmed for us that we’re on the right track with all of the ways we apply gamification in our courses, however he also showed us where we don’t do it, but need to.

In this article, we dig into how we applied all 8 of the human core motivations in a recent Great eCourse Adventure community challenge.

The “Screw it, I’m Gonna do it Challenge” and applying the Octalysis Gamification Framework

Our goal with the “Screw it, I’m gonna do it” challenge was to apply all 8-core drivers to a community challenge to see if it would increase engagement, inspiration and completion rates by our students.

The basis of the challenge was to dedicate one full day per week for the next four weeks on a passion project that our students had been putting off for far too long.

The reason we chose this project was because the two of us had been putting off passion projects of our own for a really long time, because we were too busy with the Great eCourse Adventure, life and other work.

Creating this challenge actually forced us to get our shit together and create better systems and schedules for our businesses, which we’ll write about another day.

Before we dive into the juicy details, I just want to say that, by applying the 8 Core Motivations to this challenge, we have increased the amount community engagement and participation we’re now getting by 3-4 times its normal amount.

We are so excited by what we’re witnessing, we can’t wait to apply the Octalysis Framework to all of the other aspects of our businesses and lives. Thank you so much, Yu-Kai Chou, for the great work you’re doing.

Here’s how we applied the 8-Core Drivers to our “Screw It, I”m Gonna Do It Challenge”

Epic Meaning & Calling

Epic Meaning & Calling is the Core Drive where a person believes that they are doing something greater than themselves or they were “chosen” to do something. For our challenge, we had our students choose to complete a passion project that they’ve been thinking about, putting off or wanting to do for a long time. Talk about meaningful, right?

The challenge was for them to launch that meaningful project within 30 days. Many students chose projects that didn’t have to do with their current business, and are experiencing tons of residual momentum in all areas of their life because of the choice they made to do the thing they are extremely stoked about.

Our community forum (AKA the campfire) has never been more lit up with enthusiasm and conversation amongst our students.

Development & Accomplishment

This is the internal drive of making progress, developing skills, and eventually overcoming challenges. Aside from the obvious satisfaction of finally doing the thing they want to create and having it exist in the world within 30 days, we incorporated several other motivators to inspire action.

Each participant who successfully completes the challenge will get:

  • 10,000 bajillion (our community currency). This is the largest amount of bajillion we’ve ever rewarded.
  • “The Ring of Destiny,” a limited edition badge (AKA backpack supply).
  • Plus ONE winner will be crowned the champion of this challenge, based on criteria we laid out, which will allow a fancy crown to show up in their profile under “Backpack supplies” for everyone in the community to see.

Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback

Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback is when users are engaged a creative process where they have to repeatedly figure things out and try different combinations. In the constructs of this challenge, we eliminated the need for their project to “make them money” and encouraged everyone to ONLY do something they are wildly excited about.

This freedom took the perceived risk out of the equation and all of a sudden, everyone is motivated by this sense of creative expression, fun and passion.

More people than ever are suddenly showing up and sharing themselves in the community forum, when before they may have held back or stayed silent. It’s been so incredible to witness the shift that’s taken place.

Ownership & Possession

This is the drive where users are motivated because they feel like they own something. This is where our students will get to take pride in finally having done something about that passion project they’ve been thinking about for so long and to be able to share it in the world within 30 days. No longer will it just be a good idea.

That, and every person who completes the challenge will get the Ring of Destiny and 10,000 bajillinon. Cha-ching!   ?

Social Influence & Relatedness

This drive incorporates all the social elements that drive people, including: mentorship, acceptance, social responses, companionship, as well as competition and envy.

Everyone participating in the challenge is required to make at least ONE progress update in their forum thread every week, sharing with everyone what they did, what they’re excited about, where they’re struggling and to be fully seen in their creative process.

The challenge is also a competition, where one person who does the best job (based on our criteria) will be crowned champion. This is causing people to show up and kick some serious ass that one day per week.

What we’re noticing too through the nature of the challenge, is that everyone is being super helpful and supportive with one another; offering feedback, encouragement and brainstorming ideas and genuinely showing up to help.

Scarcity & Impatience

This is the drive of wanting something because you can’t have it. We gave everybody a small window of time to sign up and commit to the challenge. Plus, it’s only 30 days long, so there is a clear beginning and end in site.

Given that so many people jumped on board, especially in the final day of signing up, we think the fear of missing out (on their dream) inspired the best in them.

So on that note, the scarcity of creating a window of time to get in and do the damn thing was extremely beneficial for all.

Unpredictability & Curiosity

Generally, this is a harmless drive of wanting to find out what will happen next. The Great eCourse Adventure was designed with mystery in mind. We love making our students wonder what’s going to happen next on their learning journey and we generally do this through story and entertainment. For this particular challenge, we have a bonus super duper grand prize for the crowned winner.

We also posed the question to everyone: “What if you were to start dedicating one day per week to this big passion of yours? What could you create in 30 days? Where could you be with it in 365 days? What if it all starts here with this Screw it, I’m gonna do it challenge? 

Asking the questions makes them curious enough to dive in and say, “Yeah, what if?” 

Loss & Avoidance

This core drive is based upon the avoidance of something negative happening. This one is obvious. They have been putting this passion project or idea off for a long time, and yet it keeps showing up as something they need to and want to do.

Where loss and avoidance came up for everyone is them saying, “If not now, then when?” That fear of never doing it definitely came up for some, based on what we read in the community campfire (forum).

In Summary

We are making new strides in our community by applying the Octalysis Framwork and we’re really excited to explore other ways that we can apply it to our sales processes, marketing and goal setting.

We will definitely be sharing more discoveries as they’re made, for this was only experiment number one!

Brad & Andy – eCourse Adventure Guides
Brad & Andy are the creators of the Great eCourse Adventure, a groundbreaking training program and community for online course creators. By approaching course creation as an art-form, they are merging entertainment, gamification and storytelling as a way to play their role in revolutionizing how we teach and learn online. Are you ready to have your mind blown open to a new dimension of creative potential? Check out what they’re up to in the world of online learning. Warning: Once you go down the rabbit hole, there’s no going back. Learn about their unorthodox philosophies here, take their free Masterclass here, and join the eLearning revolution and community here.

Improving Habitica with Octalysis Gamification: Jacob Bender Design Challenge Submission

In Spring 2017, The Octalysis Group opened a challenge to Octalysis fans and experts.

The challenge was to improve the design of popular productivity app, Habitica, using Octalysis and gamification design.

Several of these designs were so strong we wanted to share them. Over the next few weeks, we will share some of the best designs.

Today we take a sneak peek at Jacob Bender’s submission.

Continue reading Improving Habitica with Octalysis Gamification: Jacob Bender Design Challenge Submission

How Nathaniel Tseng Would Improve Habitica with Octalysis

In Spring 2017, The Octalysis Group opened a challenge to Octalysis fans and experts.

The challenge was to improve the design of popular productivity app, Habitica, using Octalysis.

Several of these designs were so strong we wanted to share them. Over the next few weeks, we will share some of the best designs.

Continue reading How Nathaniel Tseng Would Improve Habitica with Octalysis