How eBay and Amazon Wield Gamification Techniques

(Below is a manuscript snippet of my book, Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards. Please subscribe to the mailing list on the right to order the book when it launches. This post may be moved into a Premium Area after a certain period of time).

The First Gamification Site that I was Addicted to

One of the most popular blog posts on my website is a list of the “Top 10 eCommerce Gamification Examples that will Revolutionize Shopping,” with my first choice being eBay (Disclosure – I’ve worked with eBay on a couple projects in 2013, none which are mentioned here).

eBay.com is an online auction site that was founded in 1995, fairly early in the internet era. It became one of the largest Dot Com boom successes, and till this day is one of the leading tech companies.

Less known to most people, is that eBay is also one of the earliest eCommerce companies that built gamification in its core DNA.

If you just think of creating a generic ecommerce site, it’s not necessarily intuitive to have a competitive bidding system, a mutual buyer-seller feedback interface, a “path to level up” through achievement symbols such as Yellow, Purple, and Gold Stars, as well as Power Seller statuses.

Interestingly, eBay was the first platform to trigger my first business. Without eBay, it is very likely that I would not have become an entrepreneur, and as a result you would not have this book to read.

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Why Gaming is Good For You

While gamification and gaming aren’t mutually exclusive, they certainly aren’t disconnected either.

Researchers have been exploring how games impact our brain development and influence everything from our social behavior to our emotional health. What they’ve uncovered is astonishing.

For a quick look at why gaming is good for you, check out the infographic below (who doesn’t love a good infographic?)

As affirmative as this infographic is, the public discourse around the negative impacts of gaming continue to garner a lot of attention in the media.

Check out my recent article for a deeper look at the controversy surrounding violent video games.

Why Gaming is Good for You

Find more education infographics on e-Learning Infographics

Guest Post: Octalysis Analysis of “Momentum”

An Octalysis Analysis of Momentum – The Journey

Today’s Octalysis Analysis is brought to you by our very own Octalysis Explorer, Mike Finney!

Note-taking can be boring. Many times one starts a personal journal and then stops because it is not fun and thus not sustainable. Momentum takes a boring note-taking task and turns it into something meaningful, beautiful and fun!

Core Drive #1: Epic Meaning & Calling

Octalysis Score: 3

As part of the Onboarding phase, a screen launch image introduces the vision. The vision is “Your positive life experiences, moving you forward!”

A player’s quest is to “Ride the wave of your positive life experiences” by collecting them. The hot-air balloon soaring through the sky is fueled by his positive moments. Since the vision of the app is to help the player see himself in “… a more positive light…”, the player is on board with the vision of long-term happiness and is motivated to enter in a few notes.

The developer, Mindbloom, wants the player to have a long-term relationship with this intrinsic value app. To kick off the relationship, they want the player to enter in an uplifting note that is happy, reflective or something similar. In Hook Model terms, the developer wants the player to take action by entering in a note which also serves as an investment in the product. This will load the next external trigger which is a notification. The notification will fire when the balloon runs out of fuel and lands on the ground.

What follows the launch image are three introductory screens which says how to use the app and succeed. See “How To Use Momentum” figures below:

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TEDx: Gamification to Change the World

At TEDx Lausanne, I had the pleasure of sharing how gamification can radically improve our world for the better. For a TED-talk style crash course in the potential of gamification, check out my presentation here:

10 Astonishing Stats about Employee Engagement

This infographic (courtesy of our friends at Officevibe) looks at the poor state of employee engagement across the U.S. One stat pulled from Gartner shows how gamification is rapidly becoming a strategy for companies to improve engagement levels (and therefore employee output). But as you all know, it’s not gamification principles and mechanics themselves per sé that make work more meaningful, enjoyable, etc.- it’s all about how you apply them.

Share with us how your company- or you- are employing gamification techniques to keep you and your team motivated.

Infographic crafted with love by Officevibe, the corporate team building and employee engagement platform.