Time Well Spent, Classcraft, and Blizzard: Gamification Examples
Based on the Octalysis Framework by Yu-kai Chou. Written by Erik van Mechelen. Feedback from Octalysis Prime community members.
Every day in Octalysis Prime, I share a game or gamification example that has captured my attention or persuaded me to do something, whether to simply spend a few seconds longer of attention or to click something or to later mention what I saw or experienced to a friend.
This list is just a few from last week, with a touch more in detail explanations from the Octalysis Framework design perspective.
Author Credibility: Yu-kai Chou
Yu-kai Chou created the Octalysis Framework after studying gamification since 2003 — years before the term entered mainstream vocabulary. As a Human-Systems Architect & Behavioral Designer, his framework has been applied by LEGO, Microsoft, Porsche, Coca-Cola, Salesforce, and MrBeast, impacting over 1.5 Billion Users.
Chou has taught the Octalysis methodology at Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Tesla, Google, BCG, and IDEO.
His work has been cited by Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Wired, US Department of Energy, NIST, NSF, NCBI, US Department of Education, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Google Scholar — with 3,700+ more academic publications. Explore his books here.
Brain hacking and Time Well Spent
This is from the homepage of Time Well Spent (now the Center for Humane Technology), created by a team looking for better ways of tracking app and website and product success versus the current tradition of time-on-site or daily actives.
This homepage uses Core Drive 7: Unpredictability & Curiosity to great effect through typed messages that disappear, continuing the message.
You have to wait to see the next message, and it is worth it. It closes with a call to action.
Here’s more if you’re interested. Link to CBS 60 Minutes article on brain hacking.
Classcraft
ClassCraft uses all 8 of the Octalysis Framework Core Drives:
Core Drive 1: Epic Meaning & Calling: Imagine learning is an epic adventure!
Core Drive 2: Development & Accomplishment: Leveling up!
Core Drive 3: Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback: Customizing your character.
Core Drive 4: Ownership & Possession: Customizing your character.
Core Drive 5: Social Influence & Relatedness: Team quests.
Core Drive 6: Scarcity & Impatience: Waiting for energy or the next quest.
Core Drive 7: Unpredictability & Curiosity: Random events.
Core Drive 8: Loss & Avoidance: Losing your streaks :)
From Judit, Octalysis Prime member and 20-year teacher in Hungary:
All of the 8 CDs can be found in ClassCraft. And it’s good to know, as you can use the elements more confidently, and can find a good balance. I’ve found that if I use ClassCraft on the basis of Octalysis, it’s comfortable for me and effective for my students!
Apple Watch Earth Day
Classic case of a social influencer using a social prod combined with a mini-quest and a badge to top it off!
Game techniques used: Influencer, Social Prod, Mini-quest, Badging.
Apple’s hardcore fans will probably talk about this, leading to increased word-of-mouth effects (Core Drive 5: Social Influence & Relatedness).
Blizzard, tweaking designs of others
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDbyFjxyx_w
Blizzard is a well-known game design and video game company. Well, pretty well known :)
Their games have accessibility and well-balanced designs.
Here’s a comment from Bo P. U.:
Also, a more general example: The PC game company Blizzard has a huge focus on proper design.
They never do anything truly original, but have a strategy of “fixing the design mistakes of others”.
Blizzard is known for taking a long time to get games right, but it is worth it.
Bo goes on to say:
Try to compare any Blizzard game to the original concept: Heroes of the Storm to DOTA (or LoL) or Hearthstone to Magic the Gathering.
In these examples the difference in accessibility for new players is huge. So Blizzard can be used as a gold standard if they made a design choice it’s probably the right one.
Keep your eyes open for gamification
If you want to share, please do in the comments, or in the Octalysis Prime Slack community itself!
To join the community, you’ll have to be a member of Octalysis Prime.
These gamification examples are brought to you by the community of Octalysis Prime.
Related Reading
- The Octalysis Framework for Gamification & Behavioral Design
- Core Drive 7: Unpredictability & Curiosity
- What is Gamification?
- Top 10 Education Gamification Examples
- Books by Yu-kai Chou