Gamification in business. The basics

Since childhood I have played a lot of computer games. But only recently have I started to think about how games work and what they are made of. 



This is due to my profession as a product designer, which mainly consists of improving user acquisition, engagement and retention rates. 



And now, for a year now, I have been studying the field of games - the area that has learned to manage the user's emotions best.



In this series of posts, I would like to cover gamification (sometimes GM) in design and business.

Who will benefit from?

Founders of businesses where increased user engagement and retention translates into significant increases in business performance.



Employees who want to improve the performance of their area of ​​responsibility. Because studying even a few gamification cases will add dozens of new hypotheses to the product.



Even ordinary people implement game mechanics in their lives to instill habits and increase productivity, becoming more successful every day.

What is gamification?

Gamification is the application of game mechanics to non-game processes.

The correct use of this tool allows you to increase the involvement of participants in solving applied problems, using products, services, or increasing customer loyalty.



This term contains the same root as Game, under which computer games are more often represented today. This is no coincidence, as this business is the best at engaging, entertaining, and retaining users. 



After all, when the user enters the game, then for the most part the only purpose of this action is to have a good time.



This is what any business strives for. To associate a product or a certain activity with a good pastime. Because without cheap involvement and long-term retention of the user, the economy of many products will be unprofitable.



For a deeper understanding, you need to understand what play is, and why people play

What is a Game?

One philosopher, Bernard Suites, expressed his vision of the definition of a game, which I consider short and sufficient:

Play is voluntarily overcoming optional obstacles.

Referring to Bernard Suit, the game contains:

1. — , . , . , . , — «»
2. , . , . . . , .
3. , . , , . : « , …» , , .
4. , , , . . .. . ,

Whoever who must play - can not play 

If you forced to do something, it's not a game

And since gamification comes from games, then it should also contain:

1. Voluntary participation
2. Learning something or solving a specific problem.
3. Purpose and rules for achieving this goal
4. Narrative . Namely, a structure that unites fragments of a game or a game system into a single whole. Otherwise, there is a risk that the gami ed system will be just a bunch of abstract things.
5. Correct system balance . The lack of complexity will make the game uninteresting, and a large number of rules and complexity will increase the entry threshold and, accordingly, the active audience of your system.

Gamification is not about making everything a game.



It is used for more than just attracting or engaging users.



And it's not just glasses, badges, and leaderboards



Gamification is about learning the mechanics of games (not just virtual ones) with an understanding of why we love games. By understanding this, we can make our products almost as engaging as games. The study of game design, psychology and relationships between people will help to understand this.

Atomic structure of gamification

Like all systems, gamification can also be disassembled into the elements that make up it. I took a framework by Kevin Werbach who came up with his own pyramid of elements. This framework will give you an understanding of what the different elements of gamification are made of and how they relate to each other.



But you need to understand that you cannot take elements from the list below and assemble something from them that will immediately increase the performance of your business several times. Games are not just pieces that are glued together in some way. Games are abstractions that are designed systematically, thoughtfully, with the ability to influence the emotions of the player and, most importantly, they should be fun. 

Fun makes games engaging

The element pyramid is the structure of the standard elements in gamification and the relationship between these elements. 



This pyramid does not represent all possible elements. And this does not mean that each element needs to be implemented in its own system. 







At the top of the pyramid are the Dynamics . These are the most high-level concepts in games or gamified systems. You can think of this as grammar in a language, namely the hidden structures that make the whole experience coherent and have regular patterns.



This level contains:

1. onstraints — . , , . , , , , .
2. Emotions — , , . , , , , . , , .
3. Narrative — , . , . , .
4. Progressive — , , , . , . ,
5. Relationships — , . , . WoW, La2 .

Then there are mechanics - a set of rules and methods that implement in a certain way some part of the interactive interaction between the player and the game. All the many game mechanics of the game form a specific implementation of its gameplay

• Challenges
• Chance
• Competition
• Cooperation
• Feedback
• Resource Acquisition
• Rewards
• Transactions
• Turns
• Win states

And the lowest level of the pyramid, components . Users interact with these elements directly and, in general, only directly observe this level. These are certain blocks from which mechanics and dynamics are assembled.

• Achievements
• Avatars
• Badges
• Boss fights
• Collections
• Combat
• Content unlocking
• Gifting
• Leaderboards
• Levels
• Points
• Quests
• Social graph
• Teams
• Virtual goods

For example, points are at the lowest level - the component level. From points we can construct a high-level structure - mechanics progression. And then this mechanic will become part of the narrative - the level of dynamics. 



The lower level of the pyramid is the basis for building a good gaming experience, while the upper levels affect which elements from the lower level we apply.



There is another level outside of this pyramid, which is aesthetics (Aesthtic). It describes the desired emotions a player should have when interacting with the game.



The combination of these four elements creates an entire gaming experience



At first glance, there are too many elements here. But you come across many of them every day and you can even write your own options:



Challenge (mechanic level)



Monthly bonuses in the sales department for fulfilling the plan

Gifts in the gym for those who swim 10 km in a month



Levels (component level)



Loyalty card with levels for often flying passengers.

Promotions at Work



Teams (Component Level)



Reader Clubs

Army

Fan Symbols



Reward (Mechanic Level)



One free wash every ten.

Cashback for purchases



Badge (component level)



Platinum card at banks or airlines

Medals

Nice numbers on the car

Gamification is not just a set of practices,

but one of the ways to solve your problems.

What not to do when implementing gamification

For gami ed systems, just like games, there are no rules about what is right and what is wrong. But there are points to avoid, especially if this is your first time gamification. 

1. Force use of the system. Remember the main rule - the game should be voluntary.
2. Encourage and punish financially. I will tell you more about this in the next posts, but the main problem is related to the fact that money does not motivate people, and attempts to punish with money are perceived very personally and negatively.
3. Implement gamification for the sake of gamification. Gamification should guide people and help them either solve problems or learn.
4. . , , , . ,
5. . , ,

When you dive into the world of gami ed systems a little, you might think, 

“Great, I see that the introduction of badges and awards in Nike Plus has increased engagement rates by 10%. Well, I will also add these elements to my product and people will start using it more actively. "



It turns out it's not that easy. Doing gami cation correctly, ethically and in a way that aligns with your ultimate long-term business goals is not an easy task. 



Building such systems requires thought and deep understanding of areas such as psychology, behavior design, games, and visual design. 



But when you learn to do this, you can create products that will evoke emotions in people and keep them with you.



You will not just start thinking about how to increase certain product metrics, but about how to evoke emotions in the user, for which he will return to your product again and again.

Learn to manage not metrics, but user emotions

PS

This is the first in a series of posts on building gami ed systems. In the next posts I will analyze the psychology of motivation, emotions and real-life examples of products with successful and unsuccessful GM implementation.In this



article, I sometimes use materials and quotes from two courses:



The first course is Gamification from the University of Pennsylvania authored by Kevin Werbach The



second course is free and at the same time interesting Is a gamification training in a gamified world from Yu-kai Chou

UPD

I did the second article on Gamification in Business. Motivation from all sides