A few gamification tips

Whilst I am away for a few days, I though I would fill the gap with a quick post for you all. A few gamification tips.

1. Define your goal, you can’t expect anything to work if you have no reason to use it.
2. Extrinsic rewards like points and badges are useful for short term engagement only. They do not make a fully gamified system.
3. Intrinsic motivation is what you are aiming for. Consider RAMP (Relatedness, Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose).
4. Find out what the user wants and design around that. Sure, you have goals, but the user won’t buy into it unless if satisfies their needs in some way.
5. You can’t force fun. What you think will be fun, many will find insulting, patronising or down right enraging.
6. Gamification is not a magic bullet. You may see sudden increases in activity, but overall you will get small percentage increases. This is good as it is better than what you had!
7. Measure. If you don’t measure, you can’t report back on ROI and you will not be able to prove it works.
8. Fail, but learn from it. If something doesn’t work, try something else. There is no magic formula for engagement.
9. Ask for help. There is a huge community out there of people who want to help you – ask them.
10. Don’t believe everything you read, even the big analysts can be wrong. However, read everything!
11. Add monkeys or monkey ninjas. Everyone loves monkeys and everyone loves ninjas.

Similar Posts:

• What’s With the Ninja Monkey?
• What if they don’t want to play?



• Gamification as a Strategy