10 Things I Wish I Knew About Gamification in 2011

As we edge closer to Gamification EU, I was thinking about the lessons I wish I had learned earlier on when I started in Gamification. Keep in mind, at that stage there was not a lot of information about gamification, it was in its infancy (2011/2012).

1. The word gamification is going to cause you all sorts of trouble in business conversations! Even now, it still has not penetrated into the common lexicon.
2. Gamification is full of experts and evangelists. You have to listen to and learn from both, but be sure to also check the research for yourself and what projects they have worked on.
3. There is no one perfect framework. The majority have their place but don’t rely on just one.
4. Research Gate is your friend as there is more research out there than you realise. There are also academics out there who want to help, but research takes time!
5. There are very few jobs that are specifically for gamification experts or designers. You need to look at user experience, engagement specialists, product owners etc.
6. Gamification is used (for better or worse) as a blanket term for all games based solutions. Life is too short to argue about the true definition – leave that to me 🙂
7. We make use and reference to a lot of psychology, make sure you understand the source, not just the pop psych books.
8. There are usually no quick fixes, the faster the fix, the shorter the engagement.
9. Short term engagement is also fine though, it depends on the needs of the project!
10. Focus on the solution, not the technology or the cleverness of the game design. Solve the problem.

What lessons have you learned that would have made it all so much easier at the start?

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Also published on Medium.