Andrzej Marczewski

Gamification Expert, author, consultant and designer. I love to write about it, talk about it and bore people to death with it! If you really want to get to know me, check out the About page.

Making motivation worse with Gamification

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Man with head on desk 300x201 Making motivation worse with Gamification

When people talk about gamification, it is pretty certain the word “motivation” will pop up. “We want to engage and motivate our people, gamification is definitely going to be the answer for that!”.

The trouble here is that gamification is AN answer, not always THE answer.

People lack motivation in job for a number of reasons, often self perpetuating reasons. Whatever their reason, they are often viewed as poor at their job and an irritant. It is easier to view low motivation as an issue with an individual than with the company or setting. Read More ...

Ark Group KM Conference

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Gamification is a hot topic right now. Gartner even has it at the top of its hype cycle right now. But, what is it and has it taken off in the world of Knowledge Management?

Wikipedia defines gamification as;

the use of game thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts to engage users in solving problems

Gartner has recently caused a bit of a controversy in gamification circles by narrowing the definition to;

the use of game mechanics and experience design to digitally engage and motivate people to achieve their goals Read More ...

Defining gamification – what do people really think?

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As many of you know, I recently took exception to a particular definition of gamification that was doing the rounds. However, the positive effect was to make me think about what it really means and also started to make me wonder what other people think of it.  So, I asked them – I did a little research…

The results were interesting. I gathered 30 different definitions, some from industry experts and others from people with an interest.  They are all listed at the end, but I thought I would share a few thoughts from them. Read More ...

A few gamification tips

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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.

  • Define your goal, you can’t expect anything to work if you have no reason to use it.
  • Extrinsic rewards like points and badges are useful for short term engagement only. They do not make a fully gamified system.
  • Intrinsic motivation is what you are aiming for. Consider RAMP (Relatedness, Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose).
  • 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.
  • You can’t force fun. What you think will be fun, many will find insulting, patronising or down right enraging.
  • 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!
  • Measure. If you don’t measure, you can’t report back on ROI and you will not be able to prove it works.
  • Fail, but learn from it. If something doesn’t work, try something else. There is no magic formula for engagement.
  • Ask for help. There is a huge community out there of people who want to help you – ask them.
  • Don’t believe everything you read, even the big analysts can be wrong. However, read everything!
  • Add monkeys or monkey ninjas. Everyone loves monkeys and everyone loves ninjas.
    • Read More ...

    Why am I interested in Gamification?

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    This is a question many ask me – including myself!

    The answer is complicated I suppose, but worth mentioning here.

    Many feel that gamification is nothing more than an invention of consultants hell bent on making money from corporations who want to control their employees. In some instances this may even be true!

    The fact is, I got involved because of a love of games that goes back over thirty years. I have always loved games, playing them , creating them and learning from them. One of my earliest memories of gaming was my father creating me a maths games. It was very simple, on an early Spectrum. All it did was ask you maths questions and you had to answer. It would congratulate you and I seem to remember there was some graphic representation of your success. Read More ...

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