Gamification

Social Reach: Grains of rice on a chessboard

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172060 1357 Social Reach Grains of rice on a chessboard

In a recent blog post for my company’s blog, Gamification for your company, I made brief mention of evangelists and social reach. The general gist was that in this world of social media, a few enthusiastic supporters or evangelists could be worth more than a mediocre marketing campaign. Social reach can be a much underestimated, but very powerful way to spread brand awareness.

To explain, I will make use of an old legend (deep huh!).

This legend has been given roots in both India and China, but the upshot is the same. A powerful man offers (King or Emperor) offers a wise man a reward of their choosing. In china this is for the invention of chess, in India this id for beating the king at a game of chess. The wise asked for grains of rice as his prize, given in the following manner. Starting with a single grain of rice on the first square of the board, each subsequent square should contain double the amount of the last. Therefore, the second would contain 2 grains, the third 4, the fourth 8 and so on. This seemed simple enough. Read More ...

Why use Gamification and not just Incentives?

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Money game Why use Gamification and not just Incentives

It’s not just about money

One thing that is often asked when people talk about gamification is why use that and not just offer incentives.

Well. My first answer is always “but that is gamification”. That is usually followed with “just very basic and possibly expensive!”. Offering incentives is normally a financial concern. If you do X we will pay you Y. It is certainly a good motivator, money always is, but it does not cover other important aspects of good work. A word you often hear in my gamification blogs is engagement. Sure, money is a great motivator, but it does not help you engage with the job in hand. Read More ...

Gamification: It’s not all about trophies

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Gamification 300x56 Gamification It s not all about trophies

There is a lot of talk by those in the know who are getting fed up with people associating gamification with nothing but trophies and badges. Stick a badge on it and it is gamified. Personally I am not sure I am totally with them. For me if it works, use it. However, more often than not achievements and the like are only short term fixes on their own. There needs to be a strategy in place that will are only short term fixes on their own. There needs to be a strategy in place that will keep the users engaged, one that uses the more obvious rewards to enforce the less simple to grasp game mechanics. This article will look at a small selection of game mechanics that can be used in most gamification situations. Read More ...

Super Nanny and the Gamification of a Generation

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20120211 085538 Super Nanny and the Gamification of a Generation

Whilst I continue my quest to write a bit more about the less obvious dynamics and mechanics of Gamification, a little thought occurred.

In 2004 a lovely lady by the name of Jo Frost appeared on our televisions in a program called Super Nanny. For those who didn’t see it (it is still showing in the US I think), basically Miss Frost would go into a family who had “problem” children and work out how best to bring them back under control. Of course this being the Naughties, smacking is a big no no, so she introduced the world to two concepts. The Reward Chart and the Naughty Step. Whilst these were not new ideas, it was the first time many people had seen them. Read More ...

The Gamification of Life

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Nappy game The Gamification of Life

Okay, okay, I know this blog is getting a bit Gamification heavy AND I also promised the next post would be a very serious one that went into more detail about non reward like gamification, but it isn’t – yet – so there.

The reason for this blog? Well, it is currently about 3am and I have just changed my daughters nappy whilst trying to feed her. I set myself the challenge to change her, in her Moses basket, whilst feeding her. I basically gamified the process to make it more entertaining to my sleep deprived brain. However, it got me to thinking. Whenever people talk about gamification, it is normally related to some kind of technology based solution. Make it into a video game, add rewards and achievements to their online profile, that sort of thing. Read More ...