Coin Master. Have you played it? I have. It’s currently the top grossing game on mobiles. If you have not played it, it’s a fruit/slot machine. You put virtual money in, spin the reels and possibly win more money. You then use that money to build a series of villages, upgrading parts of one village until the whole thing is completed, then move on to the next one. You can also ruin friendships by attacking peoples villages, knocking their development back and costing them virtual money. It is a phenomenon, with a staggeringly well thought out social media presence and gameplay that is essentially addictive. I don’t say that about games usually, but this is pure addictive, gambling-based button pressing. But it is simple, relaxing and pleasing on the eye – so I play it. There is probably a whole blog peice there to be written actually!
Gamification
Introduction to Gamification Part 6: The User Journey
In the last chapter, we looked at goals and feedback. To follow on from this, I wanted to look at how you should plan feedback and rewards, based on the user’s expectations. However, to start, we need to look at the User Journey, which is a chapter on its own!
What is a User Journey?
In our world, the user journey is the series of steps that a user takes whilst engaged with your solutions. I break it down into four key stages. Discovery, OnBoarding, Immersion and Mastery/Replay. Ok, so that is more like 4 1/2 steps…
Self Importance and Ego in the Era of Gurus
Just a quick one (yeah another quick one) whilst I finish off the reward schedule chapter of my Introduction to Gamification series!
I was recently doing a series of talks which gave me reason to pause and reflect a little on my position in the world of gamification.
I have been around for a while in relation to a young industry, since about 2011. That puts me in a position to have been actually at the leading edge of the growth of the industry along with a few other highly notable people. Many of them are still around, some have moved on to greener or newer pastures.
Is Gamification Dead?
As a quick break from my Introduction to Gamification series, I wanted to ask a serious question. Is gamification dead?
It is a tough question for someone who lives and breathes gamification to consider, as the answer could be problematic!
If we look at the hype that surrounded gamification, it would be easy to assume that it never really lived up to its promise! However, what was it promising?
Gamification, no matter how you personally refer to it, lives by one simple rule. It is not about making games. It is using lessons and elements from games in places where there are not games. If you make a game, you have done that, made a game. In a business context it would be a serious game, it education it would be an educational game. If you gamify something then you have made a gamified something, not a game. That’s why they are different terms.
Introduction to Gamification Part 5: Goals and Feedback
The core of gamification can be boiled down to two key components. Goals and Feedback. Of course, there is more going on that supports these, but those are the two keys of gamification.
Gamified systems need to set specific tasks for users to complete, and then provide them with feedback as they progress towards completing those tasks. A good gamified system then uses other techniques, elements, mechanics etc to support the user towards those goals.
The hard bit is setting good goals, creating good feedback mechanisms and wrapping the experience in something that is engaging! But that is for later.