A question I get asked a lot is, “Why does gamification fail?”. Gartner said that by 2014, 80% of gamified systems will fail due to poor design. My question is, what is poor design? I had thought that it was really just implementing “thin layer” points, badges and leader boards to a system that was already not working. Whilst that is true, it actually misses out on some important extra factors.
So, with that in mind, here are some reasons that I feel will contribute to gamification not working.
A couple of small bits this week whilst I pull together more substantial work (I’m not a machine!!) First a small revisit of my Flow and User Journey work. In various conversations I have had about the use of rewards in a gamified systems the general question is always “do you need rewards at all”. My answer is that it can’t hurt if it is done properly. One thing that occurred is that during the on-boarding phase and into the habit forming phase of a user journey, rewards can play a key part.Charles Duhigg presents the idea that habits are formed when three key things are put together. Cue, Routine and Reward.
Whilst I process the amazing presentations, talks and general chats that happened at SocialNow, I wanted to put together a quick post around the ideas of accessibility and immediacy.
Imagine the situation. You are an airport and have thousands of people moving through your building every day. Most have a very predictable path. Land, get of plane, walk to baggage claim, go to the exit. On the way, they have to go through various checks. Customs, passport control, security etc.
All of these people are in a hurry, they have a goal and want to get to it as fast as possible. Your problem is, you want to find out how they have found the experience of going through the processes in place at your airport. How was the flight, how was the security, how was baggage claim etc.
Dan Pink and Ryan & Deci are quoted a lot when we talk about motivation – I include myself in that and this is good – they have a lot of research to back up everything they say.
The basic quote usually revolves around. Money is not a good motivator. Mastery, Purpose, Autonomy and in some quoted cases Relatedness are what we need. They are intrinsic motivators, money is not.
True.
There are a few things most fail to mention. One is the fact that this is most true for creative tasks. The other, much more significant bit they don’t mention is this. When basic needs, such as money, are no longer a concern – what’s left is intrinsic motivation.
A fair few of my recent posts have revolved around how we can use ideas from games / gamification to improve certain aspects of an employee’s “journey” through their career. I thought it may be time to pull it all together in a single coherent (I hope) post!
It makes sense to start with an employee’s first days, usually an induction process of some type. Rather than the standard two or three days of death by PowerPoint, how about this;
They start with a simple half day induction, preferably done face to face with a group of other newbies. Here they are told the basic essentials for them to actually get into an office, cover any legal requirements and meet people they may be working with in the future. After this, they are given the essential kit to get them going, probably a Smartphone and laptop.