Barry Kirk Archives - Gamified UK - #Gamification Expert

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.

The first thing that caught my eye was there are two distinct streams of thinking. The first is the idea of adding gaming elements or ideas to things that are not games. The other is to make things that are not games more like games. Similar, but slightly different concepts.

I love that so many made mention of “people” or “users / players”, showing that we agree that gamification is a people centric way of designing engaging experiences. Fun came up quite a lot as well!

Here is a quick breakdown of the most common concepts that came up. I have normalised the wording (so mentions of users became people, objectives became goals etc.)

Basic Concepts

Word / Concept	Percentage of Definitions
Engage	38%
People	28%
Fun	25%
Motivate	22%
Play	16%
Solving problems	16%
Behaviour	16%
Goals	16%

I have a more detailed breakdown after the definitions.

The average definition

Anyway, I thought I would create a simple definition that encapsulates this. I went through many iterations and discussed with other experts and friends and came up with this.

Gamification: Creating more game-like experiences in non game contexts

This is very simple and does not include anything about why or how, just what it is.

I could have gone for “The user focused application of game elements, game mechanics, game design or game thinking in non game contexts to engage, motivate, change behaviour, solve problems, make goals more achievable, make tasks more playful or add fun” but that does not seem to roll off the tongue as well.

The point is, we are all looking at this in pretty much the same way. We are all trying to make more engaging experiences for people using ideas that games have been using forever. We may all define it a little differently, but that is just semantics. Platforms and techniques may differ, but the goal is the same.

Anyway, here are the definitions and the names of the contributors.Thank you to everyone who contributed!

The Definitions

Reverse-engineering what makes games successful and grab it into business environment

Roman Rackwitz

The use of strategic elements of game thinking, game-design and game mechanics for use on non-game environments such as business, education, healthcare, not-for-profit and government applications.

Marigo Raftopoulos

Making a non-game experience worthy of a human being’s sustained engagement, usage and loyalty by making it more compelling (more social, competitive, collaborative, mastery building, goal seeking — but not necessarily more fun) through the skillful integration of game thinking directly into that core experience.

Barry Kirk

The use of game mechanics and experience design to digitally engage and motivate people to achieve their goals

Brian Burke

The use of game attributes to drive game-like player behavior in a non-game context with predictability. Where game attributes may be anything that a game-designer use to make a game fun and engaging. For example: game mechanics, game dynamics, game-design principles, gaming psychology, player journey, narratives, incentives, etc.

Michael Wu

Gamification is an empathy-based process of enhancing a service with affordances for gameful experiences to teach, engage, entertain, measure to support players’ overall value creation to indirectly support entities’ overall value creation

Mario Herger

Gamification is the craft of deriving all the fun and addicting elements found in games and applying them to real-world or productive activities – human focused design

Yu_kai Chou

Gamification is the use of game-design elements in non-game contexts

Sebastian Deterding

Gamification is the process of using game thinking and game dynamics to engage audiences and solve problems

Gabe Zichermann

Gamification is using game-based mechanics, aesthetics and game thinking to engage people, motivate action, promote learning, and solve problems.

Karl Kapp

it is the use of game-design and game psychology in non-game settings to engage the target audience and motivate specific behaviors.

Keith Ng

The use of game mechanics to increase engagement and use of websites and applications.

Erika Webb

Gamification is the use of game design thinking in non-game environments to engage people.

Sergio Jimenez

Gamification is the process of designing fun user experiences in non-game context by means of game mechanics and experience design

José Carlos Cortizo

Gamification is the use of game design elements in non-game contexts to increase people’s motivation towards a well-intended objective

Victor Manrique

the use of game elements and design metaphors to solve problems

Andrzej Marczewski

The use of game elements and game-design techniques in non-game contexts

Kevin Werbach

the use of game mechanics, dynamics, and frameworks to promote desired behaviors

Lee and Hammer

gamification takes the characteristics we like about games and adds them to everyday actions in order to make them more interesting

TechnologyAdvice

a fun way to do things that have to be done

Opusphere

Gamification is the use of the elements that make games fun in non-gaming environments to create motivating experiences that help solve concrete problems

Wonnova

Using game elements to engage & influence people at a level that motivates them to give you a desired outcome.

Laura Marczewski

Gamification is reframing goals to be appealing and achievable using game-design principles

Nat A Lee

Gamification is the application of game elements and design principles to solve problems in non-game contexts

Frederik Agge Ronex

The design of game elements and game dynamics to engage play in non-game arenas

Dutch Driver

Gamification is taking fun and habit-forming elements found in games and applying them to productive activities

Michael Finney

gamification: the use of game concepts in a non-game environment to solve problems and also to make the experience funnier

Adrien Rubstein

The use of game elements to increase engagement and make life and work more fun

Mark Schreiber

the application of game concepts to a traditional idea or setting

Hunter Fortuin

Gamification is the application of gameful or playful layers to motivate engagement with a specific context

Scott Nicholson

Applying game mechanics to processes not normally thought of as games

Jeff Jockisch

Break down of common words

Word	Frequency
game	16
engage	12
non game context	12
user	9
fun	7
game mechanics	7
game design	6
motivation	6
game elements	6
design	5
experience	5
problems	4
goals	4
behaviour	4
dynamics	4
solve	4
principles	3
psychology	3
game thinking	3

I have been meaning to write about this for a while, but it wasn’t until I answered a question for someone yesterday that I had some words that actually made sense to me!

Old School Loyalty

When we think of loyalty, especially when we consider it in the context of gamification, we tend to think of loyalty cards , air-miles or other point collection systems. You spend £X and we will give you points that can go towards other goods or discounts. When I was a kid, we used a petrol station called Texaco. There were two reasons for this. The first, it was on the way home from church on a Saturday evening and two, it was cheaper than other local options. Something they started to do, was give you stickers based on how much petrol you bought. These stickers were used to fill up cards. These cards could then be traded in against goods – the more cards, the better the goods you could get. Using this method, my Mum and Dad managed to kit out our kitchen with new mugs, new glasses – I even got a Swiss Army Knife out of it!

All of that makes it sound like we were loyal customers of Texaco. The truth of the matter really, it was convenient and cheap. The sticker scheme was a nice extra, but if we were not near home we would not go out of our way to find a Texaco garage for petrol, we would go where ever was near or cheap.

Real Consumer Loyalty

Loyalty in the consumer market is seen when people will go out of their way to just use a particular product, service or brand. This is irrespective of convenience or price. Take for example our Christmas Turkey. Every year we buy our Christmas turkey from Graham Turner. He used to run a very local butchers. In the last couple of years he moved to a new area, making his butchers no longer all that convenient to go to. However, we still go there to get out turkey (and any decent joints of meat we need). We have a butchers less than a 2 minute walk from us, we have two super markets less than 5 minutes drive from us, but we always go to Graham. Why? Because he has cultivated loyalty in us. He and his staff make every visit feel special. They treat us as old friends, greeting us by name or as Sir or Madam. The quality of their products is second to none and their customer service should there be an issue is unparalleled. Christmas eve a few years ago, we got our Turkey and found out once it was home that it was not big enough. We called Graham to complain, he told us to come straight back and he would keep the shop open for us to sort out a replacement – Christmas eve and he kept the shop open just for us! With service like this, I don’t need to collect points to want to keep using Graham!

It is this kind of personal touch that keeps people coming back time and time again, the feeling that you are special and important. Big brands like Amazon know this as well, making every visit to the Amazon website a more personal experience. Items are recommended that their algorithms have predicted will be of interest to you (and they are normally pretty spot on). You are greeted by name in a friendly manner. Emails you get from them have some kind of relevance to you, offering tailor made (or seemingly tailor made) deals that will interest you.

Tesco have begun to do the same, using their standard looking loyalty scheme to personalise the offers you get. Their website even states The more you use your Club-card the better we can understand the sort of coupons you might like to receive”. They are being honest, keep using us and we will make sure the service you get will become more and more personalised to what you want. It is the difference between getting vouchers for DVD’s when you really need them for nappies.

Big brands like these can do this, because they have huge amounts of data about you. You keep hearing about Big Data, well this is what it can offer the loyalty market – personalisation of everything. Amazon knows what I buy, so can tailor what I see. Tesco knows what you buy on-line and in store, because we scan our Club-card after each shop and they can then identify us. It may sound creepy, but it begins to build a picture that allows these brands to make us feel like the centre of the experience.

Consumer loyalty is now about finding out who your customers are and what drives them and giving them what they want or need.

Enterprise Loyalty

In the enterprise, loyalty is important as well, loyal employees are valuable. They work harder and they are more likely to stay. However, many mistake loyalty for obligation or even lack of other options. A loyal employee is one who will stay even if they are offered what on the face of it looks like a better opportunity, because they feel that they are valued and are valuable to the company they are with. Some may stay because they feel some level of obligation, gratitude towards their employer for employing them. This won’t last though. Unless they feel valued they will soon walk.

In much the same way as Graham Turner makes people feel they are at the centre of the experience when they are in his shop, employers need to make employees feel that they are at the centre of their experience in the company. If they feel like just another cog, they will feel no loyalty to the company at all.

4 Types of Loyalty

Barry Kirk from Bunchball has a really neat way of categorising loyalty.

Inertia Loyalty: This is where people stay with something because it is too much effort to leave or change. Think of people in jobs who are just their going through the motions, but it is convenient for them to stay and would be risky or too much effort for too little reward to leave.

Mercenary Loyalty: Old school loyalty schemes fit here. Buy from us, collect points, get free stuff. My Consumer user type sits here and the Texaco stickers are a great example of this.

True Loyalty: This is where my loyalty to Graham Turner fits in. I go out of my way to use him because of the service, the quality and the experience. He may be more expensive and harder to get to, but that won’t stop me! This is what you should be striving for.

Cult Loyalty: This is a strange one and one that can’t really be made – it just happens. As Barry says, this is demonstrated by those who tattoo a brand logo to themselves, or will only buy a Harley because that expresses deeply who they are. The closest I have seen to this kind of loyalty being manufactured is when Apple created the iPhone. Steve Jobs was often described as a cult leader with is Reality Distortion Field. The iPhone was a bit of leap of faith for Apple, it had to work. They started by making people feel that this was the future, to not have it would be to miss out on the future (Loss Aversion). Once people started to buy them, they made everyone else feel that if they didn’t have one, they were missing out and a bit of loser (Social Pressure). This social pressure and loss aversion style cycle has been continually cycling since the first iPhone was released. It has kept people buying the iPhone even though it was considerably more expensive than any other phone on the market – and did considerably less than many other phones!

Creating loyalty is not easy, but a good place to start is to put the person whose loyalty you want, back into the centre of the experience. Make them feel that you as a brand or an employer or whatever, care about them directly and that you value them and understand them. Don’t try to bribe them, loyalty has to be earned.

Defining gamification – what do people really think?