I thought this week, after 2 years of avoiding it, I would write a short starter for actually creating a gamified system. This will cover the basics of what I call a Thin Layer system – also known as PBL (Points, Badges and Leaderboards) system.
Now, before you all shout at me for explaining how to do a system that I can often be heard saying is not the best type of gamification, consider this. Thin Layer is the most common type of system out there and it is the easiest to start with. It can also be very effective over short periods of time, for things like short campaigns, education and on boarding into deeper systems. The point is (as Kris Duggan from Badgeville once pointed out to me), sometimes, something is better than nothing, as long as it is well designed and created for a purpose. My view is, of you are going to try – you should at least be armed with the right information to make the best go of it possible.
