Gamification Archives - Gamified UK

Expanding the BMEM Framework (Behaviour, Motivation, Emotions, Mechanics)

December 9, 2024 by Andrzej Marczewski

Designing Gamified Systems with Emotional Depth

Gamification is far more than sprinkling points and leaderboards over a system and hoping for the best. Real success lies in crafting meaningful experiences that connect with users on a deeper level. That’s where the BMEM Framework—Behaviour, Motivation, Emotion, and Mechanics—comes into play. It provides a robust foundation for designing systems that not only engage and entertain but also inspire and resonate.

This guide explores the framework in its entirety and delves deeply into how each element integrates with the others. By connecting Behaviour, Motivation, Emotion, and Mechanics, you’ll create systems that truly matter.

Building Engagement Step by Step

1. Behaviour: The Foundation of Action

Every great system begins with an understanding of behaviour. What are your users doing now? What do you want them to do? And, crucially, what is standing in their way? Behaviour is the foundation for creating experiences that guide users towards meaningful action.

Marczewski Behaviour Change Model

The Behaviour Change Model provides four key tools to help influence user behaviour:

Motivation: Why do users act? What drives them to engage?
Knowledge: Do users understand what they need to do and why it matters?
Ability: Are they capable of performing the desired behaviour, or are there barriers in the way?
Nudge: What subtle prompts can steer users towards action without force?

Example in Practice: In a fitness app:

Motivation: Highlight benefits like improved health or community encouragement.
Knowledge: Provide video tutorials or step-by-step guides to show users how to perform exercises safely and correctly.
Ability: Tailor workouts to different fitness levels or time constraints to reduce obstacles.
Nudge: Use streak notifications or friendly reminders to help users stay consistent.

Integration

Behaviour sets the stage for all other elements. Without understanding what users do now and what drives them, you can’t expect mechanics or motivators to work. Nudges (Behaviour) might evoke curiosity (Emotion), which drives users to interact with features like unlocking hidden achievements (Mechanics). Behaviour is the “why” behind every system decision.

2. Motivation: Understanding the “Why”

If behaviour sets the stage, then motivation is the engine that powers user action. Without motivation, even the most beautifully designed system will fail to engage. The RAMP Framework and Three Layers of Motivation are invaluable tools for unpacking what drives users and ensuring you’re tapping into both their intrinsic and extrinsic needs.

RAMP Framework

Motivation is built on four key intrinsic drivers:

Relatedness: The need to feel connected to others.
Autonomy: A desire for control and the ability to make choices.
Mastery: The drive to improve, grow, and succeed.
Purpose: A sense of contributing to something bigger than oneself.

Three Layers of Motivation

This model extends motivation beyond intrinsic needs to include the following:

Base Needs: Foundational requirements like safety and financial security. Without these, engagement is impossible.
Emotional Needs: Intrinsic motivators like mastery, autonomy, and relatedness.
Trivial Needs: Extrinsic motivators such as badges, points, or prizes. These can be effective in short-term engagement but should be used sparingly.

Example in Practice: In the same fitness app:

Base Needs: Ensure essential features like basic progress tracking are free and accessible.
Emotional Needs: Allow users to customise their fitness goals (Autonomy) and track their progress visually (Mastery).
Trivial Needs: Reward users with badges or leaderboard spots for completing challenges to provide instant gratification.

Integration

Motivation bridges behaviour and emotion. Helping users achieve mastery (Motivation) sparks pride (Emotion), which is reinforced through mechanics like leaderboards and trophies. Without understanding users’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, mechanics lack purpose, and emotions lack depth.

3. Emotion: Crafting Meaningful and Memorable Experiences

Emotion is the soul of gamification. It’s what transforms functional systems into memorable experiences. By understanding the full spectrum of emotions, from positive feelings like pride and joy to negative motivators like urgency and alarm, you can craft journeys that resonate deeply with users.

The Emotional Spectrum

Emotions in gamification can range from positive to negative, and both have their place when used thoughtfully. Key emotions include:

Positive: Joy, pride, gratitude, hope.
Complex: Curiosity, immersion, surprise.
Negative (but useful): Fear, urgency, shame, sadness.

How to Apply Emotions

Let’s link these emotions to specific techniques:

Hope: Use progress trackers or aspirational goals to give users a sense of optimism.
Example: “You’re just one step away from your weekly goal!”
Pride: Showcase personal achievements through trophies, badges, or completion certificates. Example: A fitness app might celebrate a user as the “Workout Champion of the Week.”
Curiosity: Incorporate mystery rewards or hidden features to spark exploration. Example: Unlock secret workouts after consistent engagement.
Urgency: Use countdowns or limited-time challenges to encourage immediate action. Example: “Only 3 hours left to join this group challenge!”

Tying Emotions to the User Journey

The User Journey Phases naturally align with specific emotions:

Discovery Phase: Spark curiosity and hope to draw users in.
Onboarding Phase: Use joy and love to create a welcoming environment and instil confidence.
Immersion Phase: Evoke pride and gratitude as users progress and contribute.
Mastery Phase: Reward users with recognition, amplifying pride and satisfaction.
Replay Phase: Introduce urgency or curiosity to encourage ongoing engagement.

There are a lot of emotions you can consider, here is my little Emotions Spectrum to think about!

Integration

Emotion doesn’t exist in isolation; it works alongside behaviour, motivation, and mechanics. For instance, a leaderboard (Mechanic) might trigger competitive pride (Emotion) while reinforcing mastery (Motivation). Designing for emotion ensures your system not only functions but connects. However, it may also drive frustration if the desire to be at the top starts to outweigh the joy and pride of the work you do to be there.

4. Mechanics: The Tools of Engagement

Mechanics are the tools that bring your system to life. Points, badges, narratives, challenges—these are the tangible elements users interact with. But good mechanics aren’t one-size-fits-all. They must align with user behaviours, motivations, and emotions to succeed.

HEXAD Framework

The HEXAD Framework links mechanics to six user types:

Achievers: Progression systems like levels, badges, and leaderboards.
Socialisers: Group challenges, chat features, or team-based goals.
Free Spirits: Exploration mechanics, hidden features, or personalisation options.
Philanthropists: Altruistic tasks, mentoring opportunities, or charity-based challenges.
Players: Points, streaks, and prizes to drive extrinsic engagement.
Disruptors: Creative tools, voting systems, or user-generated challenges.

Example in Practice: In a fitness app:

Achievers: Track personal bests with detailed statistics and achievement badges.
Socialisers: Join group fitness challenges or share progress in team chats.
Free Spirits: Customise workout routines or explore new types of training.
Philanthropists: Mentor others in the community or contribute to group goals.
Players: Earn rewards for completing consistent workouts or maintaining streaks.
Disruptors: Create personal challenges or vote on new app features.

Integration

Mechanics must support the other elements of the BMEM Framework. For example:

A leaderboard (Mechanic) appeals to Achievers and Players, reinforcing mastery (Motivation) and evoking pride (Emotion).
Hidden features (Mechanic) intrigue Free Spirits, sparking curiosity (Emotion) and encouraging exploration (Behaviour).
Dynamic difficulty scaling (Mechanic) appeals to Achievers, reinforcing mastery (Motivation) while evoking pride and determination (Emotion). It also supports behaviour by keeping users engaged with tailored challenges.
Collaborative quests (Mechanic) attract Socialisers and Philanthropists, fostering relatedness and purpose (Motivation). These evoke camaraderie and gratitude (Emotion) while encouraging teamwork and shared problem-solving (Behaviour).
Time-limited rewards (Mechanic) engage Players and Achievers, leveraging extrinsic rewards and mastery (Motivation). They evoke urgency and excitement (Emotion) while driving consistent engagement (Behaviour).

Bringing It All Together

Here’s how the BMEM Framework integrates into a cohesive system:

Behaviour: Use nudges and remove barriers to drive daily actions.
Motivation: Leverage RAMP to address intrinsic needs while using extrinsic rewards judiciously.
Emotion: Map emotions to the user journey, crafting moments of pride, curiosity, and urgency.
Mechanics: Align HEXAD types and associated mechanics to ensure personalisation and relevance.

Together, these components create systems that not only engage but inspire.

Final Thoughts

Gamification is toolbox full of complex tools and gadgets. As with any tools, you need to know how and when to use them to get the best results. By thoughtfully combining Behaviour, Motivation, Emotion, and Mechanics, you can create gamified systems that go beyond surface-level engagement to deliver real, meaningful value. Systems that not only entertain but inspire, resonate, and endure.

Want to explore gamification frameworks in depth? Visit Gamified UK to dive into the tools and ideas that make gamification great.

References

Fogg, B. J. (2009). Behavior Model for Persuasive Design. Retrieved from https://www.bjfogg.com.
Michie, S., van Stralen, M. M., & West, R. (2011). The Behaviour Change Wheel: A new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions. Implementation Science, 6(1), 42. DOI: 10.1186/1748-5908-6-42.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior. Springer Science & Business Media. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4899-2271-7.
Loewenstein, G. (1994). The Psychology of Curiosity: A review and reinterpretation. Psychological Bulletin, 116(1), 75-98. DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.116.1.75.
Tondello, G. F., Wehbe, R. R., Diamond, L., Busch, M., Marczewski, A., & Nacke, L. E. (2016). The Gamification User Types Hexad Scale. Proceedings of the 2016 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play. DOI: 10.1145/2967934.2968082.
Marczewski, A. (2019). Gamification Design Framework Toolkit. Gamified UK.
Hunicke, R., LeBlanc, M. & Zubek, R. MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research. Work. Challenges Game AI 1–4 (2004). doi:10.1.1.79.4561
Robson, K., Plangger, K., Kietzmann, J. H., Mccarthy, I. & Pitt, L. Is it all a game? Understanding the principles of gamification. Bus. Horiz. 58, 411–420 (2015).
Aristotle On the Soul c.350 B.C.E, translation: J. A. Smith, The Internet Classics Archive, MIT, Retrieved 2 February 2016
Izard, C. E., Libero, D. Z., Putnam, P. & Haynes, O. M. Stability of emotion experiences and their relations to traits of personality. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 64, 847–860 (1993).
Ekman, P. An argument for basic emotions. Cogn. Emot. 6, 169–200 (1992).
Nathanson, D. L. Shame and pride : affect, sex, and the birth of the self. (Norton, 1992).
Robinson, D. L. Brain function, emotional experience and personality. Neth. J. Psychol. 64, 152–168 (2008).

Why Gorillas (and Games) are such good Teachers

November 12, 2024 by Andrzej Marczewski

Games have always been excellent tools for teaching and learning. There are plenty of reasons why this may be, but for me, it comes down to one simple thing – they give context to the materials.

Let us for a moment take a simple example—projectile paths.

We could look at the equation

Or, we could add context to the idea and play Gorillas instead, where we get to alter the velocity and angle of a player throwing a projectile at another player.

https://github.com/HunorMarton/gorillas

Obviously, the game is more fun. We are learning about how velocity, launch angles and gravity all work to create parabolic projectile paths in a fun way. Do you learn everything? No, but it gives context to the formula and brings it to life.

You can start understanding how to apply the formula by getting this context. To improve the learning aspect of a game like this, you could add a real-time version of the formula to the game that updates as you change variables, so you can see how it all fits together, but you get the idea.

Another example of this would be learning Civil War history by playing games that recreate those battles. You could learn geography and geopolitical theory from Civilization, city planning from Sim City etc.

The opportunities are endless!

So when you look at games and gamification, consider how you add context to the facts, information or whatever else you are trying to get people to engage with, to make them more interesting and cement the knowledge.

Is Gamification Really a Long Term Solution to Anything?

September 3, 2024 by Andrzej Marczewski

When you look at how gamification has been used over the years, I personally have seen the greatest successes coming from short term “interventions”.

Use gamification to improve onboarding into a product
Use it to make a learning module, or course more interesting
Use it to learn a few words in another language
Use it to help build better excercise habits
Use it to build better medication routines

All of these have great success stories, but by their nature are short interventions being used to either reduce the barrier to entry, create short term engagement or help to build intrinsic habits.

I ask you this – who has become fluent in a language using Duo Lingo?

However, gamification experts (myself included) always talk about gamification being better used as a long term strategic change, rather than a quick win enabler?

So is that true? Can you really change your life, or change long term behaviours with continuous gamification, or does the game has to end eventually?

It is an open question I would love to hear your thoughts on.

Personally, I think that the longest changes happen when you change the attitude of people to become more gameful – or dare I say it – infuse them with the Ludic Spirit!

So, Gurus Unite – I want to hear what you have to say!!

Emergent Gamification?

August 1, 2024June 19, 2024 by Andrzej Marczewski

The wonderful Pete Baikins recently reposted an article from Mashable on Linkedin that got my hekcles up a little. It was all about how gamification was the spark of modern era of AI.

The article argued that early itterations of error filled AI chatbots had given rise to “accidental gamification” where it had become fun and playful to find ways to get Chat GPT to get it wrong. Just to lean in to this – I asked Gemini to summarise the ariticle for you

This is an article about how gamification has influenced the development of artificial intelligence [AI]. It discusses the ways in which AI is being used in games and entertainment. People are creating games that challenge AI systems to perform tasks. These games can reveal both the strengths and weaknesses of AI. In turn, this helps researchers improve AI technology. The article also argues that the public’s playful engagement with AI is helping to shape its development.

AI is having a major moment due in part to a game-like quality.

People are having fun testing the limits of AI and in turn this is helping AI developers learn more about what their creations can and can’t do.

This gamification of AI development started with researchers using video games as benchmarks for AI agents.

Anyway, I digress. The article went on to say the following

“The definition of gamification in AI should be expanded to include the tendency of technology to unintentionally become a game.”

The author event provided a sprawling “current” definition of gamification

ordering specific goals into a game structure, perhaps in order to make onerous activities more attractive, or to make social media apps more addictive.

Emergent Gamification

Ignoring how horrible this is as a definition, nothing that is said in the rest of the article really supports the concept that the development of AI is related to gamification in any way. Play, yes. Gamefulness, yes. Gamificaiton – no.

The reason is, we already have a word that describes what the author is discussing. “Emergence” or in this case, “Unintentional Emergence.” This refers to gameplay that arises from a system without being part of its original design.

We could consider using “Emergent Gamification,” but what is really being described is “Emergent Gameplay” or “Unintentional Emergent Gameplay.” Even by Mashable’s definition of gamification, what they describe does not fit. It is about emergent play or gameplay. Despite the headings in the article referring to gamification, the author never describes anything that fits any definition of gamification, even their own.

I’ll use my simplest definition of gamification for this next bit (as I have been in the industry for a while now, allow me that self indulgence). Basically I would say it is “The process of making something more game-like.”

Thus, we can define Unintentional Emergent Gamification

Gamification that arises in a system that was never designed to be gamified.

We could expland this for Intentional Emergent Gamification as

New forms of gamification that arise in a gamified system that has the tools to enable the creation of new gamified elements to increase engagement.

I suppose even these fall a little short, as gamification is a process!

So What is the Author Describing

The “game” aspect of AI described in the article is actually “Unintentional Emergent Gameplay,” as there was no deliberate attempt to provide tools for creating gameplay.

Humans are naturally inclined to find play wherever they can. It is one of the purest ways we learn and understand.

Gamification is amazing, but people really need to stop trying to say that it is the reason for everything. We did not invent the question mark!

Check out the article – beyond my rantiness, it does makes some excellent points!! https://mashable.com/article/ai-era-sparked-by-gamification

Behaviour Change: COM-B and the 4 Pillars of Change

June 17, 2024 by Andrzej Marczewski

What follows is an example of how to combine my Four Pillars of Change with a proven behavioural change model – COM-B. We will be using bounce rate on a website’s homepage as the behaviour we wish to change. Companies often struggle with high bounce rates on their websites, indicating a disconnect between the website and its audience. However, with a little understanding of behaviour, we can start to sort this.

Understanding User Behaviour: The Key to Success

So, the first piece of the puzzle to creating an effective homepage is to understand user behaviour then design a user experience specific to what users want and need.

COM-B: A Scientific Lens on Behavioural Change

Developed by Professor Susan Michie, the COM-B Model outlines three factors influencing behaviour change:

Capability: Does the user possess the requisite skills and knowledge to perform the desired action (e.g., navigating the website with ease)?
Opportunity: Are there external factors influencing the desired behaviour (e.g., clear calls to action, readily available contact information)?
Motivation: Does the user have a compelling reason to interact with the website (e.g., content that addresses their specific needs and challenges)?

The Four Pillars: Translating Theory into Actionable Strategies

I outlined the 4 Pillars of Change in a previous article – briefly, they are

What do you want to change?
Why do you want to change it?
How are you going to change it?
How are you going to measure the success of the change?

If we break down the challenge of reducing bounce rate on the homepage, we can use the four pillars to define the problem and how we might look to solve it.

1. What do we want to change?

We want to reduce the bounce rate on the homepage.

2. Why do we want to change it?

A high bounce rate indicates that visitors are not finding the information about products they want fast enough or are not engaging with the homepage’s layout. This reduces conversions and lowers brand awareness.

3. How are we going to change it using The COM-B Framework

Enhancing Capability:
- Website Clarity: Ensure the homepage clearly conveys its value proposition and how the website or store might match the needs of the visitor.
- Intuitive Navigation: Design navigation menus that are user-friendly and straightforward.
- Search Functionality: Provide a search bar to cater to users who have a specific goal in mind.
Amplifying Opportunity:
- Call to Action (CTA) Prominence: Display clear and relevant CTAs prominently, guiding users towards their desired actions.
- Reduced Clutter: Minimize distractions and avoid overwhelming users with excessive information.
- Mobile Optimization: Ensure a seamless user experience across various devices by optimizing the homepage for mobile.
- Recommendations: Create recommendations based on previous behaviour or popular general behaviour (such as top sellers) to help users get to things of interest quickly.
Boosting Motivation:
- Value Messaging: Ensure that the company values, messages, value etc are easy for the customer to see. A company that matches the personal values of the customer will often have a higher chance of succeeding with capturing their engagement.
- Visual Appeal: Use images that resonate with the user. If you know they are male from previous visits, show them images with men. If they have come in from an external campaign on social media – make sure the images and messaging follow them.
- Social Proof: Showcase reviews, product feedback, case studies, or social proof badges to establish trust and credibility.

4. How are we going to measure the success of the change?

Tracking Bounce Rate: The main KPI is going to be bounce rate. If our plan has worked, this should go down.
Analysing User Engagement: Track metrics such as time spent on each page, click-through rates on CTAs, and user behaviour recordings to gain a deeper understanding of how users interact with the homepage.
Guard Rail Metrics: Keep an eye on other metrics, such as conversion rate and AOV just to see if the change you have made hurts them.

By using the COM-B Model alongside the Four Pillars of Change, you can adopt a data-driven and user-centric strategies to solve almost any behaviour change related problems!

Additional Tip: A/B Testing for Continuous Optimization

Use A/B testing to continually optimize your homepage by testing different variations based on the COM-B principles. This iterative process ensures that your homepage delivers the absolute best possible user experience.