trophies

A Question of Motivation

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A very quick blog this week, whilst I work on a few deeper ones (possibly)

An argument that is pretty constant in Gamification, is that of Extrinsic vs Intrinsic motivation / rewards. Things like badges, points and even money vs altruism, autonomy, status and more. The general consensus, based on the works of people like Deci and talks by people like Daniel Pink, is that extrinsic motivation is in no way better than intrinsic motivation. The research shows that being almost bribed to do stuff will actually decrease your effectiveness.

That said, almost everyone agrees that extrinsic rewards are very handy for on boarding – for quick fixes and pushes.

Anyway, here is my question / puzzle.

Your boss invites you in to his office with two offers.

1. You can have promotion, earning you extra social status – but of course extra responsibility and workload. However, rather than getting a pay rise, you can choose a charity for the extra money to go to.
2. You can stay the same grade you are now, but you can have the pay rise that would be equivalent to a promotion. Again, the workload would increase.

The first choice gives you lots of mice intrinsic options. Choice, Status, Altruism, Charity, Autonomy, Relatedness etc. The second choice is purely extrinsic – you get more money.

Intrinsic vs Extrinsic – What would you choose?

 

For me, my motivation to work is to provide for my family. As such, I would personally go for the money! In gamification, there are a lot of people concentrating on making systems more interesting and engaging, but so few seem (on the surface at least) to be looking at what motivates each individual. Not every person reacts in the same way to every situation – no matter how well researched the psychology is.

 

When is gamification not gamification?

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1389645 14492518 When is gamification not gamification

A few different conversations this last week have triggered a little built of thinking. This usually leads to me brain dumping a blog – and this is no exception. Don’t expect to find any answers here!

The first questions was – should you tell people that they are using a gamified system?

Straight off the bat, I replied, no. However, when asked why, I was a little stuck. My brain knew it was the wrong thing to do, but I struggled to vocalise it initially. There are a number of issues that trouble me about telling people they are using a gamified system. The first is people’s perceptions of gamification. Very often their best view is that it is some kind of benign manipulation. At worst, they feel it is a deliberate, cynical and underhanded form of manipulation.

However, telling them that the system they are using has a few fun elements (what ever they may be), is not quite as bad. It doesn’t conjure up this manipulative image.

Another thing that came to me was this idea that you can’t tell people to play. If they know that the goal of the new system is to get them to do stuff through the use of game mechanics – will it still have the same impact. If you just let them use the system, say nothing and see how they get on, would the results be the same?

Personally, I would not mention that it was gamified at all. Gamification is not meant to be there to show off to the players how clever you are, it is to motivate and engage them.

The next question was – is there a magic number of game mechanics that you need to be using to say something is gamified.

This came about after a discussion about reCaptcha. if you don’t know, this is one of those devices that websites use to prove you are human, presenting you with two squiggly words to read and enter. What makes reCaptcha a little different is that the data you enter is actually used to help digitise real books. My argument is that this is gamified. It sets a challenge (read the text and enter it correctly) and if you read the info, it tells you that you are doing something that has meaning. The argument was that as this is not exactly fun, is it gamified. The other was that it doesn’t use much in the way of game mechanics.

When you look at a standard gamification definition “The use of game mechanics in non game tasks”, there is no minimum number of mechanics specified there. It does not say “The use of at least three game mechanics in non game tasks”. So for me, even if there is just one tiny, slightly hidden game mechanics / element in place – then yes, it is gamified.

This led to another interesting thought – At what point, does a gamified system become a game?

So you have all your game mechanics, dynamics, elements etc. in place. You have designed a fun and a playful system with a great UI and great intrinsic motivation in action. You have found the sweet spot for flow and people are using it happily and productively At what point does that become a game in its own right?

One thought was that games have some kind of narrative – that is what separates gamified from game. I was trying to think of a game that has no story of any sort and have failed. Even things like Space Invaders have a story – something is under attack by the bad guys and the good guy (you) must stop them. Pong had a kind of story (ish) “avoid missing ball for high score”. Of course, I may be mixing up story with goal there. Again, one of the main things of gamification is setting goals – so that must count…

This one really has me stumped. Whilst the definition of a game includes the idea that games are deliberately designed to entertain – what happens if a gamified system becomes enjoyable and even entertaining?

Retrospective edit alert! It is funny how things change, I now have a pretty good anwer to this. It becomes a game, when it has gameplay! https://gamified.uk/2013/02/25/gamificaiton-and-serious-games/ 

GSummit,Bubbles, Badges and the Future

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I have been catching up on the events of GSummit over the weekend. I was very heartened to hear so many people talking about moving beyond badges and xp systems. They were looking for the next phase of engagement. You just need to look at FourSquare recently ditching its gamified elements to see that we are hitting the first big dip in user interest in this kind of thing.

However, there were still quite a few talking about promoting engagement with the use of simple badging / xp systems. I must admit, at first I was a little confused. Then I realised that I was totally missing the context that these ideas were being discussed in.

Badges still have a place.

When you look at instances where people were talking about badges and the like being of some use, it tended to be related to enterprise. The thing with enterprise gamification is that you have one key thing in the back pocket before you start. An audience. Not only that, you have an audience that has already got one very important motivator. They are doing their job. This may not sound like a motivator, but let me explain.

Think back to before you heard the word gamification. People still turned up to work every day. They still did their job to the best (usually) of their ability. Why? Because that is what you, do. You get a job, you try to do it well and then you go home. At a set point in time, you are paid for doing this. This payment then allows you to do other things, like pay your mortgage and buy your wife nice things. As it happens, in just that little run through you can see game mechanics in use (though I would not call this gamification!!)

  • Go to work every morning – appointment mechanic. Don’t turn up, don’t get paid
  • Do your job everyday – Behavioural Momentum
  • Do your job well – Pride

Anyway, I digress. The people who are seeing success with badges and xp are using them to try to make this daily churn a little more interesting, by setting up a little competition and fun. In this case, it does not seem to have that negative an effect, because it is not trying to replace the intrinsic motivation of doing your job each day (if done properly). Another factor is that these are closed groups of people who are all in it together. In addition, there is nothing to be lost by joining or not joining.

There is sooo much more that people could be doing though. Gamification of a rubbish process makes it more rubbish (ish). What enterprise should be looking at is changing the processes to make them more intrinsically engaging. They should be using gamification to change the behaviour of the company as a whole, but just make it a little bit more fun. It is not all about making everything a game.

It’s all about making everything a game.

So that is enterprise. In brand engagement things are a little different. Badges, points and leaderboards are proving to only improve engagement for a short period of time. What is happening (as with FourSquare), there comes a point where the “I really don’t care anymore” factor kicks in, there is a sharp drop off. Where people are succeeding is where they have seen that there is a drop and offer something more. I had a great chat with Steve Bocska from PugPharm.com who are currently trying to combat this Badge Fatigue or Loyalty Backlash as they call it.

I will talk about PugPharm more at some point, but essentially their Picnic platform tries to make it all a bit more playful. Using badges and ladders to get people into the “game”, they then throw more enjoyable challenges and collectables (in the form of iCards) into the mix. Finally they use those collectables to connect you with other people with similar interests in a social network. Their hope is that this will keep people engaged with the brand or anything else for far longer.

The big players (Badgeville springs to mind) are now trying to give the end user more than just the basics. They have all seen that as the general population is getting wise to the gamification that has been successful up until now, that they need to focus less on trying to influence or manipulate the customer. Now it is about giving them something that they find enjoyable and engaging.

The Bubble has to burst

We are at a crossroads, that much is sure. I can see a bubble waiting to burst with lots of people floating in it repeating the word Gamification over and over again. When it does burst, I really hope that those who are left floating in the remaining bits of the bubble are the ones who are repeating – how can we be different, what’s in it for the customer. That’s when we shall start to really see the more mature and focused side of Gamification that so many of us know is there.

Rewarding Failure – Can It Work In Gamification?

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In a lot of posts, I talk about rewards. My last post discussed the potential dangers of extrinsic rewards when used to try to motivate intrinsic behaviour. So I imagine that most of you think that rewarding failure is a bit of a no brainer. No way. Why would anyone reward anyone for failure?

Banks Do It

A good example this kind of reward can be seen in bonus culture. Think of all of the bankers who were blamed for the recent collapses. Many were quoted as being shocked at the idea that they may not get their bonuses. Bonuses in the banking business are expected. They are used to ensure that people stay in their role. The fact that they failed horribly is irrelevant. They were still rewarded for failure. If that is the case, how do you motivate success?

Kids Do It

I was at the birthday party of one of my daughters friends (five years old). We were doing musical statues with them. Now. At some point in the eighties, the UK ruling party decided that competition in children is bad. It promoted elitism and made children feel left out and demotivated of they lost. To this day we are still feeling this effect. In our game of musical statues, every player got a bag of sweets if they lost. They were rewarded for losing at the game. The idea is that by giving them this small consolation prize, they would not feel down and would be willing to play later. The interesting thing was, quite a few didn’t want the main prize, they just wanted the sweets. So, they joined the game and immediately tried to lose just so try could have the sweets! Rewarding failure actually motivated them to fail! Why go through the effort of trying to win if they only wanted sweets and not the winner’s prize?

Games Do It

The question is, can rewarding failure ever help to motivate success?

When you look at games this is often used to encourage the player to keep going. For instance, you may go bankrupt in a management sim for the first time. The game offers to give you a loan to get you back on your feet. This then give you a little boost that keeps you playing. You are motivated and able to continue.

Can You Do It?

This only works if the end prize is substantially better than the reward given after failure. The reason the examples I have use above fail, especially with the children’s game, is because the prize for succeeding is not all that much more interesting than the prize for winning. Mixed with the amount of effort it takes to play and win, losing is actually the easiest way to get something you want. The other thing to consider is that when using gifts and rewards for failure, you can’t just keep giving them. In our imaginary management sim, if the player is constantly saved by the game, they will quickly tire as there is no longer any challenge. You have to use it sparingly to make the user feel that winning is still important.

As with all things Gamification related, it comes down to execution.

Thanks, a little housekeeping and other stuff.

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Hello all. First of all, thank you so much for making this blog (and its syndication’s) way more successful than I had ever imagined! I would never have thought that people would be interested in what I have to say, so thank you.

This is all a big learning adventure for me, one that I am enjoying greatly. It has also opened up some amazing opportunities!

Facebook

A little house keeping. I have started a Facebook Page about gamification – Gamification World

The idea is to post my blogs up there, but also for it to collect articles I like and tweets I have seen that I think may be interesting to all those of you who love a bit of Gamification. Head over and Like the page if you could 🙂

Gamified Blog

Something else I have been thinking about is gamifying the blog. Thinking of quests rather than badges of course. Just something for a bit of fun, maybe help you explore the site. Any ideas?

My Book(let)

Thank you to everyone who has bought a copy of my Book – Gamification: A Simple Introduction , if you have bought it and enjoyed it, I would love for a few reviews – no pressure though 😛 There are plans to do s a slightly more detailed follow up, but that may be some time away!

Those that made it possible

Lastly a couple of links to posts that I have done as a guest on other blogs – sort of a thank you for those opportunities.

Most recent is on Gamified Enterprise – Is Gamification in the Workplace just a Fad

Next is a post I did for the company I work for, Capgemini – Gamification for your company

Finally, my first ever guest post at OsakaBentures Motivation and Engagement

All of these articles are very similar, they were all written for different audiences though and at different stages of my understanding!

Shoutouts

Shoutouts have to go to a few twitter supporters as well. Saul Fleischman Scott Sincalair Guy Stephens Nyk Loates and so many more. Follow my twitter list on Gamification to see even more great people in this area.

Final thanks to Dr Jo Twist, Mark Sorrell and Paul Bennun who recently helped me find the words and research to articulate some of my ideas!

Stay Connected

Stay tuned for more, make friends with me on Facebook, say hi on Google+ or connect with LinkedIn and Twitter. I am always looking to bounce thoughts off as many people as possible!!!

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