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48 Gamification elements, mechanics and ideas

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Random icons 48 Gamification elements mechanics and ideas

To go alone with the recent update to my User Types pages, I thought it would be nice to give you a list of mechanics, elements and ideas that can be used to support each type. These are by no means all there are, but these are the ones that I chose to include with my Gamification Inspiration Cards.

General

On-boarding / Tutorials

No one uses manuals anymore! Help people get used to your system with a nice tutorial or a gentle introduction on how everything works.

Signposting

Sometimes, even the best people need to be pointed in the right direction. Signpost next actions to help smooth early stages of a journey. Use “just in time” cues to help users who are stuck.

Loss Aversion

No one likes to lose things. Fear of losing status, friends, points, achievements, possessions, progress etc can be a powerful reason for people to do things.

Progress / Feedback

Progress and feedback come in many forms and have many mechanics available. All User Types need some sort of measure of progress or feedback, but some types work better than others.

Theme

Give your gamification a theme, often linked with narrative. Can be anything from company values to werewolves. Add a little fantasy, just make sure users can make sense of it.

Narrative / Story

Tell your story and let people tell theirs. Use gamification to strengthen understanding of your story by involving people. Think like a writer!

Curiosity / Mystery Box

Curiosity is a strong force. Not everything has to be fully explained, a little mystery may encourage people in new directions.

Time Pressure

Reducing the amount of time people have to do things can focus them on the problem. It can also lead to different decisions.

Scarcity

Making something rare can make it all the more desirable.

Schedules

Random Rewards

Surprise and delight people with unexpected rewards. Keep them on their toes and maybe even make them smile.

Fixed Reward Schedule

Reward people based on defined actions and events. First activity, level up, progression. Useful during on-boarding and to celebrate milestone events.

Time Dependent Rewards

Events that happen at specific times (birthdays etc.) or are only available for set period of time (e.g. come back each day for a reward). Users have to be there to benefit.

Socialiser

Guilds / Teams

Let people build close-knit guilds or teams. Small groups can be much more effective than large sprawling ones. Create platforms for collaboration but also pave the way for team based competitions.

Social Network

Allow people to connect and be social with an easy to use and accessibile social netwok. It is can be more fun to play with other people than to play on your own.

Social Status

Status can lead to greater visibility for people, creating opportunities to create new relationships. It can also feel good. You can make use of feedback mechanics such as leaderboards and certificates.

Social Discovery

A way to find people and be found is a essential to building new relationships. Matching people based on interests and status can all help get people started.

Social Pressure

People often don’t like feeling they are the odd one out. In a social environment this can be used to encourage people to be like their friends. Can demotivate if expectations are unrealistic.

Competition

Competition gives people a chance to prove themselves against others. It can be a way to win rewards, but can also be a place where new friendships and relationships are born.

Free Spirit

Exploration

Give your Free Spirits room to move and explore. If you are creating virtual worlds, consider that they will want to find the boundaries and give them something to find.

Branching Choices

Let the user choose their path and destiny. From multiple learning paths to responsive narratives. Remember, choice has to be or at least feel meaningful to be most effective and appreciated.

Easter Eggs

Easter eggs are a fun way to reward and surprise people for just having a look around. For some, the harder they are to find, the more exciting it is!

Unlockable / Rare Content

Add to the feeling of self expression and value, by offering unlockable or rare content for free spirits to make use of. Link to Easter eggs and exploration as well as achievement.

Creativity Tools

Allow people to create their own content and express themselves. This may be for personal gain, for pleasure or to help other people (teaching materials, levels, gear, FAQ etc).

Customisation

Give people the tools to customise their experience. From avatars to the environment, let them express themselves and choose how they will present themselves to others.

Achiever

Challenges

Challenges help keep people interested, testing their knowledge and allowing them to apply it. Overcoming challenges will make people feel they have earned their achievement.

Certificates

Different from general rewards and trophies, certificates are a physical symbol of mastery and achievement. They carry meaning, status and are useful.

Learning / New Skills

What better way to achieve mastery than to learn something new? Give your users the opportunity to learn and expand.

Quests

Quests give users a fixed goal to achieve. Often made up from a series of linked challenges, multiplying the feeling of achievement.

Levels / Progression

Levels and goals help to map a users progression through a system. It can be as important to see where you can go next as it is to see where you have been.

Boss Battles

Boss battles are a chance to consolidate everything you have learned and mastered in one epic challenge. Usually signals the end of the journey – and the beginning of a new one.

Philanthropists

Meaning / Purpose

Some just need to understand the meaning or the purpose of what they are doing (epic or otherwise). For others they need to feel they are part of something greater than themselves.

Care-taking

Looking after other people can be very fulfilling. Create roles
for administrators, moderators, curators etc. Allow users to take a parental role.

Access

Access to more features and abilities in a system can give people more ways to help others and to contribute. It also helps make them feel valued. More meaningful if earned.

Collect & Trade

Many people love to collect things. Give them a way to collect and trade items in your system. Helps build relationships and feelings of purpose and value.

Gifting / Sharing

Allow gifting or sharing of items to other people to help them achieve their goals. Whilst a form of altruism, the potential for reciprocity can be a strong motivator.

Sharing Knowledge

For some, helping other people by sharing knowledge with them is its own reward. Build the in the ability for people to answer questions and teach others.

Disruptor

Innovation Platform

Disruptors think outside the box and boundaries of your system. Give them a way to channel that and you can generate great innovations.

Voting / Voice

Give people a voice and let them know that it is being heard. Change is much easier if everyone is on the same page.

Development Tools

Think modifications rather than hacking and breaking. Let them develop new add-ons to improve and build on the system.

Anonymity

If you want to encourage total freedom and lack of inhibitions, allow your users to remain anonymous. Be very, very careful as anonymity can bring out the worst in people!

Light Touch

Whilst you must have rules, if you are encouraging disruption, apply them with a light touch. See how things play out before jumping in. Keep a watchful eye and listen to the feedback of users.

Anarchy

Sometimes you just have to burn it all to the ground and start again. Sit back, throw the rule book out of the window and see what happens! Consider running short “no rules” events.

Player

Points / Experience Points (XP)

Points and XP are feedback mechanics. Can track progress, as well as be used as a way to unlock new things. Award based on achievement or desired behaviour.

Physical Rewards / Prizes

Physical rewards and prizes can promote lots of activity and when used well, can create engagement. Be careful of promoting quantity over quality.

Leaderboards / Ladders

Leaderboards come in different flavours, most commonly relative or absolute. Commonly used to show people how they compare to others and so others can see them. Not for everyone.

Badges / Achievements

Badges and achievements are a form of feedback. Award them to people for accomplishments. Use them wisely and in a meaningful way to make them more appreciated.

Virtual Economy

Create a virtual economy and allow people to spend their virtual currency on real or virtual goods. Look into the legalities of this type of system and consider the long term financial costs!

Lottery / Game of Chance

Lotteries and games of chance are a way to win rewards with very little effort from the user. You have to be in it, to win it though!

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Skill Trees and Gamification

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InventorSkillTree Skill Trees and Gamification

Now that I have redone the User Types, I wanted to run a small series of how elements from games can be used with gamification. If you remember, I look at Game Thinking rather than just gamification as a singular path to solutions. Games handle complex problems and ideas in a fantastic way. They can simplify the complex without losing hte meaning.

For this one, I want to consider Skill Trees.

Most commonly seen in Role Playing Games (RPG’s) such as World of Warcraft and strategy / world domination games like Civilization. The image below is an example from a game called Legends of Aethereus. Read More ...

Exploring the Player User Type – with archetypes

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Player archetypes Exploring the Player User Type 8211 with archetypes

To finish off my little look at the sub-types from my User Types, I want to take a new look at the Player User Type.

I have done a deep dive on this before, but I wanted to simplify it a little.  Essentially the Player is motivated by rewards, plain and simple. They will do similar things to the intrinsically motivated group, but only if there is a reward at the end of it!

  • Self-Seeker: This group of users will act in a similar way to Philanthropists. They will answer peoples questions, share knowledge and be helpful – but for a cost. If there is no reward, don’t expect them to get involved! They can be useful, however if they are being asked to get involved for rewards, expect quantity over quality!
  • Consumer: Consumers will do what is needed to get rewards. If that requires them to learn new skills or take on challenges (like an Achiever), then they will do it. However, if they can get rewards for just doing what they were already doing – even better. Think of them as the ones who will enter competitions just for the prize or who shop at one store just for the loyalty programme.
  • Networker: Where a Socialiser connects to others because they are looking for relatedness, Networkers are looking for useful contacts that they can gain from. They follow the big influencers on social networks, not because they are interested in them, but because they hope it will get them noticed, increase their influence and lead to reward.
  • Exploiter: Like Free Spirits, these guys are looking for the boundaries of the system, where they can go and what they can do. However, for them it is a way to find new ways to rewards. If they find a loop-hole, don’t expect them to report it unless they feel others are earning more than them exploiting it! They are the most likely to exploit the system (you could say cheat!). They are also the people who will build things just to sell. Think of Second Life. Loads of people started to build things – some realised that as well as being fun, they could make some money from selling items. For a few this turned into a way of making a living. They stopped making things for fun and just made them for profit.

The Player User Type is important to recognise as most people coming into a gamified system are probably there initially due to rewards (points, prizes etc). The trick is to try and convert them from being reward oriented into intrinsically motivated users (Socialiser, Free Spirit, Achiever, Philanthropist). There is some evidence to show that the extrinsic types will convert to their analogous intrinsic types (so Networker -> Socialiser etc) but it is not a dead certainty in all cases. Design for the intrinsic user types that benefit your system, but include reward paths for the onboarding process for best effect and greatest coverage. Read More ...

CaptainUp is back on the blog

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Captup1 CaptainUp is back on the blog

I was recently contacted by the guys from CaptainUp (www.captainup.com). For those that don’t know, this is a free / affordable platform for gamifying websites and until recently I had been using it for about 2 years. Then I stopped and they were interested to know why.  The main reason was how intrusive it was to my readers, with popups and flashes and the like distracting from the content.

So they asked if I was willing to try something – a package they wanted to test that was less invasive and focused more on just gently thanking my readers for their loyalty.  So it is, CaptainUp is back on the blog – just slightly more low key.  You get one popup asking you to join my little club. After that there is always a small bar at the bottom of the page that will let you join should you wish. There is a leaderboard as well. Badges can be earned for simple things such as liking and tweeting. There are a couple of missions as well (more to come). The first you should try is the Onboarding one. See the progress bar on the left of the page? Click it and it will show links I feel all my readers should have looked at to understand my content better Read More ...

Disruptor Superhero Archetypes!

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Disruptor archetypes Disruptor Superhero Archetypes

I love superheroes, I make no apology for that! A while back I did a post that compared my User Types to various superheroes and super-villains.

I thought it would be fun to do the same thing for the Disruptor sub-types. It has caused me some issues and I am not totally convinced by one of them, so I would love to see your comments or indeed conversation in the forums about how this could be improved. However, until then – here are the Disruptor Superhero Archetypes!

Magneto: He represents a bit of everything so is my choice for the overall Disruptor. He wants change, his way and will use any method possible to assure it! Read More ...