How to work effortlessly or an introduction to gamification
Remembering the famous phrase from the opera “The Queen of Spades”, our life is really very much like a game: rivalry, professionalism / skill development, awards, losses, and even boss fights. Philosopher Bernard Suites has identified the following essential components of the game:
But this approach can be applied to many types of human activity: learning, achieving success at work, undergoing a course of treatment - wherever there is a certain convention. The game is distinguished from everything else by the entertaining nature of the activity - a pleasant pastime.
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Gamification and its scope
Gamification refers to the use of game elements and game design techniques in non-game situations. One of the main tasks of gamification, is to increase the involvement of participants in the process of the main activity.
What activity makes sense to use gamification?
1. Routine work. In our life there is always a monotonous activity, to which I want to add additional meaning. The film Sight presents a possible picture of the future gamification of our daily activities. For example, the main character receives points for slicing cucumbers, performs physical exercises, overcoming game obstacles, and so on. The goal of gamification in this case is to simplify the activity, to make it more fun and significant. For the production sector, gamification can be aimed at increasing the speed of operations and, accordingly, increasing productivity.
2. Training. In this case we are talking about learning in a broad sense - obtaining new skills, improving skills. Unlike the previous paragraph, there is the possibility of modifying the activity depending on the level of the student. For example, if you cut a cucumber for a salad, then having achieved success, you will not switch to pineapple, since such an ingredient is not required in a salad. But if you learn to cook, then having mastered a cucumber, it is quite natural to move on to cutting more complex objects.
3. Process improvement / innovation. In the history of gamification, there are several successful examples where the game allowed to make a discovery or to improve something. The most famous is the creation by collective efforts of gamers of a 3D model of an enzyme that destroys the protein of the HIV virus. Scientists have tried to do this for years, and the players managed in three weeks. Another example is the UK Department of Labor and Pensions has developed the Street of Ideas online platform. On it, department employees share their ideas for improving work. It can be as small sentences - for example, to sign each outgoing letter, as well as large-scale - for example, to develop a training program. The best ideas are starting to sell their "shares" that employees can buy and sell using in-game currency. Ideas with the highest quotation are reviewed by the ministry and implemented. The game "Street of ideas" in the first nine months allowed to save about 10 million pounds. At the same time, ministerial employees noted an increase in job satisfaction — now they are heard and citizens are pleased with the improvement in the quality of service.
Speaking about the improvement and the search for innovations, it is necessary to note the huge role of collective cooperation (crowdsourcing), without which the achievement of goals would be impossible.
Kevin Verbach in his book "Involve and Conquer", depending on the scope of application, identifies three types of gamification:
External gamification is aimed at consumers, potential customers, society as a whole. If this is a marketing task, then it works according to the scheme: involvement in the gameplay - obtaining positive emotions - building brand loyalty / making a purchase. But models of collective cooperation are also possible, as is the case with the construction of a protein model.
Internal gamification is usually aimed at company employees. Its customers are personnel departments and staff training. It is used to increase productivity, stimulate innovation, strengthen team spirit or to achieve certain goals of the company with internal resources.
There are two signs of internal gamification:
Internal gamification can be attributed to the UK Department of Labor and Pensions.
Behavioral gamification is aimed at creating new habits. The first thing that comes to mind is a healthy lifestyle and health care. But habits can relate to finance, personal relationships, self-improvement. An example is the Nike application, which allows you to track how many kilometers a person has run with the ability to publish the results on social networks.
Implement gamification: points, badges and ratings or a magic circle?
Very often, when considering examples of gamification, it is said that the company introduced a rating system based on points, badges and ratings, and this had a positive effect on user involvement. Although many gamification gurus say that this is not enough, we need a magic circle. What does it mean? Returning to the film Sight, is it possible to unequivocally say what the main character does in the first scene: is it playing a game or doing exercises? To be in the magic circle means to feel yourself inside the game with the corresponding drive effect.
However, do not underestimate the importance of points and ratings. Recall the largest in Europe resource for IT-specialists Habrahabr : karma and rating, which change dynamically depending on the actions or inaction of the participant. Depending on the size of karma, access to the resource’s capabilities changes: evaluate posts, invite new participants, etc. The icons “Zahabrenny”, “Author”, “Old-Timers” and others make it possible to understand the achievements of the habr-resident. Using the classic gaming tools, this site managed to attract a huge number of visitors. In this case, the bet was made on intangible values: the usefulness of the content and respect for the community.
Another example is the Active Citizen project. For each answer the respondent is awarded points, which can then be turned into gifts: theater tickets / museums, themed souvenirs and much more. Of course, in this case, there is a risk that people will respond solely for the sake of points, without understanding the essence of the issue - there is such a disadvantage when using external motivation. However, it can be noted that the organizers have perfectly selected a range of awards that fits well with the concept of the project.
To summarize: in the examples described, game elements are used to indicate the position of the participants relative to each other or to show progress. As such, the game interaction does not occur, but all the elements used have a definite meaning for the participant.
Stages of gamification development
Kevin Verbach and Dan Hunter proposed the 6D concept for developing gamification (6 steps to gamification):
1. Define business objectives / Define business objectives . Why do you need gamification within your business? What can she give? The immediate goal of any gamification is to increase the participant's involvement in the mainstream process. However, you need to understand why: increasing productivity, making a purchase, increasing loyalty, achieving a research goal, a social project, etc. In addition to direct tasks, there may be indirect, associated, for example, with increasing brand awareness.
2. Delineate target behaviors / Highlight the target behavior of the participants. What should the participants do? How can this activity be measured? Does it directly or indirectly contribute to the above business objectives? For example, the task is to increase loyalty, and the target behavior is to maximize the time spent on the site. It is advisable to explain how a participant’s targeted behavior will lead to the achievement of a business objective, fixing specific digital indicators, so that, firstly, to have a high degree of controllability and project settings later, and, secondly, these indicators can be used to reverse communication with participants to direct them to the planned goal.
3. Describe your players / Describe the players. How can you characterize people who will participate in gamified activity? How are they related to the company? For example, these could be potential customers, employees, community representatives. In the description it makes sense to use demographic (age, gender), psychographic (life position, values, attitudes to innovation), the division of players into murderers, researchers, victors and communicators, etc. This is necessary in order to select the optimal game elements and structures. For example, choose on what principle game interaction will be based: rivalry or cooperation.
4. Devise your activity loops / Develop activity loops. In games, there are two types of cycles: the cycle of engagement and the cycle of progress. The first works as follows: Motivation - Action - Feedback and again Motivation. An excellent illustration would be training for cooks: I learned how to cut a cucumber, I received a high mark, get a pineapple for training. Assignments become more complex with the growth of skill. The progress cycle is responsible for advancing the player from the starting point to the final - we do not learn to immediately cut everything, but perform individual tasks that will lead us to the goal. In the examples of gamification, where there is no clear route for the participants, the progress cycle can be tied to the profile filling or to the implementation of a complex multi-stage task. You should also consider separately what a newcomer should do to become a full-fledged participant in gamification.
5. Don't forget the fun. Here we are talking about what makes gamification not just a set of points, but something really significant for a participant. This item can be considered as a checksum: you have planned something, and then you ask yourself: “Will it be interesting for the players? What will motivate them? Will we be able to do with internal motivation or will we need material? ”
6. Deploy the appropriate tools / Use the appropriate tools. We have already said that there are points, badges and ratings. But these tools are not limited to games. There are avatars, achievements, boss battles, collecting, battles, discovery of new content, quests, virtual goods, social interaction and much more. At this stage, you determine the specific gamification content and technical requirements. For example, you can identify the platforms (Windows, iOS, Android) through which the interaction will take place.
A few words about where to find more information on this issue. For me, the original source is Kevin Verbach’s “ Gamification ” course on Coursera.org. In Russian, the book “Involve and Conquer” was published, which was written by the author of the course in collaboration with Dan Hunter.
In conclusion, I want to say that I am optimistic about the prospects for gamification, especially some routine operations. The main thing is that it does not turn into another way of manipulating people.
For my company, I dream of introducing elements of the game into the process of protecting software and digital content: I made the first defense — I received approval, I made the protection with individual settings — I received the “Security Expert” badge, and while protection is being done, we can solve a small quest. So it turns out that all life is a game.
- Purpose.
- A set of rules and restrictions that allow you to interact in the game space.
- The game attitude, which is expressed in the voluntary adherence to the rules, because players treat the game as something meaningful and valuable.
But this approach can be applied to many types of human activity: learning, achieving success at work, undergoing a course of treatment - wherever there is a certain convention. The game is distinguished from everything else by the entertaining nature of the activity - a pleasant pastime.
')
Gamification and its scope
Gamification refers to the use of game elements and game design techniques in non-game situations. One of the main tasks of gamification, is to increase the involvement of participants in the process of the main activity.
What activity makes sense to use gamification?
1. Routine work. In our life there is always a monotonous activity, to which I want to add additional meaning. The film Sight presents a possible picture of the future gamification of our daily activities. For example, the main character receives points for slicing cucumbers, performs physical exercises, overcoming game obstacles, and so on. The goal of gamification in this case is to simplify the activity, to make it more fun and significant. For the production sector, gamification can be aimed at increasing the speed of operations and, accordingly, increasing productivity.
2. Training. In this case we are talking about learning in a broad sense - obtaining new skills, improving skills. Unlike the previous paragraph, there is the possibility of modifying the activity depending on the level of the student. For example, if you cut a cucumber for a salad, then having achieved success, you will not switch to pineapple, since such an ingredient is not required in a salad. But if you learn to cook, then having mastered a cucumber, it is quite natural to move on to cutting more complex objects.
3. Process improvement / innovation. In the history of gamification, there are several successful examples where the game allowed to make a discovery or to improve something. The most famous is the creation by collective efforts of gamers of a 3D model of an enzyme that destroys the protein of the HIV virus. Scientists have tried to do this for years, and the players managed in three weeks. Another example is the UK Department of Labor and Pensions has developed the Street of Ideas online platform. On it, department employees share their ideas for improving work. It can be as small sentences - for example, to sign each outgoing letter, as well as large-scale - for example, to develop a training program. The best ideas are starting to sell their "shares" that employees can buy and sell using in-game currency. Ideas with the highest quotation are reviewed by the ministry and implemented. The game "Street of ideas" in the first nine months allowed to save about 10 million pounds. At the same time, ministerial employees noted an increase in job satisfaction — now they are heard and citizens are pleased with the improvement in the quality of service.
Speaking about the improvement and the search for innovations, it is necessary to note the huge role of collective cooperation (crowdsourcing), without which the achievement of goals would be impossible.
Kevin Verbach in his book "Involve and Conquer", depending on the scope of application, identifies three types of gamification:
- External gamification.
- Internal gamification.
- Gamification, changing behavior.
External gamification is aimed at consumers, potential customers, society as a whole. If this is a marketing task, then it works according to the scheme: involvement in the gameplay - obtaining positive emotions - building brand loyalty / making a purchase. But models of collective cooperation are also possible, as is the case with the construction of a protein model.
Internal gamification is usually aimed at company employees. Its customers are personnel departments and staff training. It is used to increase productivity, stimulate innovation, strengthen team spirit or to achieve certain goals of the company with internal resources.
There are two signs of internal gamification:
- All members are part of a specific community (company).
- Participants interact with each other on an ongoing basis.
Internal gamification can be attributed to the UK Department of Labor and Pensions.
Behavioral gamification is aimed at creating new habits. The first thing that comes to mind is a healthy lifestyle and health care. But habits can relate to finance, personal relationships, self-improvement. An example is the Nike application, which allows you to track how many kilometers a person has run with the ability to publish the results on social networks.
Implement gamification: points, badges and ratings or a magic circle?
Very often, when considering examples of gamification, it is said that the company introduced a rating system based on points, badges and ratings, and this had a positive effect on user involvement. Although many gamification gurus say that this is not enough, we need a magic circle. What does it mean? Returning to the film Sight, is it possible to unequivocally say what the main character does in the first scene: is it playing a game or doing exercises? To be in the magic circle means to feel yourself inside the game with the corresponding drive effect.
However, do not underestimate the importance of points and ratings. Recall the largest in Europe resource for IT-specialists Habrahabr : karma and rating, which change dynamically depending on the actions or inaction of the participant. Depending on the size of karma, access to the resource’s capabilities changes: evaluate posts, invite new participants, etc. The icons “Zahabrenny”, “Author”, “Old-Timers” and others make it possible to understand the achievements of the habr-resident. Using the classic gaming tools, this site managed to attract a huge number of visitors. In this case, the bet was made on intangible values: the usefulness of the content and respect for the community.
Another example is the Active Citizen project. For each answer the respondent is awarded points, which can then be turned into gifts: theater tickets / museums, themed souvenirs and much more. Of course, in this case, there is a risk that people will respond solely for the sake of points, without understanding the essence of the issue - there is such a disadvantage when using external motivation. However, it can be noted that the organizers have perfectly selected a range of awards that fits well with the concept of the project.
To summarize: in the examples described, game elements are used to indicate the position of the participants relative to each other or to show progress. As such, the game interaction does not occur, but all the elements used have a definite meaning for the participant.
Stages of gamification development
Kevin Verbach and Dan Hunter proposed the 6D concept for developing gamification (6 steps to gamification):
1. Define business objectives / Define business objectives . Why do you need gamification within your business? What can she give? The immediate goal of any gamification is to increase the participant's involvement in the mainstream process. However, you need to understand why: increasing productivity, making a purchase, increasing loyalty, achieving a research goal, a social project, etc. In addition to direct tasks, there may be indirect, associated, for example, with increasing brand awareness.
2. Delineate target behaviors / Highlight the target behavior of the participants. What should the participants do? How can this activity be measured? Does it directly or indirectly contribute to the above business objectives? For example, the task is to increase loyalty, and the target behavior is to maximize the time spent on the site. It is advisable to explain how a participant’s targeted behavior will lead to the achievement of a business objective, fixing specific digital indicators, so that, firstly, to have a high degree of controllability and project settings later, and, secondly, these indicators can be used to reverse communication with participants to direct them to the planned goal.
3. Describe your players / Describe the players. How can you characterize people who will participate in gamified activity? How are they related to the company? For example, these could be potential customers, employees, community representatives. In the description it makes sense to use demographic (age, gender), psychographic (life position, values, attitudes to innovation), the division of players into murderers, researchers, victors and communicators, etc. This is necessary in order to select the optimal game elements and structures. For example, choose on what principle game interaction will be based: rivalry or cooperation.
4. Devise your activity loops / Develop activity loops. In games, there are two types of cycles: the cycle of engagement and the cycle of progress. The first works as follows: Motivation - Action - Feedback and again Motivation. An excellent illustration would be training for cooks: I learned how to cut a cucumber, I received a high mark, get a pineapple for training. Assignments become more complex with the growth of skill. The progress cycle is responsible for advancing the player from the starting point to the final - we do not learn to immediately cut everything, but perform individual tasks that will lead us to the goal. In the examples of gamification, where there is no clear route for the participants, the progress cycle can be tied to the profile filling or to the implementation of a complex multi-stage task. You should also consider separately what a newcomer should do to become a full-fledged participant in gamification.
5. Don't forget the fun. Here we are talking about what makes gamification not just a set of points, but something really significant for a participant. This item can be considered as a checksum: you have planned something, and then you ask yourself: “Will it be interesting for the players? What will motivate them? Will we be able to do with internal motivation or will we need material? ”
6. Deploy the appropriate tools / Use the appropriate tools. We have already said that there are points, badges and ratings. But these tools are not limited to games. There are avatars, achievements, boss battles, collecting, battles, discovery of new content, quests, virtual goods, social interaction and much more. At this stage, you determine the specific gamification content and technical requirements. For example, you can identify the platforms (Windows, iOS, Android) through which the interaction will take place.
A few words about where to find more information on this issue. For me, the original source is Kevin Verbach’s “ Gamification ” course on Coursera.org. In Russian, the book “Involve and Conquer” was published, which was written by the author of the course in collaboration with Dan Hunter.
In conclusion, I want to say that I am optimistic about the prospects for gamification, especially some routine operations. The main thing is that it does not turn into another way of manipulating people.
For my company, I dream of introducing elements of the game into the process of protecting software and digital content: I made the first defense — I received approval, I made the protection with individual settings — I received the “Security Expert” badge, and while protection is being done, we can solve a small quest. So it turns out that all life is a game.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/289122/
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