Gamification: The hype becomes reality

Research company Gartner reckons that by 2014, more than 70% of the Forbes’ major companies will have at least one “gamified” application.

The research company says that although the current “success” of gamification is largely driven by novelty and hype, it is positioned to become a “highly significant trend” over the next five years.

Gamification is the use of game design techniques and mechanics to solve problems, motivate people and engage audiences.

Typically gamification applies to non-game sites and applications in order to encourage users to adopt them. Gamification works by making technology more engaging, by encouraging users to engage in desired behaviours, by showing a path to “mastery” and “autonomy”, and by taking advantage of humans’ psychological predisposition to engage in games.

Gamification can encourage people to perform chores that they ordinarily consider boring, such as completing surveys, shopping, filling out tax forms, or reading web sites. Gamification can also encourage purchasing behaviour such as buying items for a users’ Instant Messenger (IM) avatar. One of the largest IM clients in the world, the Chinese TenCent, apply this strategy successfully.

“Gamification aims to inspire deeper, more engaged relationships and to change behaviour, but it needs to be implemented thoughtfully,” said Brian Burke, research vice president at Gartner.

“Most attempts at gamification currently miss the mark, but successful and sustainable gamification can convert customers into fans, turn work into fun, or make learning a joy. The potential is enormous.”

For a gamified application truly to engage its audience, three key ingredients must be present and correctly positioned: motivation, momentum and meaning (collectively known as “M³”).

According to Burke: “The vast majority of gamified applications today lack or misplace at least one of these ingredients, which means gamified applications run the risk of falling into disuse, once their novelty wears off.”

Motivation is inspired by most of today’s gamified applications primarily by offering extrinsic rewards and/or weak intrinsic rewards to direct behavioural changes. Extrinsic motivation comes from outside an individual and is inspired by rewards such as money and grades. Intrinsic motivation exists within an individual and derives from that person’s interest in, or enjoyment of, the task.

“Framing the right motivations is an important consideration when designing gamified applications,” said Burke. “It’s essential to use the right mix of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, combined with appropriate player relationships — competitive or collaborative.”

Momentum depends on sustained engagement. In gaming, momentum is achieved by balancing the difficulty of the challenges presented with the skill levels of the players. If players find challenges too easy, they will soon get bored. On the other hand, if challenges are too difficult, players will become frustrated. Gamified applications need to engage players quickly and maintain their engagement through deft use of game mechanics such as challenges, rules, chance, rewards and levels.

Meaning is about serving a larger purpose. To succeed, gamified applications must provide rewards that are meaningful to the participants. Different people will find different rewards and incentives meaningful, but many will value opportunities to help charities through donations, lose weight, master a specific skill or achieve a significant task.

“Gamification could become as important as Facebook, eBay or Amazon,” said Burke. “During 2012, 20 per cent of Global 2000 organisations will deploy a gamified application. IT leaders must start exploring opportunities to use gamification to increase engagement with customers and employees, with the aim of deploying a gamified application next year. Understanding how to apply game mechanics to motivate positive behavioural change is critical to success.”