What Gamification is not

Arpatech May 11, 2018

Gamification belongs to the larger thought process of game thinking that involves a methodology that elaborates the means to engage and motivate different audiences. In essence it is design sensibility that has very little to do with games. Neither do we need technology for gamification to be delivered nor does it have to be a purely digital experience.

It can be an everyday experience for the user who interacts with your brand. We all know what gamification is but there is a lot of ambiguity about what gamification is not. For starters, it is not a game. The purpose of a game is to entertain whereas, gamification is about motivating the user to take a desired behavior. When too many businesses are jumping on the gamification bandwagon, there are certain questions that need to be answered. Is gamification all about leaderboards and badges? Are youngster entitled for a gamified experience? Let’s get some answers.

What gamification is

As mentioned earlier, it is a methodology to inspire and drive users into action. When gamers can be immersed in a video game for hours, then there must be something about game elements that can engage users. Here’s a simple model of gamification.

Goals

Setting the goals takes precedence in order to apply gamification. Sometimes the purpose is to increase user engagement so that they gain awareness of the platform or app. Or you can lead them in a certain direction using gamification.

Measurement

Once a goal is selected, think about the actions that can be tied to it. For example, if the aim was to get more engagement, than an increased number of contributions in an community can be its metric.

Reward

when the goal is to get more engagement, the measurement will be the increase in online content, then the activity needs to be rewarded. Now the reward must be publicly acknowledged and it must be consistent.

Moving on, let’s explore what gamification is not.