The Common Mistakes People Make When Using Gamification

Businesses adapting new strategies to accomplish a variety of problems will want to consider gamification as one approach. This classic approach has taken on new twists with all of the new technologies that we have today at our disposal. Already gamification creates many exciting outcomes but there are some pitfalls and common mistakes.

Forgetting To Include Concrete Objectives

Games are not made just as a relaxing break from the work day. They should have concrete objectives to them. Business owners want their employees to get something from the game, and this means including goals to the game. A lot of the excitement in games created for business comes from achieving goals.

Points or other numeral rewards are typical of business games. They make for an easy way for players to measure up their performance against the performance of others. These are often included in the best games for business.

Over Emphasizing Competition 

Competition is the natural default goal of a lot of games. It is easy to understand why many immediately think to make their games competitive. In this case though, collaboration is a better target to shoot for than competition. Neosperience.com has a wonderful way of explaining this concept,

Games have the ability to change behaviors, taking advantage of the natural instinct for competition. But if you forget other dynamics like collaboration, progression and mutual accomplishment, you will inevitably fail to build motivation and to encourage customers to carry on with the game.

Failure In Design

Design failures in the game can make the whole experience a failure. If the game is not exciting and does not keep players engaged, than success is unlikely. Designers of the game must put thought into the consumer experience. Designers who put time and effort into the games have better results than those who skip this step.