“It’s all about money, not freedom, ya’ll, okay? Nothing to do with freedom. If you think you’re free, try going somewhere without money, okay?” – Bill Hicks, comedian Much has been written in the area of enterprise gamification about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, the basic ideas being as follows: – Because money is considered an…
The one question I get asked over and over again by startups is: at what point should I include gamification? My answer has evolved significantly over the past four years.
Every year, I teach hundreds of people how to use gamification to raise their customer and employee engagement through my live, hands-on workshop series. Hundreds more also earn their design certification through the Engagement Alliance’s online course program. In the years since I’ve been teaching gamified design, I’ve found that about 30% of my students are startup founders, product managers and UX designers trying to figure out how to apply powerful game mechanics to their breakthrough ideas. I also co-direct the Founder Institute startup accelerator in NYC where 80 aspiring entrepreneurs work with me on getting launched and gamifying each year.
What I’ve learned from all these interactions is that there isn’t a cookie cutter solution that would work for every new project. However, there is a pattern of best practice that has emerged that – when combined with a good gamification design education – can produce superior results. I’ve taken to calling it the 3Ps: Progress, Points, and Prompts.
There has been an influx of gamified fitness-based apps in the last year, all focused on helping users to lose weight, be healthier, live happier. Fleetly is a Canadian site that claims to make fitness “simple, friendly and fun.” Similar to sites like DailyBurn and RunKeeper, Fleetly uses social competition to motivate users and build…
I hate George Clooney. For a solid twelve months after “Up In The Air” was released, every Power Point deck at every trade show conference in the travel industry felt that it was their moral obligation to tie their presentation to a video clip from that movie. Yes, George was on an endless quest for…
There’s a new site online that is causing a lot of people to tune in and listen. Turntable.fm seems to be the next revolution in online music. Functioning as a combo chart room and internet radio station, this invite-only community is a fun and addictive way to share and discover new sounds.
You may not remember Plixi, the former media hosting/sharing site for Twitter, Facebook and other social networks, but you might recognize it under it’s new identity: Lockerz. In fact, you may already be a member. This high school themed social networking and e-commerce community has been having a huge swarm of participation recently – possibly…
We’ve talked a lot about various gamified check-in sites and apps that allow you to complete chores, do good deeds and lose weight on the Gamification blogs recently. While these apps are fun, engaging and helpful to those who are already motivated, they are all still susceptible to getting “gamed”. In any game or gamified structure you will…
You can make a positive impact one step at a time. DailyFeats is a new site with the idea of getting people to do good through small actions. These actions can be for your own benefit, for your community or even the world. The point being: one person can make a significant difference in their…
When discussing gamification, especially with those not previously familiar, it’s hard not to bring up Foursquare. Their premise is so artfully simple, absolutely anyone with a computer or a mobile phone can understand. But just because it’s a basic idea doesn’t stop Foursquare from evolving. A new blog entry was posted Tuesday announcing the 3.0…
The new Zappos VIP , a tier added to the popular online shoe and apparel store, is definitely all about status. It was first launched back in 2008, touting “Free overnight shipping ’til the cows come home.” and “Bragging Rights! Make everyone else jealous, one order at a time.” VIP members are also privy to…
OMGPOP is a casual gaming and social networking site. We’ve previously written about meta games and gamified gaming, but OMGPOP deserves a little more atttention. The premise is simple: play games, earn coins. Use those coins to customize your profile, in-game characters and environments, earn coins by reading mailing list, winning games, answering survey questions…
Editor’s Note: There’s been a growing trend of esoteric competitions being the focus of documentaries over the past few years. The passion that the participants have for a prize most of us have never heard about is intriguing. But the spirit of competition is the same no matter what you’re playing for. We’ll be reviewing…
The Academy Awards are this Sunday and as per usual, people are making their winning picks for Best Picture, and Best Actor/Actress. If The Oscars and other similar industry awards are the prizes, is the act of film making a game in and of itself? Earlier this week we mentioned Clinton Bonner’s idea to gamify…
Clinton Bonner brings up some really interesting ideas about gamifying the movie theater experience in his recent blog post “Please Turn Your Cell Phones On! – The Future Movie Experience“. There have been many different attempts over the years to make watching films more interactive, from 3D glasses to the gimmicky catalog of director William…
It’s really easy to get stuck in a rut in your life. You may want to change things, but don’t know how to get started. MindBloom’s Life Game offers stress-free, simple ways to improve your life, one step at a time. Start by picking the three aspects of your life you’d like to focus on…
