We presented this deck at the ESOMAR Congress 2011 conference in Amsterdam where it was nominated for "Best Methodological Paper". The meat of this deck is a collection of case studies showing the efficacy of gamification in various BUSINESS contexts. It took us ages to contact and collate these various examples, so hopefully having them all in one place will save you time. A big thank you very much to the various folks who helped us put this piece of research together! If you have any questions, comments, requests, or are interested in the original paper that this deck is based on, please feel free to drop us a line :)
Text of Gamification: How Effective Is It?
Goal? Evaluate the effectiveness of gamification and explore potential applications in business & market research How?
Literature review
Expert interviews
Experiment
Case studies from market leaders
Note: This deck only covers gamification in business. It does not touch on serious games, entertainment, education, politics, etc. Background
Jesse Schell Chief Executive Officer and Creative Director of Schell Games Sebastian Deterding Gamification guru and PhD researcher Michael Wu Principal Scientist of Analytics at Lithium Technologies Danny Day CEO of QCF Design (IGF award-winning developers of Desktop Dungeons) Kevin Spier andDan Maier of Bunchball gamification service Bo Nielsen Associate Director, TNS Jon Puleston Senior Director of GMI Interactive Francesco DOrazio Research Director and Head of Social Media of Face Group Phil Groman Head of Innovations for Afroes Rolfe Swinton Director of Lumi Mobile Interviewees
What its not Examples What it is How Does It Work? How Effective Is It? Conclusions Where Can It Go Wrong?
LEVEL 1 What its not
LEVEL 1: What its not Video games Badgification / Pointsification
LEVEL 2 What it is
LEVEL 2: What is it? Definition
The integration of the mechanics that make games funand absorbing into non-game platforms and experiences in order to improve engagement and participation ~ The Authors
LEVEL 3 Examples
LEVEL 3: Examples Farmville
LEVEL 3: Examples Foursquare
LEVEL 3: Examples Klout
LEVEL 4: How Does It Work?
LEVEL 4: How Does It Work? Hijacking the brain Experience systems Rapid, frequent feedback Rewards for effort Uncertainty Short- and long-term goals Other people
LEVEL 4: How Does It Work? Example mechanics Appointment dynamic Achievement Community collaboration
LEVEL 4: How Does It Work? Can anything be gamified?
Do people not do something because they are not able to? - then increase ease of use. Do people not do it because they have no free time? - then work on that. Only if motivation is the issue cangamification be a [legitimate] way [of influencing behaviour] ~ Sebastian Deterding, researcher
BOSS BATTLE! Where Can It Go Wrong?
If your idea is to create a bribery system to get [users] to try something, it can backfire. When the bribes go away, people are less inclined naturally to do the thing you want, even if it's fun ~ Jesse Schell, CEO Schell Games
In my experience game mechanics have massive potential in the research industry but low-grade gamification is only going to distort social interaction and skew research outputs. ~ Francesco "DOrazio, Research Director for Face Group
Rewards are not equivalent to achievement Limited participation bandwidth Unintended consequences / Gaming the system Undermining intrinsic values and interfering with social norms
Congratulations! You defeated the Pitfall Boss
BONUS LEVEL: How Effective Is It? Marketing amplification Community curation Market research
Community curation BONUS LEVEL: How Effective Is It?
User participation Community interaction Ave. no. user posts Non-gamified (control) Non-gamified (control) n=37 n=25 n=30 Gamified (experiment) Gamified (experiment) n=68 n=30 Evly experiment BONUS LEVEL: How effective is it? Source: Findlay & Alberts, 2011
Awards Nominations Number of employees 16
Questions (2010) Answers (2010) The effect of gamification is pretty astounding and has even surprised us in what its able to do in the case of giffgaff ~ Michael Wu (Principle Scientist of Analytics at Lithium Technologies) 100,000 10,000 Average response time 95% answered in 3mins(24/7) 60mins (24/7)
giffgaff BONUS LEVEL: How effective is it? Source: Lithium Technologies
Page views (in millions) Ave. no. monthly visits Ave. time spent on site (mins) Merchandise sales Pre-gamification Post-gamification Pre-gamification Post-gamification Pre-gamification Post-gamification Pre sales Post sales +47% Club Psych BONUS LEVEL: How effective is it? Source: Bunchball
Actions before logging out % posting to blog Pre-gamification Post-gamification Pre-gamification Post-gamification Purchases per active user DevHub BONUS LEVEL: How effective is it? Source: TechCrunch
Marketing amplification BONUS LEVEL: How Effective Is It?
85% of users played more than once 50% returned the following month 60% increase in revenue via game from one month to next Playboy BONUS LEVEL: How effective is it? Source: Bunchball
Identified types of abuse Mentioned Childline n=20 n=20 Pre-game Pre-game Ave. awareness score (composite measure) Post-game Post-game Pre-game Post-game Champ Chase BONUS LEVEL: How effective is it? Source: Afroes
Market research BONUS LEVEL: How Effective Is It?
Completion rate Ave. happiness (out of 10) UK (non-gamified) USA (gamified) UK (non-gamified) USA (gamified) Consumption diary BONUS LEVEL: How effective is it? Source: Lumi Mobile
Length watching Oscars +42% Non-players Players Non-players Players Enjoyment of Oscars +50% Disney & Oscars BONUS LEVEL: How effective is it? Source: Lumi Mobile
Noticed more details in the show than normally
Really liked the chat, where people discussed the show
Fun to be a part of this new kind of test
It was like being a part of a community
Found it funny to rate the TV-show and see the results
Benefits:
Increased engagement
Improved data quality
Unintended consequences:
Drinking game
Returning & asking for more questions, and
to continue chatting
Eurovision BONUS LEVEL: How effective is it? Source: TNS
Framing Visualising Which of these do you have in your room? Which of these do you have in your room? Survey question Steak au pouivre Pesto Pasta fish and chips garlic chicken Last meal game Scotch broth soup as a starter served with garlic bread. Medium grilled gammon steak with a lightly fried egg on top with chips and side salad. A glass of red wine. A sticky toffee pudding, followed by cheese and biscuits. Rapid and frequent feedback TV Fish MP3 player Books Radio Magazines Console Camera Skateboard Stereo DVDs CDs Hampster Clothes Piggy bank Rocket Question design BONUS LEVEL: How effective is it? Source: GMI Interactive
FINAL BOSS BATTLE
FINAL BOSS BATTLE: Market Research Considerations To make surveys more engaging:
visual design
reframing language of questions
rapid & clear feedback
build in novelty/uncertainty
build in status (MROCs)
incorporate social elements
Market research industry has been slowin making surveys more engaging
FINAL BOSS BATTLE: Market Research Considerations Gamification can benefit our industry
A double shift in focus and framing: (1) from usability(reducing friction) to motivation(increasing drive), (2) from extrinsic motivation (incentives) to intrinsic motivation (competence, autonomy, relatedness needs). At best, it is a set of lenses and design patterns to improve intrinsic motivation. ~ Sebastian Deterding , researcher if we can step outside our comfort zones
In order to truly turn something into a game, it often needs to change so much in order to facilitate player agency that few people are willing to begin the process ~ Danny Day, QCF Design (developers of Desktop Dungeons)
FINAL BOSS BATTLE: Conclusions
FINAL BOSS BATTLE: Is it a fad?
In some ways it is a fad - adding points and badges in tacky ways, looking at gamification as an easy way to make boring things seem interesting - that is a fad. However, the idea of designing business processes so that those who engage in them find them more intrinsically rewarding - that is a long term trend. ~ Jesse Schell , CEO Schell Games In three years, we will talk about what is at the core of it - design for motivation - not about the one strategy to get there: getting inspiration from games. ~ Sebastian Deterding, researcher
FINAL BOSS BATTLE: Conclusions Gamification seems to work Gamification can benefit research but its no magic elixir in subtleand fundamental ways if we keep an ope