Gamification mechanics work because they motivate user audiences to participate, engage, and act. Yu-kai Chou, who began work in this space nearly 20 years ago, explains why the application of game technique is so much more than points, badges, and leaderboards. It extracts all the fundamental components in games and applies them to real-world and business activities.
Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, And Leaderboards Download.zip
The effectiveness of points, badges, leaderboards, and other elements is, according to Chou, due to their ability to tap into these eight drives. Point systems can activate drives for meaning, accomplishment, empowerment, ownership, and sometimes avoidance. Badges most effectively tap into accomplishment and scarcity. Leaderboards are especially good at channeling social influence.
Game mechanics, such as points, badges, levels, challenges, and leaderboards help make tedious, mundane tasks more fun. They come from game-like dynamics such as rewards, urgency, pride, competition, and status-building.
You can expect to see game mechanics such as points, badges, levels, challenges, and leaderboards used to trigger our human desires for status, achievement, and competition, and help make mundane tasks more fun.
According to game designer and author of Reality is Broken Jane McGonigal (2011), the core elements of games are rules, goals, feedback, and voluntary participation. Gamification does not depend on the use of games, but rather these core mechanics. However, many gamified classrooms, whose goals and feedback systems are grade-based, tend to only superimpose points, badges, and leaderboards to engage and motivate. However, when taken out of the game context, points, badges, and leaderboards may be ineffective and consequently decrease motivation. Students are doing the same coursework in the same manner with only a superficial change in how they are rewarded.
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