What is gamification?

How does gamification work? 

Gamification works by providing audiences with proactive directives and feedback through game mechanics and game dynamics added to online platforms that lead to the accomplishments of business goals and objectives.

A compelling gamification experience taps into a participant’s emotions and demonstrates, easily, the best activities an audience can complete that make an impact on mutually shared goals. As employees or customers interact with a gamification program, they receive immediate feedback on performance and guided next steps towards new achievements. 

What are game mechanics?

Game mechanics are the rules and rewards that appear in a program on a digital platform. Examples may include points, levels, missions, leaderboards, badges and progress. Game mechanics are how participants engage with a gamification program and receive next steps and feedback on accomplishments. 

What are game dynamics?

Game dynamics refer to a set of emotions, behaviors and desires found in game mechanics that resonate with people. Examples may include competition through leaderboards, collaboration by completing team missions, community by seeing other participants on a news feed, collection when earning unique badges and surprises by unlocking new missions. Game dynamics are used with game mechanics to foster engagement and motivate participants.

What is the business value of gamification? 

Gamification – at its core – is about driving engagement to influence business results. When people participate and engage with your gamification initiative, they learn the best way to interact with your business, your products, your services and your brand.

The business value of gamification doesn’t end with the participant. Engagement with game mechanics provides insightful data that can help influence marketing campaigns, platform utilization and performance goals. Every employee or customer interaction gives a better sense of where a participant is spending their time and what activities drive interest.

What is the value of gamification in the workplace?

Gamification is the strategy for influencing and motivating the behavior of people, which also includes employees. Gamification can be applied across a broad spectrum of situations where individuals need to be motivated to pursue specific actions or activities. Gamification in the workplace can increase employee engagement to drive the company’s performance.

Game mechanics make an employee’s job more transparent by making goals clear and easy to follow. An employee is able to see progress on performance, receive immediate feedback on accomplishments and connect with co-workers through collaboration and competition.

What are the benefits of workplace gamification?

When done strategically, gamification in the workplace can help improve business results in various ways, which include:

• Increasing adoption and use of learning management tools.
• Promoting retention and results in employees.
• Increasing employee knowledge sharing to improve service levels.
• Boosting call center employee performance and satisfaction.

Overall, gamification in the workplace can increase employee motivation. However, an enterprise gamification platform like BI WORLDWIDE’s Bunchball Nitro^® can also uncover other hidden benefits. These benefits include finding the most powerful incentives, revealing employee preferences, illuminating the connections in your workplace, and helping to transform your business into an agile organization.

What are examples of gamification strategies?

An example of a gamification strategy for internal employees may focus on the goal to increase engagement and retention. Gamification provides a sustainable foundation for employee engagement by appealing to powerful intrinsic motivators that all humans share, including autonomy, mastery, purpose and social interaction. Measurable results are a key benefit to gamification in the workplace. Gamification provides data and reporting to help you see what’s working for your employees and where you need to adjust.

What are some gamification best practices?

Successful gamification doesn’t happen overnight. Some top gamification best practices include:

1. Determine how compelling your content is.
   Take an honest look at your content and platforms to make sure they are ideal for gamification. Gamification cannot make an inferior user experience successful, but works best when turning an exciting, attractive experience into a richer, more participatory one. 

2. Establish a timeframe.
   Gamification is a long-term strategy, not a launch and leave it alone one. It’s critical to plan the ideal timeframe so users can build their experience over time. 

3. Figure out the time to market.
   Gamification must be approached strategically and not rushed. Determine how soon you need to gamify your site or application and what level of effort will be required to do so. 

4. Measure results.
   It’s important to have a clear sense of what your business goals are and how you go about determining them. Is your gamification successful? What are the results? How can you improve?

How does data tie in with gamification?

Because true gamification is data-driven, businesses can monitor the performance of gamification initiatives amongst employees. However, not all gamification solutions are the same. Many vendors lack robust features. It’s critical to partner with a gamification vendor who has the expertise and experience of working with gamification in the workplace.  An innovative gamification platform – such as Bunchball Nitro – can capture relevant data and put the strategic insights into action.