Gamification is the Trend

The Gamification Spectrum

I came across an excellent paper written by Dr. Michael Wu that was published by Lithium. In this whitepaper Dr. Wu talks about the Gamification Spectrum and the nine patterns that builders and users of gamification need to be aware of in it use. These include:

1. Gamified behavior- do you want a single action from a single user or multiple actions from multiple players
2. Underlying metrics- you have to be able to track player behavior and that becomes increasingly difficult and complicated
3. Susceptibility to cheating- Easy actions make it easy to “game” the system. I have a friend who games FourSquare by checking into a location that he just happens to be driving by rather than actually visiting. He is atop the leaderboard every week.
4. Ideal visibility and scope of feedback- This deals with badges and the time they are visible. Newer players may get discouraged with long standing, yet easily earned badges.
5. Value of rewards- Do you want to reward simple behavior by a single player or the behavior of a team?
6. Sustainability- You have to have something that stands the test of time in order for it to be effective.
7. Implementation- Do you want simple badges or will you require custom tools?
8. Extinction period- this is tied into sustainability
9. Engaged population- The more difficult the game the smaller the number of dedicated players.

Dr. Wu says that you need to have a three step strategy that include:

1. Step one- Identify the effective timescale of your desired behavior
2. Step two- Find a gamification tool with a feedback timescale ≈ your effective timescale
3. Step three- Build a level-up ladder by filling in the gaps with tools that have successively longer feedback timescale along the gamification spectrum.

• Always start with immediate feedback (e.g., points) to achieve scale
• Fill all gaps (so the ladder is easy to climb) in order to maintain the scale as your players level up to the final rung of the ladder (i.e., the tool with feedback)

Go through and read this whitepaper to more completely understand Dr. Michael Wu's  explanation.

Opportunity Trend

I do believe that there is a tremendous opportunity for the use of gamification in human resources. It will take a coordinated effort between HR, game designers and probably some of the bigger software systems but I believe it may be worth the effort.