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Work better. Play together?!On Enterprise Gamification

Enterprise gamification is a hot new idea. !!Great potential for benefit (and misuse) !!Misconceptions create the risk of getting it wrong !!We share our lessons learned for making it work.

Outline: on Enterprise Gamification

Games are having their moment in the limelight

Once upon a time, they were the root of all evil.

Today, people are realizing that game design has something to say about how we design solutions to other problems.

Claim: “It can help solve real world problems.”

Claim: “It can drive employee motivation & performance” Just add points & rewards (cash, tchotchke’s, whatever)…

Claim: “You can get employees to engage in not-so-fun exercises” Make it look like a game so they do it!

But as with any new idea, carefully separate what works from what doesn’t.

“Gamification is an inadvertent con. It tricks people into believing that there’s a simple way to imbue their thing ... with the psychological, emotional and social power of a great game.”

Margaret Robertson Game Designer & Consultant to EA, Sony

Misconception #1 Gamification is badges & points

“Most gamification is just ‘pointsification.’ …too much gamification is about zero sum games: often, for me to win, you’ve got to lose.”

Matthew Jensen Game Designer

Co-founder, Natron Baxter Applied Gaming, Co-founder, Gameful

(real) Games are about intrinsic rewards Research show that fun in gaming is from intrinsic factors – experiences of competence, self-efficacy, and mastery Raph Koster, A Theory of Fun for Game Design (2004)

Misconception #2 Games have to be fun

Fact Economists developed the theory of games to mathematically capture human behavior in strategic situations. It has been used to develop war strategies, nuclear weapon strategy, and more. Serious stuff.

Games arise when multiple actors with differing objectives compete or cooperate for scarce resources.

Does that sound like your workplace?

Classic game theory: The Prisoners’ Dilemma

Misconception #3 Games are not appropriate at work

Reality "Work is already filled with games & game-elements

Leveling up

Badges

Leaderboards

Stephen Miles Vice Chairman, Heidrick & Struggles

Author, Your Career Game

Example: the Career Game “We compete for jobs: the more desirable the job, the tougher the competition. Most people readily understand this. But, fewer people recognize that the pursuit of an open job can be framed as one ‘move’ in a multifaceted game called ‘a career.’”

The real question then is: How can we better design the games we will inevitably play in the workplace?

So we don’t end up with badly designed games.

And unintended consequences.

Ben Dattner Professor of Industrial & Organizational Psychology, NYU

Author, The Blame Game

The Cover-Your-Ass game “When credit and blame are mismanaged and unfair, people shut down, become demotivated, and focus more on covering their rears rather than moving forward. When credit and blame are managed properly, people are willing and able to experiment, learn and grow.”

The Bonus Game “…when the tasks involve higher levels of cognition or creativity, the monetary incentives actually stifle performance rather than drive it. In addition, people undertake activities for reasons of mastery, purpose, etc. rather than specifically for monetary reward.”

Daniel Pink Author, Drive

And our favorite, the performance review game Formal with very infrequent feedback.

A ritual game with billions spent in wasted enterprise effort.

Initial lessons learnt in designing "good games at work*

*So far. This is a WIP

Lesson #1 It’s not about features you can bolt on. It’s about a careful design process.

You can’t save a crappy "service/product/environment"

by bolting on game mechanics.

+

X Wrong ✓ Right

What’s challenging or meaningful about leaving the house?

Doing work that makes a difference? Now that’s difficult yet meaningful

24h

7 days Release User insight

You have to design the right game And that happens slowly, carefully & iteratively

Game design

24h

7 days Release

Observe behavior

Refine game

element

Get people on the team who "have experience designing games*!

Marcus Gosling, UX Co-founder, imvu

Ryan Dewsbury, Product Creator of KDice & GPokr

*Alert: Without actual game designers working with enterprise folks you run the risk of designing something that doesn’t quite ring true.

Kobi Ofir, CTO Previously, CTO, Virgin Gaming

Meaning, Autonomy, & Mastery

Lesson #2 Design around intrinsic motivations.

“Game elements are like an amplifier: There has to be a genuine sound first – a value, an interest, a motivation – for the amplifier to do any good.”

Sebastian Deterding Gamification & UX designer and researcher

Badges devoid of meaning can be silly. For many, the badge is the only benefit of

playing the game. That’s fun & okay in certain contexts.

Military badges are meaningful because the underlying accomplishments are meaningful. The badges are filled with shared symbolism.

Badges can be silly Or they can be meaningful

"Let it be known that he who wears the military order of the purple heart has given of his blood in the defense of his homeland and shall forever be

revered by his fellow countrymen."

George Washington, August 7, 1782

Not just a piece of metal Symbol of meaningful impact

You reputation at work is important for a host of reasons. Managing this identity is a

powerful intrinsic driver.

Thanks from peers & managers have intrinsic meaning. Creating a badge lets people creatively recognize successes in their own words. Badges

thus have a shared meaning, creating trusted indicators of achievement.

Identity at work Peer generated

badges as reputation

Lesson #3 Amplify positive behaviors that already exist.

People like giving others a thanks for meaningful achievements, help, etc.

Recognition is tremendously motivating.

Make it crazy simple to give people thanks, and for others to see it.

Easy and social.

Positive Behavior Make it easy. Make it Social.

Joy Gao

Thanks!

Thanks for the awesome L&L! I learnt a ton!

To:

Subject:

Cc:

In games and at work, people like to embark on Epic Quests. They like to pick their quests, gather the troops and take

on challenges head on.

Make it easy for people to define their own Epic Quests, enlist contributors & share

real-time progress on their quests. And to collect badges representing their

successful quests.

Positive Behavior Design Element

Lesson #4 Do it slowly and very carefully

Games elements have real & sometimes unintended consequences

Scoreboards are a common game element. Harmless in the virtual world of games.

“Depending on [work context], leaderboards can feel like yet another form

of control and pressure, or as merely informational and supportive”

*Sebastian Deterding, Meaningful Gamification

Game element Unintended consequence

Monetary incentives should drive activity right? After all, people like rewards, and money’s a great reward!

Wrong! Users emailed us saying getting paid for invitations in a work context was

inappropriate. They preferred to invite others to simply join them on Rypple.

Game element Unintended consequences

$25 reward with "invite your team to join you"

"invite your team" + reasons why

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Invite coworkers $25

Lesson #5 Simplicity counts

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry French author and aviator

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

We all know that getting regular feedback is good for your performance at work.

But its hard (& scary) to get constructive feedback from people you work with!

The easier we made it to ask for feedback, the more people used it. The more complicated the process

(unnecessary fields, ratings, options…choices), the less people do it.

Difficult Behavior Simplicity in design

In summary

Work is already filled with games. They’re mostly poorly designed.!!Get people on the team with experience in building games.!!Design, build, learn, design, ... repeat.!!Leverage intrinsic motivators at work. Amplify positive behaviors.!!Watch for unintended consequences of game elements in the social context of work.!!Simplicity counts.

Helpful lessons on Enterprise Gamification

Want to learn more? Daniel Debow @ddebow ddebow@rypple.com 1.888.4RYPPLE