Don't give the game away

What is Gamification?

Traditionally, gamification is the use of elements typical of games to motivate the pursuit of behaviour in non-game contexts. Gamification can produce a variety of commercial benefits:

• 90% of employees say they feel more productive when using gamification.
• Gamified websites can boost browsing time by up to 30%.
• 49% of businesses say that gamification tools increase engagement on their apps.

Gamification has become so ubiquitous in daily life that the use of game elements to motivate behaviour hardly seems odd anymore. One of the reasons why gamification has become so pervasive is the ease of integrating gamification with applications in an increasingly app-based economy.

What distinguishes gamification from games is the intended outcome. Whereas the primary outcome of games is enjoyment, gamification motivates a separate behaviour, the pursuit of which is made more enjoyable by game elements.

Successful Gamification

Gamification is used in a plethora of circumstances, such as to motivate consumers to exercise, eat healthier, and study. Popular, successful examples of gamification include the Duolingo and Zombies, Run! apps. On Duolingo (a language learning tool), users compete on leaderboards by earning points and completing challenges; users can win badges and customise their avatars with outfits. On Zombies, Run! (a fitness and running app), users progress through a zombie apocalypse narrative by going on different running missions. The running missions also allow them to collect materials to build their base in a virtual environment. The examples highlight how gamification can be used to motivate behaviours and increase consumer engagement with a product, service, or brand.

Motivation and Gamification

Although extremely popular, gamification is not a panacea for motivating consumers to pursue desired behaviours. A lack of understanding about motivation means gamification is often used in circumstances in which it is not particularly effective. People are motivated in one of two ways: intrinsically or extrinsically. People are intrinsically motivated to pursue a behaviour when that behaviour is inherently rewarding for them to pursue. For example, people tend to be intrinsically motivated to pursue their hobbies because they are inherently rewarding. In contrast, people are extrinsically motivated to pursue a behaviour when there is an external reward that motivates them to pursue that behaviour. For example, children are extrinsically encouraged to behave well at the dentist because they will get a lollipop at the end of the appointment if they do.

Therefore, to understand the motivating effect of gamification, we need to ask whether gamification increases intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. The problem is that gamification can do both at the same time. It can increase intrinsic motivation if it fundamentally makes pursuing a behaviour more inherently rewarding. But it can also increase extrinsic motivation to pursue a behaviour, for example when a leaderboard adds another layer of competition. It depends on how gamification is implemented, and which behaviour is being motivated. For example, does gamification transform the pursuit of a behaviour into something new and fun? Or does it provide some external incentives to pursue that behaviour instead?

Since gamification does not neatly fit into the dichotomy of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, a better way to describe the motivating effect of gamification on the pursuit of a behaviour is that it makes pursuing that behaviour more immediately rewarding. These insights have several consequences for understanding when gamification is most effective at motivating the pursuit of a desired behaviour.

As gamification can make a behaviour more immediately rewarding to pursue it can be effective at motivating behaviours that lack immediate rewards, such as sitting down for 15 minutes to practice a language or going on a run. Although pursuing these behaviours has delayed long-term rewards (learning a new language and getting fit) they can be challenging to pursue in the short term.

However, there is a caveat. Because gamification can both increase intrinsic motivation and be an extrinsic incentive, gamification may have a negative impact on already existing intrinsic motivation. For example, an athlete will be intrinsically motivated to pursue the sport that they are passionate about. However, extrinsic incentives, in any form can crowd out the intrinsic motivation. This is known as the crowding out effect, and it can have a detrimental impact on overall motivation. Because once the (often temporary) extrinsic incentives are removed, there is a general drop in overall motivation since the intrinsic motivation has been crowded out.

Key takeaways

Therefore, when implementing gamification as a tool to motivate the pursuit of a desired behaviour companies need to consider two things. First, they should be aware that gamification makes a behaviour immediately rewarding. Therefore, gamification should be implemented for behaviours that typically lack immediate rewards. Consumers may particularly appreciate a gamified product or service if it helps them pursue a behaviour that benefits them in the long-term but which they struggle to keep up with in the short-term. However, gamification will be ineffective at motivating people to pursue a behaviour that is already immediately rewarding. It is hard to imagine how gamification could add value to a platform like Netflix. Consumers already enjoy binging Netflix and gamifying the experience would not add value and would be a waste of resources for the company. But platforms such as Duolingo that motivate behaviours which are not necessarily enjoyable to pursue in the short-term benefit immensely from implementing gamification. Therefore, taking the time to develop a gamification strategy is a worthwhile allocation of their resources.

Second, companies should be aware that gamification may crowd out already existing intrinsic motivation. Therefore, when implementing gamification companies should consider what motivation already exists when consumers engage with their product or service. This requires companies to think more strategically about who their consumers are and how they may think. For example, it would be easy to gamify a product such as Amazon’s Kindle. Imagine getting badges for completing books or competing on a leaderboard with others based on how many pages you read per week. The concept may be effective at motivating consumers who struggle to read daily because they lack intrinsic motivation but could be detrimental to consumers who are already intrinsically motivated to read. A solution for companies that are unsure whether implementing gamification will be effective at motivating desired behaviours could be to give consumers a choice to opt into gamification incentives.

In conclusion, although companies may be keen to implement gamification to motivate engagement with their product, service, or brand it may not always be the right strategy to pursue. It is especially important that companies consider who their target consumers are and how these consumers engage with the behaviour that is being gamified.