GAMIFICATION LAYERS
I am sure that you have heard the term Gamification before. However, what is it exactly? Perhaps you imagine something very sophisticated, including game development, powerful graphics, etc. Well, it can be simpler than that. Gartner (2014) defined Gamification as “the use of game mechanics and experience design to engage and motivate people to achieve their goals digitally.”
Although this definition may seem too vague, it generates endless possibilities. When thinking about a gamification intervention, the process is not far away from the instructional design process. First of all, you need to analyze your target audience and see what motivates it. Is it socializing? Is collecting? Exploring? Competing? There are many game mechanics that you can use to respond to those motivations and generate meaningful and fun experiences.
In this artifact, you will find a complete gamification design and a prototype in Spanish (English version coming soon). This project was created to develop a gamification layer on top of the Inter-American Development Bank Communities of Practice. The goal of this intervention was to generate better engagement and motivational structures for the users and learners.
This paper describes a complete gamification layer design and implementation process. It begins with the use of several tools to assess the target audience's motivational profile. Gamification is all about intrinsic motivation, the elements that genuinely motivate users to trigger certain behaviors. Some gamification designs have emphasized the so-called PBL (Points, Badges, and Leaderboards). Even though these elements are exceptionally aesthetically appealing, they respond to extrinsic motivators (correct behavior -> positive reinforcement).
As discussed, gamification mainly focuses on what motivates the user to do something. In this case, the analysis of the target audience revealed that they were driven to explore and socialize with other peers. The combination of these two elements also showed that most potential users were willing to collaborate to archive specific goals—this first analysis provided essential information for choosing the game mechanics.
The goal of every gamification intervention is to make people more engaged. There should be a challenge, an objective, that the user needs to fulfill. This is one of the core elements to create this sense of "flow" that every game has. Users have a great experience; they have fun and learn along the way. This goal provides excellent information to select the game dynamics and mechanics and relevant KPIs (key performance indicators). For example, in this case, using avatars, points, quests, and a world of learning opportunities. The game mechanics get more complicated as the game advances in time (Discovery, Onboarding, Scaffolding, and Endgame). These elements help build better engagement levels as the learners advance in their learning experience.
As described, gamification can be an excellent resource to improve performance and motivation levels. These elements can be incorporated as layers on top of other communication, change management, or learning interventions. Having fun is not at odds with learning outcomes!