Question

Gamification: the potential of the game for companies

Answer 1

What is gamification?
Areas of application: in which contexts can gamification be applied?
The use of gamification in business
What forms can gamification take?
Origin of gamification
Examples of gamification: companies that know how to use it
The future of gamification
Transparent and easy to understand rules
Realistic challenges
Direct feedback
Recognition for the objectives achieved
Interesting history
Various players
The example of Renfe
The example of Mr Jeff and Prisma
The example of AstraZeneca and 3WAYS

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Gamification: the potential of the game for companies

Wanting to increase employee performance through pressure and penalties is to anchor yourself in antiquated methods doomed to failure. A much more effective strategy to motivate them is to integrate game elements into the day-to-day running of the company, a procedure that can also be applied to attracting customers and keeping them loyal. This inclusion of playful elements in other tasks has been baptized, from the English term gamification , as gamification..

Read on to find out where this technique works best and how to apply it. In addition, so that there are no doubts about the success with which it is applied in many companies, at the end we will present some practical cases of well-known companies.

Index

1. What is gamification?
2. Areas of application: in which contexts can gamification be applied?
3. The use of gamification in business
4. What forms can gamification take?
   1. Transparent and easy to understand rules
   2. Realistic challenges
   3. Direct feedback
   4. Recognition for the objectives achieved
   5. Interesting history
   6. Various players
5. Origin of gamification
6. Examples of gamification: companies that know how to use it
   1. The example of Renfe
   2. The example of Mr Jeff and Prisma
   3. The example of AstraZeneca and 3WAYS
7. The future of gamification

What is gamification?

The term? Gamification? is derived from the English word for game, that is, game . Although in Spanish there is an equivalent without Anglicisms, gamification, the former is more commonly used..

What do both terms refer to?

Definition

The gamification describes the use of playful elements, or typical of games, in a non-game context.

From the moment we are born, we all feel the need to learn, to improve our capacities and to compete with others. This is the instinct on which the games are based: through mechanisms such as riddles, different levels of difficulty and prizes, players are motivated not to throw in the towel and to concentrate on a task..

By applying these principles in a non-playful context, the motivation of the game works by favoring problem solving and resistance capacity, as well as facilitating change in behavior patterns.

In this way, gamification turns the monotonous and boring perception of a task into an interesting challenge that motivates workers to work long-term to solve difficult problems.

Areas of application: in which contexts can gamification be applied?

The Gamification can be used in very different areas, such as business, research, (continuous) staff training, and crowdfunding or crowdfunding .

Since the playful instinct knows no age (even if it is sometimes somewhat hidden), the target audience for gamification can be very heterogeneous.

The use of gamification in business

Companies can take advantage of the fascination for the game from within, to motivate employees (gamification internally), or outwards, to attract and retain new customers (gamification external).

These are the possible areas of application within the company:

• In quality management , to improve the available data.
• In the selection of new employees , to test the capabilities of the candidates.
• In billing , to increase sales through internal competitiveness (rankings, mentions, etc.).
• On the health status of the staff: proposing, for example, sports competitions.
• In the continuous training of employees, to improve their learning.
• In product development , to increase customer loyalty.
• In marketing (on websites and apps, for example), to attract new customers.

What forms can gamification take?

There are countless types of games, and therefore countless ways to gamify everyday tasks. However, there are some elements common to the base of every game that should also be part of the gamification strategy to achieve the desired effects on the players.

Transparent and easy to understand rules

In Ludo, for example, rolling a six allows you to reroll the die, but rolling it three times in a row means you have to go back to the start. All games, whether tabletop or online, need clear rules that all players understand and know beforehand. The same goes for the gamification in the workplace. For example, if an employee does not know how many points they will receive on the internal platform for their dedication, or what rewards correspond to what number of points, they will not try as hard as the one who can count the remaining points to win a new tablet.

Realistic challenges

Every game has a task to do or a puzzle to solve. Achieving it, however, should not be too easy, if not, the fun will soon end; but not too difficult, so that players or employees do not throw in the towel unmotivated. If this happened, the purpose of gamification would be lost, since it is precisely about making the task something more intense and more attractive.

Direct feedback

Players' activity should be followed by a direct assessment so that they can learn and improve based on positive or negative comments. A game played blindly, not knowing whether each step brings the goal closer or not, soon loses its interest. Some examples of direct feedback are progress levels, commendations or badges, and point systems.

Recognition for the objectives achieved

Whoever has managed to overcome a task in the game, must be rewarded, either with a promotion to a new level, a material prize or access to new content. The expectation of the reward is what motivates players to keep playing regularly. All gamification needs an element of reward, especially when it comes to motivating participants to interact often.

Interesting history

Much of the success of a game depends on the story it tells, that is, the universe in which the player immerses himself. You just have to look at games as different as World of Warcraft and the different editions of the classic Cluedo . Gamification in the field of companies is no exception.

Various players

Although there are games for only one person, the participation of other players is a key factor in the fascination that the game provokes, whether they are opponents or members of the same team. In the business context, customers can act as rivals to each other, for example, or employees can work in teams to earn honors or awards.

Note

Gamification does not necessarily have to do with online platforms. Although it is common to see playful structures on websites or applications, gamification can also be applied without a digital base (with bonus or point programs, for example).

Origin of gamification

The Gamification began to be used as a business strategy in the early 2000s . It is considered that the term was coined by the programmer and author Nick Pelling in 2002. The idea of ​​using playful elements to attract or retain customers, or to motivate workers, however, is much older.

As early as the 1960s, some American psychiatric clinics worked with the so-called token economy , a reward system in which patients received tokens for good behavior that they could then exchange for certain rewards. In addition, since the 90s, airlines have offered loyalty or points programs , just as supermarkets have been doing for decades. Even a mention of the style of the typical? employee of the month? it can be understood, due to its potential as motivation to compete with others, as an element of gamification.

These simple, analog reward systems on which gamification was once based have now been replaced by versions, mostly digital, with more complex rules.

Now sometimes even the psychic and digital realms get mixed. Examples of this are the Remente app, available in Spanish, which helps with motivation in daily tasks, or RunKeeper, which allows you to view your sports progress in an attractive way.

Note

Gamification should not be confused with a mere game of chance: success in the game should not depend on luck, but on the abilities, effort and perseverance of the players.

Examples of gamification: companies that know how to use it

Among the pioneering gamification companies there are large multinationals such as Microsoft or the consulting firms IBM and Deloitte, but it is not necessary to look far to find companies that have successfully brought recreational elements to their field. Here are some examples from the Spanish-speaking world.

The example of Renfe

? Bringing your goal closer ?, a photography contest organized by Renfe (source: http://www.renfe.com/viajeros/cercanias/madrid/CertamenFotos2019/index.html).

Renfe, the National Network of Spanish Railways, regularly organizes competitions as part of its social responsibility strategy and the promotion of the train as a sustainable means of transport. The Madrid Commuter Directorate, for example, has been organizing the photography contest Approaching your objective for many years , which encourages taking pictures with the commuter train as a theme and rewards the best with Grand Class trips to Lisbon or Warner Park. among other awards.

The example of Mr Jeff and Prisma

Learning Park, the solution to Mr Jeff's recruitment problems (source: https://beprisma.com/laciones-de-exito/onboarding-para-comerciales/).

Mr Jeff is a Spanish home-based laundry and dry-cleaning company that has continued to expand since it was founded in 2015. As it went international, recruiting and training salespeople became very complex, so the company turned to Prisma, a expert company in gamification software, to facilitate the process. As a result, Prisma developed the Learning Park platform, from which online courses and mini-games are offered for new employees. This tool not only helped organize recruitment processes, but also improved employee learning.

The example of AstraZeneca and 3WAYS

TREAT2BETTER makes the choice of the best treatment for patients with diabetes a game (source: http://www.somos3ways.com/proyecto_astrazeneca.php).

The TREAT2BETTER project, developed by the marketing agency for the pharmaceutical AstraZeneca 3ways Spain, was the star of Health Awards Festival Málaga 2018. Treat2Better is a game that gamifica clinical cases of diabetes and helps doctors choose the best diagnosis based on up-to-date scientific evidence and, naturally, making known the uses of pharmaceutical products. 97% of the professionals who have the application actively participate in the game and integrate its content into traditional training courses for doctors.

The future of gamification

Gamification has spread rapidly in recent years and will continue to do so in the years to come. In 2017, market research consultancy P&S Market Research forecast that the global gamification market will reach $ 22.913 billion by 2022.

Although the studies carried out on the effectiveness of gamification strategies are not yet many, this technique has also taken off beyond the strictly business sphere, also being considered one of the key strategies to meet the educational goals of the Development Goals Sustainable (SDG), defined by the United Nations in 2015 with a view to the next 15 years.

Also in business practice, gamification has been gaining ground, and no turning back is expected. Taking into account, in addition to the aforementioned, the constant increase in sales in the gaming sector in recent years and the arrival of more and more people to management positions that have grown with video games, there is no doubt that, in the coming years years, gamification it will play an increasingly important role in the business context.

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