Gamification - one of the most popular word of recent years. It appears basically everywhere, also in the IT industry. How to use its strength when creating application?
Gamification allows the user to stay in the application for longer, effectively attracts his attention, engaging him in reaching subsequent levels, collecting badges, competing with others or receiving awards. All of the above elements have an impact on gaining users’ loyalty, logging in to the application more often or extending the spent in it. Such an activation process may translate into an increase in profits from the application or, in the case of internal application, an increase in employee involvement in the work performed or reporting of tasks performed.
We are happy to share with you our system developed in practice on how to effectively introduce gamification into the application.
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Prepare challenges
The idea of gamification is to transfer game rules to the application, often strictly business ones. To do this correctly, we must first create a list of challenges for users. People appreciate their achievements more when they have to overcome more obstacles. The beginning of every challenge is a goal. It should be clearly presented in the application. Goals can be tailored to individual users, created by community or pre- programmed in the application. In each option, make sure that the goals are diverse and interesting for users. This ensures that you remain committed.
We must also remember to keep a balance between user involvement and the complexity of individual tasks. If from the beginning the user receives too complicated tasks, it can lead to discouragement. Users should develop their skills and raise the bar according to the amount of time they spend in the application.
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Tell a story
Some games involve user before they start for good. This is due to a well thought- out story that subliminally “draws” the users. That is why narrative is an essential element of any application that uses gamification. Thanks to it, the user will want to delve into the next stages and track their progress.
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Remember about the rewards
A challenge makes sense when it leads to a specific goal- reward. Therefore, for the user of the mobile application to feel that he is striving to fulfil a specific mission, his every effort should be adequately rewarded-with a badge, place in the ranking, promotion to the next level.
Individual awards will ensure commitment while introducing elements of healthy gamification.
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Community
Practice shows that the most engaging games always contain social elements- creating groups, internal chats or forums. This solution will also work in applications that are based on gamification. Being in a group makes it easier to overcome obstacles and more enjoy the achieved goals. It is important to feel that everyone is following similar paths in the application.
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Freedom
The last, but key element of successful introducing gamification into the application is the knowledge that users do not like rigid rules. Always leave the user the option of slightly modifying the scenario. So that he has the feeling that he plays according to his own rules. This solution stimulates creativity, and that’s what this is# about.
Finally we share our team motto: “If work is your passion, you will not work for a minute”. If we can give team members the opportunity to work like participation in a thoughtful game- Let’s do IT!
► One of the projects we are carrying out with a gaming element is Ecologic.io