Stop making this gamification mistake!
The mistake is to start with the mechanics first - meaning you sit with your team and ideate on how points, badges, or streaks are going to be implemented (because they seem to work for that language app or competitor)
The promise is that these gamification mechanics will transform your product - yet after implementing them - the product falls flat and barely anyone uses it.
Money, resources, and time are all wasted and most importantly the stakeholders are now saying that gamification is a waste of time and now basically a failure.
However, it does not have to be this way!
If you want to get the value of gamification, you have to start with understanding the psychological needs of your users and the behaviors you want to enable.
Once you understand this, you can think about what to implement, and if gamification is the right approach given the context - because if done well, it can increase success.
We like to couple our gamification to intrinsic motivation and account for:
-Purpose -Autonomy -Competence -Relatedness
There are many resources and frameworks out there for gamification - some are very detailed and comprehensive - and some give you just enough to use as a thinking tool to enhance your current products or services.
If you interested in a good overview - you can get this book:
Actionable Gamification by Yu-kai Chou
It includes something called the Octalysis Framework
The book also talks about the 8 Core Drivers of Gamification:
1. Meaning 2. Empowerment 3.
Social Influence 4. Unpredictability 5. Avoidance 6.
Scarcity 7. Ownership 8. Accomplishment
We don't use all in our work, but this can give you a good idea of what can help you drive intrinsic motivation in gamification.
And remember
Just because you can gamify something doesn’t mean you should.