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Learning through play is one of the oldest teaching techniques. Game elements in marketing campaigns, such as loyalty rewards and raffles, can be traced back to the end of the 19th century. Is gamification just the same old with a fresh coat of paint? Not quite, because what we call gamification today is focused on modern digital platforms – and could soon dominate the online landscape. However, the popular design trend that has helped apps like Duolingo and Temu achieve global success is also under scrutiny.
The most common gamification techniques
Score
Like classic computer and video games, many gamification apps use a scoring system that awards points for completing tasks. The more difficult the task, the more points are awarded. A scoring system traditionally includes leaderboards that allow players to compete against each other. Special rewards for achieving certain amounts of points are also common in gamification.
Experience points
Experience points in gamified applications originated in role-playing games. Players earn experience points by completing tasks. Once they have collected a certain number of them, their player character reaches a new experience level. This is usually accompanied by an increase in their character statistics and skills. This means that player characters can evolve and acquire new skills, much like a person who gains experience over the course of a lifetime.
The experience of seeing your player character grow is a great motivator to keep playing. This makes experience points one of the most popular gamification approaches.
Progress bars
Progress bars were originally used to show the progress of loading game data in computer and video games. More recently, they are mostly used to indicate the status of various types of player progress. For example, they allow players to estimate how close they are to solving a task or completing a level.
This makes gamified applications built around progress bars very suitable for short bursts of play anywhere. Furthermore, indicating that a task is close to completion is likely to motivate most players to complete it as quickly as possible.
Quests and Challenges
In classic game design, quests are directly related to the story of a computer or video game. Classic quests might involve defeating a supervillain or liberating an oppressed kingdom. In modern game design, quests are more flexible and can refer to tasks of all kinds, such as “collect 20 stars,” “talk to all non-player characters” or “locate a stone statue in every level”.
Tasks often consist of time-limited challenges, such as “Talk to all non-player characters as quickly as possible” or “Collect 20 stars in a certain amount of time”. In modern gamification applications, successful completion of quests and challenges is usually rewarded with points, experience points, or badges. As they are an effective way to motivate users to keep playing, quests are a common feature found in modern gamification platforms.
Badges
Badges have a purely decorative function, designed to keep players engaged. Players typically earn badges for reaching certain milestones – earning a certain number of points, completing a large number of tasks, or being a community veteran. For maximum appeal, badges are usually placed prominently in the user interface – for example, right next to the character’s name so that their status is immediately apparent.
Avatars
Avatars are also common in gamification applications. As they allow players to create an individual digital representation, it is easy for them to become attached to them. It is also common for game progress and rewards to be reflected in the appearance of avatars. This can make gamified applications that include avatars extremely addictive.
Storytelling
Since the early days of computer and video games in the 1980s, game designers have observed that storytelling is an important part of what makes more complex games addictive. Background stories and lore create atmosphere and give purpose and weight to the player’s actions. The feeling of being part of an overarching plot and being able to influence its outcome can be a powerful incentive to keep playing.
The most popular apps featuring gamification features
Duolingo
Duolingo is the most successful language learning app on the market today. Users earn points, collect badges, and climb the leaderboards as they put together correct sentences in the target language and answer quiz questions. Some languages also include story sequences that require learners to demonstrate their listening and reading comprehension skills.
A progress bar shows how many exercises are left in the current lesson. Duolingo’s gamification elements are designed to motivate users to practice their language skills every day. Duolingo’s continued popularity seems to prove that it is succeeding at what it set out to do.
Quelle: YouTube / Duolingo
Zombies, run!
One of the most creative examples of gamification storytelling. The app transports players into a fictional zombie apocalypse. Against this backdrop, participants must complete various missions that test their running skills in the real world.
Reddit combines classic Internet forum discussions with social media and gamification elements. Users earn karma points for posts and comments, rewarding quality content and positive interactions. The app also offers awards and badges that reward milestones achieved. These elements are designed to motivate Reddit users to participate in the various communities and share valuable content.
Temu
The oft-criticized shopping app owes much of its success to gamification elements such as points and rewards. It also includes mini-games such as roulette and a virtual fish farm. Users can earn coins to unlock additional discounts. Users can earn daily rewards and are encouraged to invite friends through a referral system.
One of the most controversial gamification elements of the Temu app are the various countdowns – numerous bonuses and discounts can only be collected within a limited time window. These timed events are prominently displayed within the app. This often leads to impulse purchases. Consumer advocates point out that the Temu app can be considered as containing gambling elements.
MyMcDonald’s
The MyMcDonald’s app lets users unlock discounts, rewards and gifts by earning points. The app combines a point system with a progress bar. This is designed to motivate users to achieve milestones that unlock additional rewards and gifts. Raffles and special promotions are also part of the app. Similar to the Temu app, many offers can only be unlocked for a limited period of time.
Gamification has already around for ages – but under a different name
British game designer Nick Pelling is widely credited with inventing the term gamification in 2002. Pelling was asked to design an accessible user interface for an automated teller machine (ATM). The term first appeared in scientific literature that same year. However, a large number of popular games and applications that we would now classify as gamification were already released in the 1980s.
Edutainment: gamification in the 1980s and 1990s
In the 1980s and 1990s, computer and video games gradually evolved from a niche medium to a mass phenomenon. As a result, more and more computers found their way into family homes.
Because violence in computer and video games was already a controversial issue in the early 1980s, many parents were critical of the new medium. Various development studios responded with child-friendly games without violence. However, they could do little to counteract the image of computer games as time wasters for children and teenagers. This gave rise to the idea of developing games focusing on educational content. The term “edutainment” was born.
Over the years, many studios have achieved worldwide success with edutainment software covering a wide range of school subjects – from mathematics (“Math Blaster”, 1983) to reading and writing (“Reader Rabbit”, 1984), geography (“Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego”, 1985), and even touch typing (“Mario Teaches Typing”, 1991).
Edutainment takes on adult education: the early 2000s
By the early 2000s, computers and game consoles were becoming popular with almost all age groups. As a result, edutainment software developers moved into the field of adult education. “Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!” from Japanese video game maker Nintendo was one of the most successful examples.
Gamification emancipates from its edutainment roots: the late 2000s
With the proliferation of smartphones and apps, gamification evolved into a general approach to building user loyalty on online platforms. This was pioneered by the recommendation app Foursquare, first released in 2009.
Foursquare combined location-based services with computer and video game elements such as badges and leaderboards to build user loyalty. Foursquare is considered to be the first app that allowed users to earn points and rewards by checking in at different locations and compare their scores with friends.
Quelle: YouTube / TheVerge
This is what scientists have to say about the future of gamification
The scientific community is still divided on whether users really benefit from gamification. Ian Bogost in particular does not mince his words when it comes to the dark side of gamification. The US-based video game designer criticizes current gamification models as exploiting addictive mechanisms out of greed.
However, gamification is still a young concept – and one that could gain considerable depth and complexity in the near future. One of the best-known proponents of gamification is US game designer and computer game researcher Jane McGonigal, who dedicated her book “Reality is Broken” to the positive aspects of gamification.
The benefits of gamification
In “Reality is Broken,” Jane McGonigal argues that games can foster creative problem-solving skills and even strengthen social bonds. McGonigal sees gamification as a way to transfer the positive effects of games to human well-being and society.
In addition, McGonigal proposes using gaming principles to address real-world challenges – not only in education, but also in healthcare and social problem solving. The title of the book refers to McGonigal’s hypothesis that reality is less motivating than games and provides too slow feedback, which is why our lives can be considerably improved through gamification.
The downsides of gamification
Ian Bogost – game designer and professor at Washington University in St. Louis – argues that gamification often simplifies the complex processes of human motivation, reducing interaction to addictive mechanics such as racking up points and rewards.
Coining the term “exploitationware”, Bogost emphasizes that gamification can exploit users through superficial rewards instead of encouraging real engagement. He criticizes the fact that gamification often reduces complex game principles to simple scoring systems, which undermines intrinsic motivation. Bogost argues that most gamified apps do not take advantage of the true potential of game mechanics.
