"The best gamification is done seemlessly. It's built into the core of the product and experience, and it is aligned with the business' goals. You don't just slap it on and hope that it fixes user engagement or conversion rates. If it is, it looks really cheesy. Users see through it. They develop an immunity to it and they don't want to see any more of it. So, that's why the know how of how to apply gamification is probably even more important than the technologies and tools behind it right now. That's always true in embryonic industries. It was the same for CRM, analytics and all these other fields as well."Gamification done right is not easy. It requires the integration of complex systems and uses engagement strategies and tactics from a diverse set of disciplines from sociology and psychology to human computer interaction design and of course game design. Furthermore, unlike other enterprise software projects of the past which required large up-front efforts and minimal work to maintain, gamification typically requires as much effort to monitor, maintain and update as it does to launch.
"People don't really want self-service tools. They want you to tell them what to do."
The 7 Step Plan
The seven step process that follows can help manage this complexity and move gamification projects from promise to reality. I developed these steps based on my work with clients and lessons learned from designing and managing games at Fastpoint Games. They also incorporate many of the concepts first articulated by gamification pioneers Amy Jo Kim, Jesse Schell, Gabe Zichermann, Mario Herger, Nir Eyal, Nicole Lazzaro, and Jane McGonigal.
