Must Play

This post is a tad confusing. Is opening stances is "gamification is being driven by novelty and hype". I agree and disagree with that statement. Yes there is hype, but gamification, the application of game theory to business, is far from new. 

Airlines have been using games for years games called "frequent flyer miles".  When I was growing up moms collected books and books of S&H Greenstamps. The lotto is a game, so examples of successful game theory used by business abound. 

The idea we can create something called "enterprise gamification" for Fortune 1000 companies is somewhat new and it can be full of "hype". The web is the source of that hype. 

Any gamification system needs agreed upon rules; a "game ground" and clear stimulus matched to ever increasingly motivated response. The web makes creation of a game ground easy, players abound and so creation of games and the use of game theory are easier to apply. 

I call BS on the famous 80% will fail Gartner projection too. Or, more accurately, call "so what". I was an Internet marketer and when we started doing anything new at least 80% failed miserably. The web is a self-healing system, so today's failure is tomorrow's winner. 

Great examples in this post after you read down past the confusing intro. Worth a scan for those examples.  

I like this "framework" to create gamification particularly Chou's 8 Core Drives:

1) Epic Meaning and Calling

2) Development and Accomplishment

3) Expression of Creativity and Feedback

4) Ownership and Possession

5) Social Pressure and Envy

6) Scarcity and Impatience

7) Curiosity and Unpredictability

8) Loss and Avoidance

GREAT post on the HOW TOs of #gamification.  

Cool and helpful work from one of gamification's pioneers 

Badges We Don't Need No Stinkin Badges
Had someone get pretty upset with me last night. She perceived that I was making light of gamification and tossing around the term like a neo maxi zoom dweebie.

I am an INTERNET MARKETER. This means I know and use terms like gamification with the proper amount of circumspection. I also had the "Father of Gamification" take me to the hoop the other day on Cure Cancer Starter pretty hard.

To the Gamification police I say CHILL.

Gamification has its own built in Darwinian thing. It is NOT easy and will not treat those who are looking for a quick fix well. Like any Internet marketing gamification takes testing, tweaking and listening more than you talk. These points are made in the article if a tad on the preachy side (for my taste).

I've experienced this feeling before. It is as if the lucky few inside the club now want to shut the doors because they see their reputations and livelihoods at risk by the legions of neo maxi zoom dweebies flooding the market.

All markets change and the first settlers desire to fend off the latest wave, filled though it may be with zoom dweebies, is arrogance and hubris. Better to LEARN and LISTEN (at least in my 13 years of IM and 30 years of marketing experience).

Let me judge THIS article less harshly. This post is more balanced than the comment from yesterday or my beat down from the "Father of Gamification". I'm still here working on CureCancerStarter.org so those things didn't KILL me but made me stronger and more determined.

Don't think gamification is the EASY thing to do inside of otherwise complicated Internet marketing. It is NOT and there are all kinds of "gamification" so study up, test and don't be pushed away from the door because those inside are saying the gamification green room is full.

The Missing Tip
These are great tips I agree with, but they are missing one BIG TIP - Gamify. Social media lends itself to gamification beautifully. When you are playing a game you look forward to notices on progress and new happenings.

When playing a game you watch the leaderboard like a golf pro leading on Sunday. The big missing tips among these excellent tips is to GAMIFY. Gamify doesn't have to be complicated.

LinkedIn gamified when they let us know our profiles are only 90% done. That simple statement made all the Type As on LI want to attain 100% profiles. 100% of WHAT exactly (lol).

See what you can gamify and make it easy to play.