changing behavior through gamification

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Scores, Badges, Leaderboards, and Beyond Gamification and Sustainable Behavior Change

Manish Mehta and Alex Kass

Accenture Technology Labs

Contact: [email protected]

Copyright © 2012 Accenture. All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture. Page | 1

If only work could be more like our favorite games… How can enterprises capitalize on the appealing – even addictive – power of games to engage users and shape their behavior? That question has been driving a lot of interest in “gamification” – the idea of using game design and game mechanics in non-entertainment contexts.

There are several subgenres of gamification, which use game elements for various purposes, including strengthening customer engagement, and helping consumers with self-improvement objectives. Our main focus in this paper will be on the use of gamification to improve employee engagement and effectiveness. How can gamification help improve the speed with which various tasks get done, or the quality of the output? How can it be used to help employees replace ineffective behavior patterns with more productive ones?

There is no doubt that gaming elements have the potential to make an impact on the enterprise workforce, since game mechanics such as the use of competition and leaderboards have been used effectively for a long time before they were labeled as gamification. One thing that makes gamification especially appealing now, is that a set of techniques have emerged which are rather easy and affordable for organizations to get started by grafting game mechanics onto existing systems and processes:

• Awarding points for engaging in desired behavior and keeping score;

• Using leader boards to create friendly competition; and • Providing badges and other forms of recognition when

users reach defined performance levels. A number of vendors are providing technologies for gamification, which integrate with various enterprise applications and social collaboration platforms, such as Salesforce [18] and Jive [20]. For example, Badgeville [19] provides a suite of products designed to help organizations shape behavior. Their product captures user behavior in various applications, and sends that data through a rule engine which runs on its servers. The “behavior engine” provides organizations with the ability to write sophisticated rules that determine how rewards and recognition, such as badges, “leveling up,” and even monetary rewards, are earned.

Achievers [16], another vendor in the gamification space, provides a dedicated social platform, and develops customized solutions, to help organizations use gamification to achieve a number of business benefits such as recognizing and rewarding employees as a means of decreasing turnover, increasing motivation, and driving results. The Achievers platform is designed to leverage our inherent desire for validation. It provides a simple management tool for supervisors to manage the recognition process. Managers are provided with a “points valet” that they can then use to distribute recognition points among their employees. This recognition can be shared on social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Gamification in the spotlight

As even the most casual Web scan will confirm, the term, “Gamification” has definitely been trending. The idea that businesses can achieve some “epic wins” by leveraging the power of games has become too appealing for many to ignore:

• A number of popular gamification books [1,2,3,4] have come out.

• There are several active blogs [5,6] and an active Wiki [7] and a popular TED talk [8].

• Attention from analysts includes Gartner estimating that by 2014 more than 70% of the Forbes’ major companies will have at least one “gamified” application [9]

• Attention from venture capitalists includes Bing Gordon, of Kleiner Perkins, quoted as saying, “Gamification is as important as social and mobile.”[10]

A growing array of experts and companies available to help clients leverage gamification with their own customers and employees.


Employees can also redeem their points for real-world rewards. Leaderboards are also provided as part of the platform, to show the rankings of employees. The appeal to friendly competition is designed to encourage employees to repeat positive behaviors.

Bunchball [17] is another company working in the gamification space. Like Badgeville, it provides a platform for tracking user behavior and recognizing desirable activity to promote deeper engagement. One of their gamification solutions for encouraging sales behavior integrates into the Saleforce.com [18] platform. The gamification solution is designed to motivate sales professionals by using techniques like leaderboards that, for instance, can be populated with data pulled from a platform like Salesforce. It also provides the sales manager the ability to easily manage the challenges set for their team from within Salesforce. It shows each salesperson their current status, total points, what they need to reach the next level, featured challenges, and overall team standing.

The limits of current gamification approaches It is interesting to note that the intense attention which gamification has recently gotten has been accompanied by a significant backlash: A prominent chorus of writers [11] has recently been asking whether gamification is overhyped nonsense (though the term used is generally less polite than ‘nonsense’), or even an evil, exploitative technique. The most prominent naysayers are not people who think that games are frivolous things; they include some vocal gaming devotees, and game developers. These critics aren’t arguing against the use of games and game mechanics in the workplace. To the contrary, the main complaint is that the first wave of gamification is exercising too limited a repertoire of game design techniques, and too narrow an ambition regarding what the use of games can achieve. Great games, these writers point out, are more than the simple mechanics that are easy to import into existing enterprise applications – they generally involve interesting stories, complex simulations, and/or other elements. And they can do much more to engage, educate, and inspire new behaviors.

The basic gamification techniques listed above seem best suited to incenting behaviors which employees already know they can and should perform, but which they might otherwise procrastinate about, or ignore altogether, such as answering surveys or filling out expense forms on time, perhaps even speeding the checkout lane a bit. The techniques that keep Farmville players working on their plot seem to apply to these kinds of tasks in the workplace as well. The big questions now is, how can the gamification trend be broadened to tap more of the power that great games have, in a way that systematically connects that power to key behavior-change objectives?

How to take gamification to the next level Early gamification successes, as well as some of our own experience developing learning technologies with some game-like elements [12, 13] provides evidence that it will be possible to use games to transform behavior. But systematically achieving that effect will require us to draw on more than game-design experience. After all, we should remember that while games have proven very successful at drawing users in, game-design techniques have not generally been developed with the idea of changing user’s behavior outside the game within an enterprise context1

1 There is some recent work in health games that looks at using games for promoting healthy behaviors.

. (Grand Theft Auto, for instance, is not really designed to turn players into car thieves!) If we want to use games to do that, we believe it will be


crucial to look to the literature on persuasion, behavior change, and human learning, and to carefully map the game-design toolbox to the behavior-change objectives.

The study of learning and behavior change has a long and broad history, which recently has included a specific sub-field called, “persuasive technology” [14]. One key insight is that behavior change often follows a stereotyped pattern of stages and that different kinds of behavior-change challenges are key in each stage2

In this paper we will use a five-stage model, outlined in the figure below, which we have adapted from the behavior-change literature:

. We refer to this as the behavior-change lifecycle. Our view is that the key to using gamification is to make significant and sustained behavior change is to understand those challenges, and to develop specific gamification techniques for the challenges at each stage.

Figure 1: A five-stage model of the behavior change lifecycle

In the next section we will outline some key challenges typically encountered at each stage of behavior-change, and will identify approaches to using gaming techniques to facilitate each stage.

2 Our particular behavior change model has been adapted from the model proposed in [15].


Gamification applied to the behavior-change lifecycle Stage 1: Raising awareness: Recognizing that there is room for improvement The first stage in behavior change is to recognize that there is a gap between as-is behavior and the optimal. Simple ignorance of the need for change is often compounded by active denial, because behavior patterns are ingrained, and change often involves hard work. So the first stage of behavior change typically involves raising awareness of exactly what the as-is behavior patterns are, and achieving an initial understanding that there are opportunities for improvement.

Key challenge: Workers often don’t know what their as-is behavior patterns, or what’s wrong with them, and may in fact be defensive about acknowledging that there is room for improvement.

Gamification Approach: Behavior instrumentation games provide a way to measure and monitor real world behaviors. Measuring the real world behaviors provides a way to compare and provide objective feedback on the behaviors relative to the norms and best practices. A successful example of this approach is Toyota Prius feedback display that measures the driving behaviors of the car drivers, compares it against the norms and provides real time feedback about the problems with driving behavior and fuel consumption. The feedback helps the drivers see the problems with their current driving behaviors like applying the brakes too often or accelerating too fast. In an enterprise context, an example might be involve a game which tracks project work, captures and logs task-duration estimates, and awards points to employees who estimate accurately, and make deadlines. In addition to providing employees with a fun incentive to focus on accurate estimates, this game would provide concrete data to help employees see which kinds of deadlines they consistent miss, proving concrete evidence of opportunities for improvement.

Stage 2: Building buy-in: Committing to the change effort Even after recognizing the need for change, people are not always psychologically committed to the difficult actions, and the commitment of time, energy, and resources, they need to take to execute the change. The second change stage in the behavior change lifecycle therefore involves building up the level of buy-in for taking actions.

Key challenge: The employee may not fully understand the value of changing behavior, and may be skeptical about whether it is worth the effort needed to make the change. Big changes may also feel overwhelming so that the perceived cost/benefit ratio is not favorable. They need help envisioning the benefit that will come from achieving the target behavior patterns, and need help breaking the big change-mission into manageable sub-goals so that the effort of changing doesn’t seem overwhelming.

Gamification Approach: Cause-and-effect game simulation can helps raise awareness of the impact of the user’s existing behavior patterns and the need for change. An example of such a game would be Stone City game commissioned by Cold Stone Creamery Inc. New employees manning the ice cream shops might not be aware of long term repercussions of their incorrect portioning behavior (i.e. scoop size) and may not be aware of the consequence of such behavior. The game teaches the employees significance of correct “portioning behavior” and its effect on profitability. Games are very good at illustrating and internalizing a cause and effect narrative that helps user see long term consequences which motivate change in a compressed timeframe. Narrative in games links the player actions to the larger objectives. Games such as Halo 3 and World of Warcraft can make the player’s goals meaningful by linking them to a grand mission in the game narrative, which in turn help motivate game players. Illustrating the linkage of user’s actions to the grand mission helps in building the level of buy-in from the users for taking actions.

In an enterprise context, an example of a cause and effect simulation game could be teaching employees the significance of quality customer service in a call center type scenario. Employees might not be aware


of the deeper consequences resulting from being unable to address a customer’s concerns adequately. A simulation environment could demonstrate customer attitude shift to the employees, and help them see the significance of losing customers and its effect on long term company profitability.

Stage 3: Learning how: Understanding the mechanisms underlying the target behaviors Buying in to changing behavior doesn’t mean you know how to do it. Employees need to understand how the resources available to them can be used to execute target behaviors. If there are intricate mechanisms and/or processes involved in translating user behavior into target objectives, how do those mechanisms work? Once you’ve bought into the effort to acquire new behaviors in some area, the next step is to acquire an understanding of the mechanisms involved in that area so that you can make detailed choices about how to behave, and acquire the knowledge necessary to execute behaviors.

For example, if I’m committed to start exercising at the gym, that doesn’t mean that I know how to use the weight machines or what my specific goals should be as I progress. I need to understand how to operate the weight machines in a way that makes it vivid enough to stick with me. Or, to pick an enterprise example, let’s think about a customer-support person at a company that makes office equipment. Even if I recognize that my answers are not effectively satisfying customers as well as they could, that doesn’t mean that I can just start giving more informed answers: I need to master the background material. If I don’t understand the mechanics of how the equipment works in enough detail, or I don’t have enough experience with how the equipment fails, and how to diagnose the failure, then I will have difficulty moving beyond reading a canned script to performing real problem solving with the customer.

Key challenge: Employees don’t have the background knowledge to select and perform target behaviors. They don’t understand the principles involved in target behaviors or don’t understand how detailed background knowledge ties to achieving a larger mission.

Gamification Approach: Dynamic system games represent a way to teach the mechanisms underlying certain kinds of behaviors. They provide a way to demonstrate the mechanisms and processes involved in systems, which can be a physical system or a social system. An example of such a game is SimCity where the player is given the goal of founding and developing a city, while maintaining the happiness of its citizens and maintaining a budget. The game helps the player develop an understanding of the intricacies and theories of urban planning. The game helps players understand the mechanisms that make a city work and what kind of planning activities need to be carried out to manage a city. Analagous games, involving running a company or business unit, are sometimes used to train managers for new responsibilities. They can help trainees see the mechanisms by which management decisions ripple through the organization, and the tradeoffs involved with various decisions available to them. Other analogous games, which involve simulating physical devices, can be useful when the target behaviors require an understanding of the physical principles at work in those devices.

Stage 4: Initial adoption: Trying out the target behaviors, getting used to executing them Once you have bought into the change effort and done the basic prep for it, you’re ready for actually acquiring the new behaviors. Depending on the behaviors involved, this phase can be brief, or it can be a very long, multi-stage process in itself involving the learning, practice, and mastery of any number of individual skills.

Key challenge: Employees are not yet comfortable executing target behaviors and lack practice needed to translate the theory acquired in the previous stage into execution.

Gamification Approach: Skill-building games motivate players, provide guidance, and reduce frustration by monitoring players’ progress and providing continuous visible feedback in the form of scores, prizes, or


advancement within the game. This reward system helps players understand what is working and what is not, and how they are advancing. This feedback continually motivates players during the acquisition stage. An example of a gamified approach that supports users during the behavior-acquisition stage is mint.com, a free web-based personal finance management service. Mint.com provides support to the users with extensive feedback on their progress on their financial goals. For example, if the user has a goal of saving for a car and has started saving (started a new behavior), Mint.com tracks a user’s expenditures and savings and provides feedback on how far he/she is from their current goal and what things can be done in terms of savings to reach their goal.

Good skill-building games also provide a safe environment for behavior rehearsal, helping players practice behaviors during the acquisition stage. An example of such a training game is virtual tiny town[21], a game the United States Secret Service uses for dangerous scenario training, such as practicing behaviors of jumping in between bullets and the President in a virtual setting. The environment provides a safe practice environment for training agents to train for a rarely-occurring real life scenario that they might encounter at their job.

An online example of such an approach would be a game that provides employees in a sales department the opportunity to practice the skill of making successful sales calls with a variety of simulated customers and scenarios. The game would provide the employees with feedback on how well they have performed on the sales call, and how they can improve further.

Stage 5: Mastering and maintaining: Perfecting target behavior through extended practice The final phase of behavior change, after you’ve adopted new behaviors, is to maintain and refine new patterns. In many contexts, this can be a difficult phase because as the energy focused on behavior change dissipates, one can be easy to fall back into old behavior patterns. The biggest challenge at this stage is often just keeping employees interested and engaged: staying motivated and maintaining focus after the initial burst of energy has dissipated.

Key challenge: At this stage, the behaviors should be understood but they will not yet be second nature. The challenge is to maintain the target behavior and refine, through reinforcement and ongoing feedback.

Gamification Approach: The same kinds of behavior instrumentation games introduced in phase 1 can be used here in a different way to maintain and refine the target behaviors. Newly adopted behaviors can be tried out in the real world, measured and incentivized to motivate continual improvement and engagement with the activity. Social interaction and friendly competition with other employees who have recently acquired the same new behaviors can often play a fairly big role at this stage, with peers reinforcing each other’s new behaviors, and holding each other accountable.


Summary of our enterprise behavior-change framework Our goal in this section has been to briefly outline a simple behavior-change lifecycle, to identify key challenges associated with each stage, and to then identify gaming mechanism that can address those challenges. The table below summarizes that analysis.

Stage Key challenge Primary gaming mechanism

Recognizing the opportunity for improvement

Don’t know that I’m doing something wrong

Behavior-instrumentation games: Measure real-world behaviors, in comparison with peers and norms, allowing objective view of own behavior relative to norms and best practices

Committing to the change effort

Don’t fully understand that the value of the target behavior change is worth the cost of changing

Cause and effect simulation games: Illustrate the benefit vividly, and break the big change mission down into manageable sub-goals

Understanding the principles and mechanisms underlying the target behaviors

Don’t have the background knowledge to select and perform target behaviors. Don’t understand the principles involved in target behaviors

Dynamic system games: Provide a way to demonstrate the mechanisms and processes involved in carrying out the target behaviors

Adopting the new behaviors

Don’t have comfort level performing target behaviors; need experience with specific mechanisms

Skill-building games: Allow user to exercise the behaviors with as much fidelity as possible in a fun and safe environment

Mastering and maintaining the new behaviors

The behaviors are understood, but not yet second nature. Need practice and reinforcement

Behavior-instrumentation games (revisited): Measuring real-world behaviors can ensure that target behaviors are maintained and refined over time.

Table 1: Mapping of behavior change stages to the types of enterprise persuasive games that could address them

The behavior change framework we have discussed above is not meant to be followed slavishly. Applying the framework in any given enterprise will typically involve significant tweaks, driven by the kinds of skills involved, and the kinds of behavior-change sought. The key challenges at each stage will often take on differing flavors based on the specific nature of the behaviors involved. In some cases, it may be helpful to consolidate two or more of the phases, or to further sub-divide a phase to deal with specific types behavior change. But using this framework as a starting point should help organizations formulate a solution that aligns game techniques with the organization’s behavior-change challenges.


Conclusion Most of the applications of gamification suggested in this paper are certainly more complex than very simple game-mechanics of badges and leaderboards that currently represent the most common gamification techniques. But our message is not an argument for more complex games, it’s an argument for matching the game mechanics to the actual behavior-change challenge at hand. As the range of behavior-change challenges is more fully understood by organizations seeking to use games, we expect an ever-broader range of gamification solutions to emerge which make relatively simple implementation options available for the full range of game-types required.

Three keys to designing effective persuasive gamification solutions involve understanding the following: 1) the stages of behavior change; 2) the challenges that confront each stage; and 3) gaming techniques that can address each of those challenges. Persuasive gamification is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. Understanding what stage of the behavior-change lifecycle current challenges a given employee is critical, because it is important that challenges at each stage are successfully addressed before helping the employees overcome the challenges of the next stage.

We recommend that companies interested in enterprise gamification begin by assessing which behavior-change stages represent their most important priorities in their businesses. If they first understand what stage of change challenges their employees and why, they can then develop specific gamification techniques to address the challenges at that stage with meaningful return. Start with gamification techniques that help users successfully complete the stage at which they currently reside before helping them succeed at the next one.

The hype level surrounding gamification should not obscure the real value that intelligent use of enterprise gamification can unlock. We are already seeing effective use of game mechanics to engage the workforce, and maintain and intensify certain employee behaviors. As the gamification community becomes more skilled at mapping specific enterprise behavior-change needs to specific types of game elements, we can expect even more “epic wins” in the future.


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About Accenture Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 244,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$25.5 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2011. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

changing behavior through gamification

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