Workforce Management Fundamentals Series

Gamification and Why it’s Important to WFM Professionals

Jeremy FinneyChief Technology Officer, Sability

What is Gamification?

• Short answer: it’s a way of making ordinary activities more engaging based on lessons learned from games.

• For example, a conference call…

Don’t step on the lines!

What is Gamification?

• The integration of Game Dynamics into your site, service, or community.– Bunchball

Online Identity / Avatar

Community

Ratings (thumbs up / down)

Reputation

Points

Information

Levels

Transparency

So I just need to add points, levels and avatars…?

No.

So I just need to add points, levels and avatars…?

There is a huge misconception that you can just tack game elements like badges on to something to make it more fun, and you are going to get the results that you want: people will be more engaged, you'll get that discretionary output. ... It's very hard to design games that engage people and that work.

Nick Stein, Director, Content & Media, Rypple

Professional Interest

A hint…

Meaning

• Gamification feels pointless if it isn’t supported by real-world meaning.

• Reward people for doing things they are already motivated to do.

• Meaning in the workplace– Job title, salary, power, recognition, feeling valued,

office size and location, perks, professional relationships, social status, sense of purpose…

Extrinsic Motivation

• Motivation through external factors:– Salary– Bonuses– Promotions– Deadlines– Consequences– Carrot and stick

Extrinsic Motivation

• It doesn’t work– Devalues activity– Feels controlling– Misses the point

• Do not use Gamification as part of your compensation or bonus plan.– It has better uses…

Intrinsic Motivation

• Motivation through internal factors:– Desire to excel– Professional interest– Psychological need for play– Self-efficacy

• You can help– Autonomy– Free, safe place to play and create

Goals and Challenges

• Daily tasks as goals and challenges• Choice• Starting Points• Side-goals• Nested goals• Scaffolded challenges

Flow

Flow

• Sense of time is distorted• The experience is an end in itself

Our best moments - those we say we enjoy the most - occur when we're voluntarily trying to accomplish something difficult for which we have the right skills.

Total Engagement: Using Games and Virtual Worlds to Change the Way People Work and Businesses Compete

Flow

Engagement

• Flow and Engagement go hand-in-hand• Goals are aligned

– Employee– Employer

• Creates a compelling experience

MasteryMastery

Mastery

• The experience of being competent, of achieving something.– Recognition– Bragging rights– Reputation– Status– Feeling valued– Thanks

Gamification and WFM

• Misconceptions:– Games have to be “fun”.– Games are for kids.– Games are not appropriate at work.– Work + game elements = engagement

• Video games are highly engaging (even addictive)– Why?

What Video Games do Well

• Feedback• Transparency• Information• Status• Reputation• Recruiting• Communities and teams• Communication• Goals and challenges• Rewards

• Flow• Engagement• Teaching• Sense of mastery• Sense of progress• Eliminate distractions• Narrative• Immersive experience• Sense of play• Self-efficacy

Why Video Games Work so Well

• Well-combined Game Elements that fit a narrative

• Effective game design process– Iterative design– Careful monitoring for balance and unintended

consequences– Know your users

• Closely mirrors effective software development processes (agile).

Unintended Consequences

• Be careful what behaviors you incent– Backstabbing– Gaming the system– “Pointwhoring”– Cheating– Messing with social meanings

• All can be minimized by avoiding extrinsic motivation

Gray Area

Player trust reputations, and are comfortable with transparency, in part because it's difficult to cheat. […]You can't advance merely because the leader likes you or owes you. You advance because you perform well, and recognition for good play is communicated directly from your computer and not from other players."

Total Engagement: Using Games and Virtual Worlds to Change the Way People Work and Businesses Compete

Vendors

• “Don’t try this at home.” – The game is too complex (and costly) to try to

build yourself– Implementing a bad game or part of a game can

be worse than no game at all– Use the expertise of a vendor

Time Flies!

• Too much to cover in an hour!• Questions on gamification in the workforce?

Contact me!– jeremy.finney@sability.com

Thank you

jeremy.finney@sability.com404-521-2001 x2091

twitter: #TekkieJ#sability

Bonus Material

• A visual representation of the employee motivation problem

• Useful for designing a gamified WFM system and evaluating vendor offerings– Does it address everything?

The employee motivation problem

Employee priorities

Employer priorities

Shared priorities

Sources• Total Engagement: Using Games and Virtual Worlds to Change the Way People Work and

Businesses Compete (Byron Reeves & J. Leighton Read, Harvard Business Press)• Meaningful Play (Sebastian Deterding, UX designer and Gamification expert) http://

www.slideshare.net/dings/meaningful-play-getting-gamification-right• Work Better, Play Together? On Enterprise Gamification (Daniel Debow, Co-CEO, Rypple)

http://www.slideshare.net/Rypple/work-better-play-together-on-enterprise-gamification• Why play is vital – no matter your age (Dr. Stuart Brown, Founder, National Institute for Play)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHwXlcHcTHc• Badges in Social Media: A Social Psychological Perspective (Antin, J., Churchill, E.F., Yahoo!

Research) http://research.yahoo.com/files/Antin%20&%20Churchill%20-%20Badges%20in%20Social%20Media.pdf

• Fun is the Future (Gabe Zichermann, author of Gamification by Design) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O1gNVeaE4g