Day 6 - Gamification

A virtual session on Gamification & Product Design by Sumit Mehra organized by RethinkingUX

Takeaways from the session:

Games are about a player with abilities with a desirable objective to achieve while faced with challenges like obstacles, dilemmas, and threats within a safety net.

• Games are engaging because they make failing okay unlike in the real world. However, it is okay to fail in the real world as well.

• Games have a loop where the abilities increase, the objectives increase and so do the challenges.

  • If the abilities increase but the challenge remains stagnant then it becomes boring.

  • Whereas if the abilities remain the same but the challenge increases then it becomes frustrating.

  • The fun lies when there is a right balance between the ability and the challenge, also called the zone.

• 4 things to get right for gamification:

  • Know your players (users and jobs to be done in the context of UX).

  • Set desirable objectives where the player is “led by curiosity”.

  • Balance ability and challenge for different types of players.

  • Always provide feedback and safety making it okay for the players to make mistakes and fail. For instance, giving them an option to ‘save and reload’ the game is a good idea.

• Gamification can not be generic. It needs to be “deeply personalized” based on the audience. 

• Apply gamification when you want users to explore something new - LEAD BY CURIOSITY.

Reference
Gamification & Product Design by Sumit Mehra organized by RethinkingUX