1. Playful engagement
Mark Sage
@sagema

2. Life is a game.
Money is how we keep score.
(Ted Turner)

3. Loyalty is a game.
Points are how we keep score

4. …the game just got a little more complicated

5. What’s changed?
• Why are consumers acting differently and why is this becoming much more
significant?
SOCIAL SINGLE WHEREVER,
NETWORKS IDENTITY WHENEVER
With over 700m people on Increasingly brands and As smartphone/tablet
Facebook and growth rates services are using social adoption continues it’s
of 100m in the last 6 networks like twitter and massive growth, customers
months, almost everybody is Facebook to control are interacting before, during
interconnected – the social identity management and after a purchase – in
layer is built (login) and real-time.
communication
This is creating a wealth of interactions for any brand
that wants to listen

6. Increasingly interactions are becoming more
important than the transaction
Post-
Awareness
purchase
Interactions
Purchase Research
Pre-purchase

7. Gaming has learnt to introduce and manage
complexity whilst keeping people engaged
High
Challenge Level
Low
Skill Level High

8. What is a game?
“A game is a system in which players engage in an
artificial conflict, defined by rules, that result in a
quantifiable outcome”
• Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals (Salen & Zimmerman) 2004

9. Game design principles can be used to
improve & enhance everyday interactions
GAME GAME GAME
STRUCTURE ENGAGEMENT RECOGNITION
Using the basic structure of Understanding what Leaning from game
game design to add keeps people playing and reward, recognition and
additional depth and engaged across all levels motivation mechanics to
engagement to the of ability improve the overall
interaction interaction
This is Gamification

10. Gamification is not about creating
standalone games
Played almost 8,000 times and broken all previous participation records for a study of this
nature…
…however this is not Gamification, it’s a game.

11. Gamification is about adding gaming design
mechanics to every day activities
Creates the
rules
Quantifiable
outcome
The system

12. GAME STRUCTURE

13. The game loop
Defined as:-
• The chain of actions you do over and over again
Buy Plot
Collect Buy & Place
Income Item
Wait for
Income
http://www.slideshare.net/wooga/killer-game-loops-in-social-games

14. Loyalty has similar characteristics
[Loyalty is] an integrated system of
marketing actions that aims to make
member customers more loyal
(Share and Sharp 1997)

15. The loyalty game loop
Share of
Tenure Advocacy
Spend
Purchase
Join
Item
Redeem Listen & Earn
Points Learn Points
Collect
Points
1
5

16. The loyalty game loop needs to incorporate
more than the basic transaction
Share of
Tenure Advocacy
Spend
Purchase
Join
Item
Check-in
Product
Review Redeem Listen & Earn
Points Learn Points
Price
Comparison
Social Share
Collect
Points
Use of an Web Login
Offer Tweet 1
Mention 6

17. The game loop – Smart Depth
Adding
1. Consistency - Add a new layer on the additional
existing game loop, not create a new one layers
2. Discovery - Novice players should not Buy Plot
need to care about it until they figure it out
on their own
3. Depth - Strategic thinking with variable
solutions and outcomes is best Collect Buy & Place
4. Achievement - Players should be able to Income Item
stumble on it and feel smart for achieving
it
5. Extensibility - After doing it once and
Wait for
gaining rewards, players are able to Income
repeat to get a better solution
http://www.slideshare.net/wooga/killer-game-loops-in-social-games

18. GAME ENGAGEMENT

19. Keeping users engaged - Game flow
High
Anxiety
“The state in which people are so involved
Challenge Level
in an activity that nothing else seems to
matter; the experience itself is so
enjoyable that people will do it even at
great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it” Boredom
Low
Low Skill Level High

20. Rules of flow
1. Direction - Activity with a clear set of
goals which adds direction and
High
structure to the task
2. Achievable - Good balance between
Anxiety
the perceived challenges of the task at
hand and his or her own perceived
Challenge Level
skills. Hardcore
Gamer
3. Feedback - Clear and immediate
feedback helps the person negotiate
any changing demands / adjust to
Casual
maintain the flow state Gamer
Boredom
Ultimate goal is to keep every player Newbie
Low
involved and engaged, whatever their
Low Skill Level High
ability

21. Loyalty flow
• Loyalty programmes also need to be
designed around flow
High
• Challenge level can be directly
attributed to ongoing engagement
Anxiety
• Tiers can be used to create levels that
people chase to attain – increasing the
Challenge Level
Gold
challenge in line with ability Customers
top out
• Have to be careful tiering doesn’t “top
Silver
out” – schemes see drop in activity
once top tier reached
• Need to consider feedback and how Bronze Boredom
this can play a pivotal role in
engagement/flow
Low
Low Skill/Ability Level High

22. Loyalty flow - Tiers vs levels
• Tiers in loyalty are very similar to levels used
within social gaming
• Gaming levels do present additional
opportunities however:-
• Early days engagement – Users are pushed
through lower levels quickly to help “lock in”
the behaviour
• Social Currency – Levels are published to
friends to create an element of competition
and achievement
• Incremental Achievement – More levels
provide granular behaviour recognition and
prevent “topping out” so quickly
• Signposting – Different activities can help you
“level up” more quickly

23. Engagement through meaningful play
“Meaningful play occurs when the relationships
between actions and outcomes in a game are both
discernable and integrated into the larger context of the
game”
Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals (Salen & Zimmerman) 2004

24. Creating meaningful play
• Discernable
–Allow players to understand that an action has a reaction
– “If I shoot the asteroid it blows up”
– “If I swipe my card, recommend a friend or take up an offer this is recognised
–The closer recognition is to action the better the game play
• Integrated
–Recognition is not only immediate, but also plays larger part of overall
game
– “Shooting lots of asteroids gains points which go toward higher level – higher
tiers provide bigger guns”
–Within a loyalty programme, my actions combine progress towards a tier
and/or reward
– High tiers provide faster earning / increased reward selection

25. Every action has a reaction

26. Every action has a reaction
Making credit card
transactions
interactive

27. Farming engagement
“People exert more effort
towards reaching a goal the
closer they come to the
goal”
(Hull 1932)

28. Daily Mail rewards example
Progression
Dynamic Goal
Directed
Appointment
Dynamic

29. GAME RECOGNITION

30. If we are to recognise every
“check-in”, product
review, “like” or social
interaction, we need a
different way to reward
people

31. Social Currency
Recognising all interactions requires the unlocking of “social currency”
Things that help Social Things that make
me belong Currency me feel special

32. Do you remember?
How many coins did Example of
you put in this early social
currency
Simply to get onto
this?

33. Leader boards democratise social currency
Game play compared
to other friends

34. [re·ward] – noun
A thing given in recognition
of service, effort, or
achievement

35. Foursquare relies on social currency to
create rewards from recognition
Get recognised Share with
for taking part friends

36. Loyalty Rewards used to be about “me”

37. Now it’s what they say “about me”
Cost

38. 80m people a week can’t be wrong…
Social gaming has come of
age utilising:-
• Appointment dynamics to
encourage return
• Social currency through
levels
• Dual currencies to both
reward and recognise

39. Balancing recognition and reward
Dual Currency Example - Delta
MQM reward
currency earned
from flights &
partners
MQS benefits
currency
earned from
Both currencies can
flights only
be used to achieve
Only the miles
status and benefits
currency can be
used for rewards

40. Loyalty programmes are games
GAME GAME GAME
STRUCTURE ENGAGEMENT RECOGNITION
Using the basic structure of Understanding what Leaning from game
game design to add keeps people playing and reward, recognition and
additional depth and engaged across all levels motivation mechanics to
engagement to the of ability improve the overall
interaction interaction
Now we need to make the game play better