Work better. Play together?! On
Enterprise Gamification loveyourwork! COLLABORATe! FLOW!

Outline: on Enterprise Gamification Enterprise
gamification is a hot new idea. ! ! Great potential for benefit (and misuse) ! ! Misconceptions create the risk of getting it wrong ! ! We share our lessons learned for making it work.

Games are having their moment
in the limelight

Once upon a time, they
were the root of all evil.

Today, people are realizing that
game design has something to say about how we design solutions to other problems.

Claim: “It can help solve
real world problems.”

Claim: “It can drive employee
motivation & performance” Just add points & rewards (cash, tchotchke’s, whatever)…

Claim: “You can get employees
to engage in not-so-fun exercises” Make it look like a game so they do it!

But as with any new
idea, carefully separate what works from what doesn’t.

“Gamification is an inadvertent con.
It tricks people into believing that there’s a simple way to imbue their thing ... with the psychological, emotional and social power of a great game.” Margaret Robertson Game Designer & Consultant to EA, Sony

Misconception #1 Gamification is badges
& points

“Most gamification is just ‘pointsification.’
…too much gamification is about zero sum games: often, for me to win, you’ve got to lose.” Matthew Jensen Game Designer Co-founder, Natron Baxter Applied Gaming, Co-founder, Gameful

(real) Games are about intrinsic
rewards Research show that fun in gaming is from intrinsic factors – experiences of competence, self-efficacy, and mastery Raph Koster, A Theory of Fun for Game Design (2004)

Misconception #2 Games have to
be fun

Fact Economists developed the theory
of games to mathematically capture human behavior in strategic situations. It has been used to develop war strategies, nuclear weapon strategy, and more. Serious stuff.

Classic game theory: The Prisoners’
Dilemma Games arise when multiple actors with differing objectives compete or cooperate for scarce resources. Does that sound like your workplace?

Misconception #3 Games are not
appropriate at work

Leveling up Leaderboards Badges Reality"
Work is already filled with games & game-elements

Example: the Career Game “We
compete for jobs: the more desirable the job, the tougher the competition. Most people readily understand this. But, fewer people recognize that the pursuit of an open job can be framed as one ‘move’ in a multifaceted game called ‘a career.’” Stephen Miles Vice Chairman, Heidrick & Struggles Author, Your Career Game

The real question then is:
How can we better design the games we will inevitably play in the workplace?

So we don’t end up
with badly designed games. And unintended consequences.

The Cover-Your-Ass game “When credit
and blame are mismanaged and unfair, people shut down, become demotivated, and focus more on covering their rears rather than moving forward. When credit and blame are managed properly, people are willing and able to experiment, learn and grow.” Ben Dattner Professor of Industrial & Organizational Psychology, NYU Author, The Blame Game

The Bonus Game “…when the
tasks involve higher levels of cognition or creativity, the monetary incentives actually stifle performance rather than drive it. In addition, people undertake activities for reasons of mastery, purpose, etc. rather than specifically for monetary reward.” Daniel Pink Author, Drive

And our favorite, the performance
review game Formal with very infrequent feedback. A ritual game with billions spent in wasted enterprise effort.

Initial lessons learnt in designing
" good games at work* *So far. This is a WIP

Lesson #1 It’s not about
features you can bolt on. It’s about a careful design process.

You can’t save a crappy
" service/product/environment" by bolting on game mechanics. +

X Wrong ✓ Right What’s challenging
or meaningful Doing work that makes a difference? about leaving the house? Now that’s difficult yet meaningful

You have to design the
right game And that happens slowly, carefully & iteratively 24h Refine 24h Observe game User insight Game design Release behavior element Release 7 days 7 days

Get people on the team
who " have experience designing games*! Kobi Ofir, CTO Marcus Gosling, UX Ryan Dewsbury, Product Previously, CTO, Virgin Gaming Co-founder, imvu Creator of KDice & GPokr *Alert: Without actual game designers working with enterprise folks you run the risk of designing something that doesn’t quite ring true.

Lesson #2 Design around intrinsic
motivations. Meaning, Autonomy, & Mastery

“Game elements are like an
amplifier: There has to be a genuine sound first – a value, an interest, a motivation – for the amplifier to do any good.” Sebastian Deterding Gamification & UX designer and researcher

Badges can be silly Or
they can be meaningful Badges devoid of meaning can be silly. Military badges are meaningful because the For many, the badge is the only benefit of underlying accomplishments are meaningful. playing the game. That’s fun & okay in The badges are filled with shared symbolism. certain contexts.

Not just a piece of
metal Symbol of meaningful impact "Let it be known that he who wears the military order of the purple heart has given of his blood in the defense of his homeland and shall forever be revered by his fellow countrymen." George Washington, August 7, 1782

Peer generated Identity at work
badges as reputation You reputation at work is important for a host Thanks from peers & managers have intrinsic of reasons. Managing this identity is a meaning. Creating a badge lets people creatively powerful intrinsic driver. recognize successes in their own words. Badges thus have a shared meaning, creating trusted indicators of achievement.

Lesson #3 Amplify positive behaviors
that already exist.

Positive Behavior Make it easy.
Make it Social. To: Joy Gao Cc: Subject: Thanks! Thanks for the awesome L&L! I learnt a ton! People like giving others a thanks for Make it crazy simple to give people meaningful achievements, help, etc. thanks, and for others to see it. Recognition is tremendously motivating. Easy and social.

Positive Behavior Design Element In
games and at work, people like to Make it easy for people to define their own embark on Epic Quests. They like to pick Epic Quests, enlist contributors & share their quests, gather the troops and take real-time progress on their quests. And to on challenges head on. collect badges representing their successful quests.

Lesson #4 Do it slowly
and very carefully Games elements have real & sometimes unintended consequences

Game element Unintended consequence Scoreboards
are a common “Depending on [work context], game element. Harmless in leaderboards can feel like yet another form the virtual world of games. of control and pressure, or as merely informational and supportive” *Sebastian Deterding, Meaningful Gamification

Game element Unintended consequences %
of new users that invite coworkers Invite coworkers $25 $25 reward with "invite your team "invite your team" + to join you" reasons why Monetary incentives should Wrong! Users emailed us saying getting drive activity right? After all, paid for invitations in a work context was people like rewards, and inappropriate. They preferred to invite money’s a great reward! others to simply join them on Rypple.

Lesson #5
Simplicity counts

"Perfection is achieved, not when
there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." Antoine de Saint-Exupéry French author and aviator

Difficult Behavior Simplicity in design
We all know that getting regular feedback The easier we made it to ask for is good for your performance at work. feedback, the more people used it. But its hard (& scary) to get constructive The more complicated the process feedback from people you work with! (unnecessary fields, ratings, options… choices), the less people do it.

In summary

Helpful lessons on Enterprise Gamification
Work is already filled with games. They’re mostly poorly designed.! ! Get people on the team with experience in building games.! ! Design, build, learn, design, ... repeat.! ! Leverage intrinsic motivators at work. Amplify positive behaviors.! ! Watch for unintended consequences of game elements in the social context of work.! ! Simplicity counts.

Want to learn more? Daniel
Debow @ddebow ddebow@rypple.com 1.888.4RYPPLE