Kevin Allen, founder and chairman at Planet Jockey, explains how to incorporate gamification into marketing in eight simple steps
1. Be dramatic. Tell a gripping story
Gamification is not a focus on flickering lights leader boards and peripherals. It is mankind’s oldest and most powerful form of engagement …storytelling. People engage because they identify with a hero, become absorbed in the quest and in the case of gamification, are literal participants as opposed to passive recipients. A plot, a hero, a villain, setback and redemption: the hero’s journey has got to be there.
2. Create the fantasy… immerse your players in a simulation
A primary attraction to a game is your ability to immerse your player in another world. They are entertained (and informed) not by observing. Create the game around your hero and how they will confront the twists and turns of the storyline.
3. Emotion, emotion, emotion
People engage with their hearts not their heads. Players need to feel something as they play. Gamification allows for a plethora of emotional sensations: excitement, anticipation, frustration, exhilaration and euphoria. All will make the difference between a task and a joyful experience.
4. Make it hard
The earliest feedback from our beta testing with players was ‘make it more difficult, challenge me more.’ Remember, great storytelling is a heroic journey, and the struggle to reach the goal is beset with challenges the hero must overcome. It makes the reward profoundly meaningful.
5. Remember it’s for them
Like any good marketer must remember, it’s not about you. When you set out to create a gamified experience, you must develop its framework not on what you want to deliver, but on the experience you want to give your users. Players are very sophisticated and wary of game experiences that are ‘designed to modify behavior.’ Ask yourself: what will they derive from this experience? How can we ascertain we are really giving something to our players?
6. Engage outside the game
Players love sharing and engaging with others in their community. Lift the game out of the immediate play and into a broader game experience. Build the means for them to communicate, exchange and link to the broader elements of how you engage your customer. It will provide greater meaning to then game experience.
7. It’s got to be fun
In the serious game of marketing, you can’t lose sight of one of the fundamentals of gamification. Playing good games are a lot of fun and make learning that spoonful of sugar, as it were. Of course, it key to be sure that the game subject and design is right for the values of your brand (i.e. the role of conflict etc.) but its vital to provide a reward for the player time, and a leader board, while important, is not enough, it must be something people will talk bout.
8. Great a game journey
If you are going to make a commitment to gamification, look at it beyond one time novelty. What sort of ongoing pathway will you establish, once having created a following, how will you keep it going? If any good story has a moral, then develop a series based on the key takeaways you hope to provide offering players a much anticipated and satisfying experience with you.
