3 Good and 3 Poor Examples of Gamification
Gamification is a massive growth tool for industries of all different types, mimicking game-based systems and interfaces in non-game experiences in hopes of using the massive financial success of the gaming industry to their own advantage. This has driven the advent and rapid evolution of game-based learning systems in the educational sector. Video gaming as a whole could become a $300 billion industry, if not more so, by 2025.
Thus, gamification is something which educational companies of all kinds are trying to adopt in hopes of getting their slice of the gaming profit pie while reaching the minds of learners in ways that traditional teaching methods simply can’t anymore. With that in mind, it behooves educational companies to look at examples of companies that have used gamification well, and those who have used it poorly.
Here’s our list of 3 good examples and 3 poor examples of gamification by non-gaming industry giants.
3 Companies Who Are Using Gamification Correctly
1) Duolingo
Duolingo’s success rate in helping users learn new languages with efficacy and efficiency is staggering, and their growth into a $700 million company in 2018 has a lot to do with how they’ve used gamification to their advantage.
Duolingo’s interface uses everything from achievement streaks to in-app currencies to encourage learners to open and engage with the app every day. It also promotes its premium service throughout the learning program, giving the company ample opportunity to cash in on the strengths of its service.
LinkedIn uses the gaming industry’s achievement culture to push job seekers to use and continue to use its service, with profile strength and skill endorsements mimicking the achievement structure to keep users interacting and building their social web on the service.
It’s also a great example of a company that has learned from the success of freemium mobile games, giving Premium users perks such as seeing who’s viewed your profile to encourage spending by users who are looking to get a leg up in the “career game.”
Dropbox knows exactly what its users are looking for – more cloud storage space. And they know how to dole it out in ways which benefit their overall business, giving free accounts starting access to 2 GB of storage with added storage given in a game-based manner.
Everything from referring friends to the service to connecting social media accounts gives an added storage boost, using the gaming industry’s achievement culture to keep users interacting with the service.
3 Companies Who Are Using Gamification Incorrectly
Wupperman Steel’s idea to rate its workers’ efficacy, safety records and work stoppages with an individual score structure backfired terribly. Staff morale dropped to an all-time low for the company, with the idea of competing against their coworkers leading to a bitter taste in employee’s mouths.
Google’s decision to award uses badges for the different types of news stories they read was supposed to encourage more users to use the Google News Reader exclusively for their online news reading habits.
However, the badges had no real-life import and could only be shown off as a bragging right by those using the service. This incomplete use of gamification, functioning with no real use to the consumer or any real perk at all, was a huge reason why Google News has underperformed.
Zappos’ decision to introduce achievement badges to its users’ profiles created a buzz at first, but those badges provided nothing to the customer and soon became just a random icon on a profile page.
The company’s loyalty program does a fantastic job driving business through perks such as free shipping, but the badge system didn’t give customers anything of importance and led to the entire project being eliminated from the company’s ledger without fanfare.
Concluding thoughts
While there are a lot of companies out there doing gamification incorrectly, it’s clear that there are some doing it right. They know what the market wants, and they are giving it on an easy to use platform. There is a promising future for gamification, if only companies will look toward the stars of the industry.
