gamification

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onto today’s topic: gamification 🍎 

nearly every app has some element of gamification in it. whether it’s a points system of some form or ranked rewards, humans enjoy gamification.

the reason why goes a layer deeper than gamification simply drawing lines of similarity to video games. so, why do people enjoy video games?

gamification taps into fundamental and cognitive mechanisms that make activities more engaging and enjoyable. the most obvious one is the dopamine release as you collect new achievements, which follows the instant gratification accumulated from different badges, rewards, and progress bars filling up.

social components and competition are typically also introduced with gamification. humans are social beings by nature — any opportunity to share joy with another person is always welcomed. on the flip side, that social component also fuels competition, which keeps many people hooked onto a platform. they want to climb higher on the leaderboard, and it’s easy to see yourself climbing up the ranks rapidly.

most organizations understand this inclination for gamification in our every day experiences, which is why teachers make an effort to inject game-like components in their lessons (ex. kahoot), tiktok has started incentivizing their social features with streaks, and why there are rewards tiers for referral programs on practically any product (this blog included LOL).

we’re pretty susceptible to gamification until it becomes high stakes. this is part of why gamification sometimes falls apart when it comes to education. students don’t care for the love of the game when the only metric that is truly rewarded is their gpa. gamification is most effective for systems with flexible incentives. 🤷‍♀️ 

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