游戏邦注：本文作者为Nicholas Lovell，其在文中就游戏化的推广模式，提出10大应用原则。

游戏化是2010年的热门词汇，但其在2011年的影响力丝毫没有减弱。这一名词颇受游戏设计师的嘲弄，为品牌公司所误解，且用户对其实质含义也一无所知。

所以如果开发商打算将其业务“游戏化”，需要遵循那些原则呢？

Gamification

1.游戏化不等同于游戏开发

游戏化和游戏开发完全是两个不同的概念。

游戏化是指利用类似游戏的机制提高公司的业务水平、用户体验或者营收情况。而游戏开发则着重游戏的趣味性、惊喜性、挑战性和艺术性。

所以开发商不应再根据有限的用户每周消费支出信息，创造即时策略游戏，诸如“想要更多的气垫坦克吗？那么这个礼拜就多买5罐焗豆子吧”之类的。游戏邦认为，开发者应该开始关注用户需求和行为变化，以此来提高用户体验和自身营收。

2.明确游戏化目标

如第1点所说，游戏化不等同于游戏开发。如果开发商认为自己是在开发游戏，其要嘛它是个像EA一样的大公司，要嘛就是犯了弥天大错。

游戏的核心部分是什么？为了提高用户粘性？开发商如何衡量用户粘性？如何判断自己是否取得成功？更重要的是，主管要如何获悉游戏是否取得成功？

罗列公司希望通过“游戏化”达成的3个目标，这3个目标应该能够量化，然后传达至负责将公司服务游戏化的相关人士，告诉他们，“这就是我们希望达成的目标。请帮我们实现。”

3.游戏化模式并非灵丹妙药

游戏化模式或威力无比，或沦为流行词汇。开发商一旦遵循了第2点原则，明确自己对此所寄予的目标,姑且暂缓脚步。

开发者可以无需借助游戏化就实现目标吗？开发商有能力通过提高自己的服务来增加游戏的回访量吗？开发商能够通过完善自己的登陆页面或者申请表格促使用户注册网站吗？

总的来说，游戏化模式并非权宜之计或者灵丹妙药。游戏邦认为，它不过是实现目标的手段，就像其他的营销策略一样。但开发者在将大笔资金投入游戏化项目之前，需确保做好基本的用户界面或者渠道优化工作。

4.游戏对于用户获取毫无价值

严格来说，如果开发者将游戏化视为获取用户的途径，那么其就大错特错了。这个办法行不通，完全就是浪费金钱。

像动视这样的大型游戏公司对于游戏都有大量的营销预算。《现代战争 2》的开发成本为5000万美元，但其发行成本却高达2亿美元。游戏邦发现，其中有大概5000万至1亿美元为营销开支。

“但这另当别论，它们制作的是大型的掌机游戏。”

好吧，那么Zynga呢？Zynga是全球最成功的社交游戏开发商，截至2010年3月为止，其Facebook游戏平均每月的广告支出约为500-800万美元。如今，这笔费用更多了。对于多数横跨社交和手机游戏领域的公司来说，CPA（游戏邦注：CPA计价方式是指按广告投放实际效果，即按回应的有效问卷或定单来计费，而不限广告投放量）是最令其头痛的问题。

游戏化鼓励用户体验游戏，增加其对品牌的忠诚度及传播程度。但开发商不要将此视为获取用户的首要途径。

5.用户留存率至关重要，开发商对此不容小视

无论开发商想要通过游戏化实现何种目标，提高用户回访率对于实现该目标都是极其重要的。

* 如果其是通过出售商品来获得营收，那么用户如果重视产品，其就会不断回访，商家就能实现自己的目标。

* 如果开发商希望传递自己的品牌信息，那么每天回访的用户将更有可能记住该品牌。

* 如果开发商希望用户和朋友分享产品，那么用户就需要花些时间让朋友觉得产品有用、有趣且物有所值。

如果开发商能够为首次访问的用户提供很棒的体验，那么其将有望发展成为忠实用户。

但游戏邦认为，如果开发商关注用户留存率，其成功几率远比仅仅瞄准不断获取新用户要高得多。

6.营收固然重要，但核心业务是根本

如果开发商着眼Zynga的虚拟商品业务，心想“我也要在估值70亿美元的业务中分一杯羹”，那么其就大错特错了。

如果开发商参考Zynga的《Cityville》，心里认为，“我深谙Zynga设计师如何巧妙利用心理策略促使用户定期回访，挥洒金钱，和朋友分享游戏，也许我也可以采用相同的策略来提高自己的营收”，那么其算是掌握了其中的精髓。

7.游戏之根本并非竞争

每当开发商谈论“游戏化”，我们最先听到的总是，“我们只是在游戏中添加了积分和排行榜，而人们希望占据榜单之首的心理才是整个运作模式的根本。”

但游戏邦发现事实并非如此。

人类是复杂的动物。理查德·巴图教授（Richard Bartle）将游戏玩家分为4种类型（游戏邦注：该分法出自理查德·巴图一篇名为《红心、梅花、方块、黑桃：MUD游戏玩家分类》的文章中）。每个玩家都是4种类型的结合体，详细如下：

* 杀手（Killers）希望打败其他对手

* 成功者（Achievers）希望打败自己

* 探索者（Explorers）希望到处旅行，探索新事务

* 社交家（Socialisers）注重和朋友共同体验游戏

据巴图估算，25%的在线游戏玩家的显著特征是杀手。如果开发者只针对杀手玩家进行游戏化设置，那么其只瞄准了25%的用户。

更致命的是，这对其他75%的用户来说，可能是个极其糟糕的游戏体验。

8.留心预期之外的结果

开发商在设定目标时，是否知道最终结果？开发商可能持有崇高目标：将病患等待GP（普通开业医生）的时间缩短至48小时以内。这带来什么？这使得病患未来无法提前至少48小时预约手术。目前所有的外科手术都将提前48小时预约视为极限，以致成千上万的病患都无法提前预约手术，除非谎称其病情十分严重。

在游戏化模式中，情况更为糟糕。为了让更多用户发表评论？开发商就给评论用户加1积分，将通过排行榜展示他们的分数。

如今，开发商收到了众多用户的简短评价，如“好极了”、“糟透了”或者“+1”。

所以现在开发商需要创建一个评分系统。为参与等级评价的用户，或者为给予游戏高分的用户添加积分。

现在几乎所有的用户都开始发表评论，目的是获得积分，而不认可游戏体验的有用性。结果玩家均相互给予积极评价，游戏邦认为这完全亵渎了游戏的评分标准。

不久之后，开发商就会开始抛弃其计划不周的游戏化项目，因为其引发的问题远比解决的多得多。

9.内在激励为游戏化模式之奖励根本

游戏化模式的最有力奖励是内在激励，而非外部刺激，真正刺激用户的是其内在因素，而非其他预测性因素。

广义来说包括（游戏邦注：这些是普遍原理，而非硬性规定）：

* 避免现金奖励

* 为用户展示状态的机会

* 在稳定的环境中进行游戏化，让玩家可以循序渐进

* 为用户提供个人资料页面（不论大小），供其和其他玩家进行分享。

10. 游戏化是过程，而非项目

这是各个公司营销部门长期面临的难题。开发商一旦开始游戏化，就难以停下脚步。成功的社交游戏，其发行前的开发预算都不到10%。而发行后的开发预算至少要占50%。此外，开发商应该像对待网站、SEO、营销或者PR项目一样，为游戏化策略预留维护预算。

游戏化模式并非深不可测

和其他身处游戏行业的人士不同，Nicholas Lovell表示，其完全支持游戏化策略。他认为游戏化模式不同于游戏开发。

游戏化也不仅仅是积分奖励机制，但对于大多数公司来说，仅凭在产品或者服务中加入积分奖励，其就已获得卓越成就。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

The Ten Rules Of Gamification

Gamification may have been the buzzword of 2010, but its influence shows no sign of abating in 2011. It is a term derided by game designers, misunderstood by brands and unknown to consumers.

So as you set out to “gamify” your business, what are the cardinal rules of gamification?

1. You’re not making a game

Gamification is not the same as game-making.

Gamification is about using game-like mechanics to improve a business process, or customer experience, or profits.

Game-making is about fun and wonder and challenge and art. (The definition of what is a game is way beyond the scope of this post. Check out The Theory of Fun by Raph Koster or The Art of Game Design by Jesse Schell if you’re interested.)

So stop thinking about how you can build a real-time strategy game with resources allocated according to your customers’ weekly shopping bill – “Want more hovertanks? Better buy five extra tins of baked beans this week” and start focusing on tweaks and behavioural changes that improve your users’ experience and your bottom line.

2. Know what you are trying to achieve

See #1 above. You’re not trying to make a game. If you are, you are either a big games company like Electronic Arts or you are making a big mistake.

What is the point of your game? To increase consumer engagement? How will you measure it? How will you know if you have succeeded? More importantly, how will your boss know that it succeeded.

Go away. Write down three things that you want “gamification” to achieve. Make them measurable. Now hand it to whoever is gamifying your service and say “This is what I want to achieve. Please help me do it.”

3. Be prepared not to gamify

Gamification can be very powerful. Or it can just be a buzzword. Once you’ve followed #2 above, and identified what you are trying to achieve, stop.

Can you achieve it without gamifiying? If you want to increase return visits, can you improve your service? If you want people to sign up for your website, can you improve your landing page or sign up form?

In short, realise that gamification is no quick fix or panacea. It’s a means to an end, like every other marketing technique. Before you spend lots of money on a gamification project, make sure you have done the basic user interface/user interface/funnel optimisation work.

4. Games are rubbish at customer acquisition

Seriously. If you view gamification as a way of acquiring an audience, stop right now. It won’t work, and will be a total waste of money.

Big games companies like Activision have massive marketing budgets for their games. Modern Warfare 2 may have cost $50 million to develop, but its launch budget was over $200 million. Somewhere between $50 and $100 million was spent on marketing.

“Oh, but that’s different, they sell big games in boxes.”

OK then, how about Zynga? The most successful social games company in the world, Zynga was spending an estimated $5-$8 million per month in advertising on Facebook in March 2010. By now, that figure will have grown substantially. For companies across the social and mobile games industry, CPA is their biggest headache.

Gamify to encourage behaviours amongst your users, to keep them engaged with your brand or to spread a message. Don’t do it to get customers in the first place.

5. Retention is crucial, yet criminally overlooked

Whatever your objective from gamifying, I will promise you that you will achieve it better if you keep customers coming back regularly.

If you want to make money from selling stuff, it’s easier if your customers value what you do – and show that by coming back regularly rather than just once.

If you want to spread your brand message, they’re more likely to remember it if they come back every day for seven days.

If you want them to share with their friends, they need to spend some time to feel that is useful, fun or rewarding.

Sure, it’s possible to covert prospects to customers with a brilliant experience when they first visit.

But if you focus on retention (and here are some retention tips), you stand a much better chance of success than relying on endlessly acquiring new customers.

6. Monetisation may sound great, but focus on your core business

If you look at Zynga’s virtual goods business and think “I’d like a piece of that $7 billon valuation”, I think you’re making a mistake.

If you are looking at Zynga’s Cityville and thinking “I can see the clever psychological tricks the game-makers at Zynga are using to drive users to come back regularly, to spend money and to tell their friends about the game – perhaps I could use those self-same tricks to improve my own bottom line”, then you’re onto something.

And if you’re interested in that, go and buy Influence, the Psychology of Persuasion from Robert Cialdini. You’ll thank me for it. (Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com)

7. No, games are not just about competition

The first thing I hear when talking to people about “gamification” is “We’ll just add some points, and a leaderboard, and the natural desire for people to be at the top of the leaderboard will do the rest.”

No, it won’t.

Humans are complex beasts. Professor Richard Bartle has classified humans as gamers into four types. Everyone is a combination of all these types, and the explanations below are mine. (Check out Wikipedia on the Bartle Test if you want to find out more)

Killers want to beat other people

Achievers want to beat themselves

Explorers want to go places and find out stuff

Socialisers don’t care what they do as long as they are doing it with their friends.

Bartle estimates that only 25% of online gamers have Killer as their dominant trait. If you gamify for Killers, you are only appealing to 25% of your customers.

More damagingly, you may be creating a worse experience for 75% of your customers.

8. Beware unintended consequences

You know what happens when you set a target? People aim for it. You may have lofty aims for improving GP waiting times to less than 48 hours for all patients. What do GP surgeries do? Make it impossible to book an appointment for more than 48 hours in the future. Hey presto, 100% of surgeries meet the 48 hour target, millions of patients can’t get appointments at a time to suit them except by pretending that it is an emergency. (You can see a Daily Mail story on waiting times if you wish. And yes, this anecdote is driven by bad personal experience too.)

In gamification, this can be much worse. Want to get more people to write reviews? Give them a point and show their score on a leaderboard.

Oh, now you have thousands of one word reviews. “Great!”. “This product sucks”. “+1”.

So you now you need to build a rating system for the reviews. Give people points for rating reviews and for having reviews that are highly rated.

Now everyone rates the reviews to get points, not to acknowledge how useful it was. And players start gaming the system by giving each other positive ratings.

Before long, you are scrapping your ill-conceived gamification project because it is causing more problems that it solves.

9. Make it personal

The most powerful rewards are intrinsic, not extrinsic. That which motivates us is personal, not predictable.

Broadly (and these are generalisations, not hard-and-fast rules):

Avoid cash rewards

Allow people to show status (through achievements, aesthetics, personalisation, even leaderboards)

Gamify in a persistent world, expect users to progress over time

Have some profile or personal page, however minimal, to share with the wider world.

10. Gamification is a process, not a project

Marketing departments often struggle with this. Once you start gamification, you don’t stop. Successful social games spent less than 10% of their development budget before the game launched. At a minimum, you should expect to spend 50% of the development budget after launch. More likely, you should have a maintenance budget committed permanently to your gamification strategy, like you do for your website, your SEO, your marketing or your PR.

Don’t be afraid: gamify

Unlike many who work in the games industry, I am fully supportive of gamification. I just don’t think it is about making a game.

It can be about more than pointsification, but even if it isn’t, that’s OK. For most companies, pointsifying their product or service is more than enough.（Source：Gamasutra）