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游戏化机制在各行各业发挥显著成效

发布时间:2011-07-18 09:17:30 Tags:,,,,

作者:Gabe Zichermann

游戏化是利用游戏想法和游戏机制来吸引用户和解决问题的方法。换句话说,也就是从《FarmVille》、《魔兽世界》和《愤怒的小鸟》中吸取经验,然后将这些经验运用到业务运作中。技术、卫生保健、教育、消费产品、娱乐和旅游等行业都用到这种方法,对象可以是顾客也可以是员工,游戏化的影响确实很深远。

尽管有些人对游戏化的概念有所批判,但游戏化方面的功效着实令人称奇。无论你采用何种运营模式,以下这7个游戏化创新之举应该可以让你根据游戏分析来制定战略计划。

1、创造市场:Foursquare

Foursquare(from sinovision.net)

Foursquare(from sinovision.net)

以地域为基础的网络首次面世的惨败让许多人完全放弃了这个想法。但Foursquare的创始人凭借游戏机制获得了成功。Dennis和Naveen在Area/Code(游戏邦注:Zynga近期收购的位于纽约的游戏设计工作室)工作室得知了这个想法,他们总结出如果将动态机制从多人游戏转变成单人游戏,那么手机社交网络能够获得成功。

Foursquare不依靠群众活动来提供内在增强,而是用单人游戏的形式来解决问题。用户互相竞争,以夺取徽章。在此过程中,Foursquare证实地理定位网络并不一定会失败,简单的游戏机制便可以发挥效用。现在,Foursquare吸引了1000万的用户,融资达到5000万美元。

2、保持健康:NextJump

当你听到NextJump首席执行官Charlie Kim阐述自己对保持身体健康的热情时,你就会迅速理解到正是这种想法使得这个互动营销平台成为美国国内成长最快的公司。但保持身体健康并非Kim的个人目标,他表示自己认为员工也应该这么做,以减少公司的保险成本和旷工率。为实现这些目标,NextJump在办公室中添加了健身房,并构建了个应用,员工每次近健身房都可以记录。然后,公司为最勤快健身的人提供现金奖励。实施这些政策后,12%的公司员工时常会去健身房锻炼。

但Kim对此并不满意。他动用了游戏化的力量,将这场健康游戏转变成团队运动。现在NextJump的员工可以根据地区组成队伍,然后在排行榜上看到自己队伍的表现。游戏中的联盟和竞争对行为有着非凡的促进作用。现在,NextJump中有70%的员工定期运动,替公司剩下数百万美元的保险成本,同时让工作环境变得更健康和愉快。

3、减缓行车速度:Kevin Richardson

在许多国家里,电子摄像头每年让数千名驾驶员惨遭罚款。在有些国家里,尤其是斯堪的纳维亚半岛的国家,罚款的数目参考的是驾驶员的工资,而不是速度。MTV旧金山工作室的游戏设计师Kevin Richardson在超速罚款中融入了游戏想法。

他的创新型Speed Camera Lottery想法为那些遵守规则的驾驶员提供奖励,而这些钱正是来自于超速驾驶员的罚款。Richardson利用游戏化概念将消极的强迫系统转变成积极的鼓励系统。

这个想法在斯德哥尔摩进行测试时,使得驾驶员平均速度下降了20%。如果这个计划在全美国推广,那么将减少数千起伤亡事故,减少数百万美元的损失并可改善环境。

4、产生广告盈利:Psych & NBC/Universal.

Psych(from mashable)

Psych(from mashable)

Psych在USA Network中甚为流行,但现在只有以创意性方法连接至网络和社交媒体上才能为电视广告带来价值。

主意来自NBC/Universal高管Jesse Redniss,Club Psych执行游戏化方法后使得页面访问量提升130%,回访率达到40%。这为公司创造巨大的成功,游戏化版本发布后,注册用户数从40万增加到将近300万。这个媒体集团随即将此视为一项大战略,将Top Chef和The Real Housewives等进行游戏化。

Playboy等其他媒体发行商的游戏化产生相同的结果。该公司的Miss Social Facebook应用回访率高达85%,月盈利增长60%。

5、用户调查:Crowdtap

获得产品反馈是项费时费力的事情。因而,多数营销人员不喜欢做这件事情。成立于今年年初的纽约热门初创公司Enter Crowdtap在90天的时间内就获得了100万美元的盈利和10万用户。这家公司为完成调查任务和与他人分享品牌忠诚度的消费者提供游戏化奖励,这样的市场调查方式几乎从未出现过。

通过对游戏化和虚拟奖励的使用,公司将平均用户参与度提升了2.5倍,为某些关键的客户减少了至少80%的调查成本。通过对这些消费者进行奖励,公司首席执行官Brandon Evans报告称,喜欢竞争的用户进行高质量评论的可能性提高了4倍,向他人提及平台的可能性提高了12倍。他们不是与系统竞争,而是挑战自己或身边的好友。

6、拯救地球:RecycleBank

现代生活浪费现象严重。当政府、组织和企业集团注意到了人们通过游戏化经历竞争和获得奖赏的欲望,他们修改了可持续发展的规则,让世界变得更加美好。

在某个让家庭在减少能源使用的竞争性项目中,获胜家庭的碳排放量减少了63%。在项目Putnam RISE中,数千个印第安纳州家庭竞相减少能源的使用量,留存能源最多的家庭获得现金奖励。Recyclebank的激励专家在全美使用游戏化以彻底改善家庭对环境的影响。到现在为止,他们已经利用的游戏机制包括分数、挑战和奖励。该项目使费城的循环利用率上升了16%,使这项数据在历史上首次突破20%。

7、让授课变得有趣:Ananth Pai

Ananth Pai原本是个自助游公司的高管,现在是小学教师。当他在位于White Bear Lake的班级授课后,Pai觉得还应该采取更好更有吸引力的方法来教学。所以,他根据学习风格将学生分组,利用现成的游戏(游戏邦注:这些游戏既有娱乐性也有教育性)来教授阅读、数学和其他科目。比如,学生可以在任天堂DS和PC上玩单人游戏或多人游戏,将小组的整体得分做成排行榜。

在18周的时间里,Pai班级学生的阅读和数学水平有了显著的提高。孩子们在采访中说道“与Pai一起学习很有趣而且极具社交化。”,这证实了这种方法的成功。

除了以上这7个例子之外,每周都会出现更多在游戏化中投入时间和金钱后获得成功的故事。Gartner Group估计到2015年,70%的Forbes Global 2000将使用游戏化应用,M2 Research预测到那时仅美国公司每年就会在游戏化产品和服务上投入16亿美元。

从数百个将游戏机制整合到产品中而发迹的初创公司,到将游戏化视作重要战略的大品牌都可以看出,游戏化为众多行业提供了便利。无论对象为何物,它们传达出的信息是相同的:未来将更具社交性且更为有趣。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

7 Winning Examples of Game Mechanics in Action

Gabe Zichermann

Gabe Zichermann is the author of Gamification by Design and chair of the upcoming Gamification Summit NYC, where top leaders in the field – such as those profiled here – get together to share insight, key metrics and best practices. Mashable readers are invited to register with special savings at GSummit.com using code MASH10.

Gamification is the use of game thinking and game mechanics to engage audiences and solve problems. In other words, it means taking the best lessons from games like FarmVille, World of Warcraft and Angry Birds, and using them in business. Whether targeted at customers or employees, across industries as diverse as technology, health care, education, consumer products, entertainment and travel, gamification’s impact can already be felt.

While some have criticized the concept of gamification as shallow or demeaning, the initial findings from gamification specialists are nothing short of astonishing. Regardless of your business model, the following seven gamified innovations should inspire you to strategize via game analysis.

1. Make a Market: Foursquare

The first incarnation of the location-based networking field was littered with carnage, leading many to write off the entire concept. But Foursquare’s founders, veterans of the now defunct Dodgeball, succeeded with an ace in the hole: game mechanics. Exposed to the concept while working at Area/Code (Zynga’s recently acquired New York City-based game design shop), Dennis and Naveen concluded that mobile social networking would work if you were to change the dynamic from multiplayer to single player.

Instead of depending on the action of the crowd to provide intrinsic reinforcement (e.g. “Hey, you’re around the corner. Let’s grab a beer!”), Foursquare overcame the empty bar problem by becoming a single-player game. The user competes for badges and mayorships whether or not anyone is there to meet him. In the process, Foursquare proved that location-based networking wasn’t doomed to fail, that simple game mechanics can affect behavior, and that you can engage 10 million customers — all while raising $50 million.

2. Get Fit: NextJump

When you listen to NextJump CEO Charlie Kim describe his zeal for physical fitness, you immediately understand the energy that has propelled this interactive marketing platform into one of the nation’s fastest growing businesses. But keeping fit isn’t just Kim’s personal goal — he told me it’s also a practice he believes his employees should value as a tool for improving their lives, reducing company insurance costs and preventing employee absenteeism. To achieve those goals, NextJump installed gyms in its offices, and built a custom application that enabled employees to check in to each workout. Ultimately, they rewarded the top performers with a cash prize. After implementation, around 12% of the company’s staff began a regular workout regimen.

But Kim wasn’t satisfied. By leveraging the power of gamification, he retooled the fitness “game” to become a team sport. Now NextJump employees could form regionally based teams, check in to workouts and see their team performance on a leaderboard. Leveraging the game themes of tribalism and competition had an astonishing effect on behavior. Today, 70% of NextJump employees exercise regularly — enough to save the company millions in work attendance and insurance costs over the medium term — all the while making the workplace healthier and happier.

3. Slow Down and Smell the Money: Kevin Richardson

In many countries, speed cameras snare thousands of drivers each year — a quick shutter flash earns a miserable ticket in the mailbox. In some countries, particularly in Scandinavia, ticket amounts correspond with the driver’s salary, rather than his speed. But Kevin Richardson, game designer at MTV’s San Francisco office, re-imagined the experience using game thinking.

His innovative Speed Camera Lottery idea rewards those drivers who obey the posted limit by entering them into a lottery. The compliant drivers then split the proceeds generated from speeders. Richardson used gamification concepts to turn an negative reinforcement system into a positive, incremental experience.

When tested at a checkpoint in Stockholm, average driver speed was reduced by 20%. If the plan were scaled across the U.S., the results could mean thousands fewer injuries, millions of dollars worth of reduced costs and substantial environmental benefits.

4. Generate Ad Revenues: Psych & NBC/Universal.

Psych is a popular program on the USA Network, but these days, creating value for TV advertisers means connecting to the web and social media in creative ways. Enter Club Psych, the online brand platform for the show, and among the first major media platforms to get gamified.

The brainchild of NBC/Universal executive Jesse Redniss, Club Psych implemented gamified incentives to raise page views by over 130% and return visits by 40%. The resulting rise in engagement has generated substantial revenue for the company, bringing registered user counts from 400,000 to nearly 3 million since the launch of the gamified version. The media conglomerate has since embraced the strategy across properties, bringing gamification to ratings leaders like Top Chef and the The Real Housewives.

Other content publishers, like Playboy, have seen similar results. Their Miss Social Facebook app has achieved an 85% re-engagement rate and 60% monthly revenue growth with gamification.

5. Make Research & Evangelism Count: Crowdtap

Getting product feedback is a costly and challenging effort. Therefore, most marketers have come to loathe ineffective surveys and expensive focus groups. Enter Crowdtap, the hot New York City startup launched earlier this year that reached $1 million in revenue and 100,000 users in just over 90 days. The company offers consumers gamified rewards to complete research tasks and to share brand advocacy with others — something mere market research simply cannot do.

Through the use of gamified, virtual rewards, the company has been able to raise average user participation by 2.5 times, thus reducing research costs by 80% or more for key clients. By targeting consumer rewards along a motivational (not demographic) axis, CEO Brandon Evans reports that competition-oriented users are four times more likely to create quality comments and 12 times more likely to refer others to the platform. Instead of competing against the system, they challenge themselves and peers to excel — an extraordinary achievement by any measure.

6. Save the Planet: RecycleBank

Modern life is wasteful, and easy fixes are rare. By tapping into people’s desire for reward and competition through gamified experiences, governments, utilities and entrepreneurial powerhouses are rewriting the rules of sustainability — and making the world a better place.

In a Medford, MA pilot program, households competed in an energy smackdown in which the winning family managed to lower its carbon footprint by 63%. In a program called Putnam RISE, Indiana families are making thousands of pledges to reduce power usage through a competition. The schools whose families conserve the most energy receive a cash prize. And across the country, incentives experts at Recyclebank are using the power of gamification to radically improve home environmental compliance. So far, they’ve utilized game mechanics such as points, challenges and rewards to drive breakthroughs. For example, the project has seen a 16% increase in recycling in Philadelphia, where the recycling rate has broken 20% for the first time in history.

7. Make Teaching Fun: Ananth Pai

As former globetrotting business executive turned elementary school teacher, Ananth Pai has seen it all. But when he inherited his class in White Bear Lake, MN, Pai realized there had to be a better, more engaging way to teach. So he grouped students by learning style, and retooled the curriculum to make use of off-the-shelf games (both edutainment and entertainment) to teach reading, math and other subjects. Students play on Nintendo DS and PCs, both single and multiplayer, for example. Their overall point scores are tabulated and shared using leaderboards.

In the space of 18 weeks, Mr. Pai’s class went from below third grade average reading and math levels to mid-fourth grade. The classroom success is supported by video interviews with his kids, who say “Learning with Mr. Pai is fun and social.”

In addition to these seven great tips, dozens more success stories pour in each week, underscoring the tremendous investment of time and money into gamification. Gartner Group estimates that by 2015, 70% of the Forbes Global 2000 will be using gamified apps, and M2 Research forecasts that U.S. companies alone will spend $1.6 billion on gamification products and services by that same year.

Gamification spans the gamut — from the hundreds of startups that launch with game mechanics incorporated into their products, to the big brands that make gamification a hallmark strategy. Regardless, the message is the same: the future will be more connected, more social and more fun than ever before. (Source: Mashable)


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