作者：Lisa Galarneau

我们都知道，玩家是一些特别积极的人，懂得自律，独立学习，并找到无止尽的动机储备，甚至是在包含重复任务时。这是对于看着玩家并想着“为了鼓励人们做一些必要或让他们满意的事，我们该如何利用对游戏有利的事物？”的自然延伸。显然，并不是所有内容都会变成游戏，但为什么不选择我们所知道并喜欢的游戏中的特定元素并将其用于其它任务或应用中呢？

gamificationc(from bigfishgames)

在过去几年里，游戏化理念开始在游戏产业外部的商人，市场营销者以及变革推动者身上发挥作用。这一次最先出现于2002年，但是直到2010年它才开始得到广泛使用。这里所存在的基本理念在于可以用一些游戏玩法元素去刺激并奖励任何设置中的行为。你是否还记得童年的时候因为完成任务或琐事而获得的金星？这便是一种类型的游戏玩法，特别是当这些星星可以用于换取其它自己想要的东西时。

像一些非游戏应用和过程便为了鼓励人们接纳它们，或为了影响使用方法而采用了这些游戏化。游戏化的使用是通过让技术变得更加吸引人，通过鼓励用户沉浸于想要的行为中，通过呈现精通与自治的方法，通过帮助解决问题并且不会分散注意力，并且通过利用人们的心理素质去沉浸于游戏中而落实行动。技术能够鼓励人们去执行那些他们平常觉得很无聊的琐事，如全面调查，购物，填纳税申报表，或者阅读网站等等。

这是一个带有争议的话题，因为有些观察者认为添加电子游戏元素只是一时兴起的做法。但如果是伴随着一大群数字原生代去适应游戏世界，那么这些方法的确值得我们去探索。实际上，在2011年由MTV所组织的研究中，出现了一个最数字原生代的报告，即将一个“游戏化的比喻”用于他们生活中的一切。

游戏化技术致力于利用人们对于竞争，成就，地位，自我表现，利他主义等自然欲望。（维基百科）

为什么游戏化是可行的

如果你知道任何有关人类心理的内容，你便会知道人类天生就会对奖励做出回应。Pavlov的狗便是个典型的例子：在喂狗前摇吃饭铃，小狗便会带着期待而流口水。这就是一种“外在的”激励。

pavlov-experiment(from bigfishgames)

如今对于用户支持的市场研究的一切内容都趋于游戏化，就像商人努力寻找着新机制去吸引用户的注意。这里还有许多提升生活中的生产能力的选择，或者去管理卫生保健问题。像Facebook和Quora等社交网站也包含了游戏化元素，如“喜欢”等设置。虽然关于这些机制并不存在可行的奖励，但是它们却能够让人们意识到自己的贡献和付出是有回报的。

在2013年的《福布斯》全球公司2000强中，有超过70%的公司表示他们计划为了市场营销和用户留存而使用游戏化。（维基百科）

游戏化元素

根据游戏化咨询公司Bunchball，关于游戏化存在一些重要组件：

1.实时反馈通过让用户可以在前进中看到自己的过程而加强了有用的行为。

2.透明度让用户能够看到他们的努力是如何堆积起来去对抗其他人。

3.目标设置专注于所有的互动并且能够用于奖励行为。

4.竞争是一种能够推动改善的激励因素。

5.徽章呈现了一个用户的进程并让他们能够向别人展示自己的成就。

6.升级能够给让用户有机会继续前进，开发者也可以奖励给他们更多的自由和选择。

7.团队允许用户将自己的努力与其他用户结合在一起。

8.OnBoarding和Mastery允许玩家能够在前进过程中学习，并且不需要看指南。

如何进行游戏化

关于成功游戏化的第一步便是带上你的游戏设计师之帽，并思考如何将你的网站或服务变成是基于游戏的活动。

理解你想要鼓励怎样的行为。可能是分享一篇文章，上传一张照片或添加新好友或成员到一个服务中。

想想怎么做能让这些任务或应用变得更有趣。

考虑什么类型的游戏化元素是最适合你的目标。我们很容易从一些较简单的东西做起，如徽章，然后再向一些较复杂的机制发展。像比赛便是非常棒的激励元素，用户可能会因为某些特定的活动加入进来，或为各种行动收集点数等等。

决定你想要提供什么类型的奖励。如果人们收集到许多点数，他们能够因此得到什么？

玩家将如何获得他们的奖励？

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

What is Gamification?

Posted by Lisa Galarneau

Gamers are known to be particularly motivated people who practice self-discipline, learn well on their own, and find endless reserves of motivation, even when it involves repetitive tasks.  It’s a natural extension to watch gamers and think, ‘How can we leverage what is great about games in order to encourage people to do necessary or desirable things?’  Clearly not everything can be turned into a game, but why not pick specific elements that we know and love in games and apply them to other tasks or applications?

In the last several years, the idea of gamification has begun to compel business people, marketers and change agents who work outside the game industry. The term was first coined in 2002, but it wasn’t until 2010 that it began to be used on a wider basis.  The basic idea is that there are elements of game-play  that can be used to motivate and reward behavior in just about any setting. Remember those gold stars you got as a kid for tasks or chores well done?  That’s a type of gamification, particularly when the stars can be traded in for some desirable item.

Typically gamification applies to non-game applications and processes, in order to encourage people to adopt them, or to influence how they are used. Gamification works by making technology more engaging, by encouraging users to engage in desired behaviors, by showing a path to mastery and autonomy, by helping to solve problems and not being a distraction, and by taking advantage of humans’ psychological predisposition to engage in gaming. The technique can encourage people to perform chores that they ordinarily consider boring, such as completing surveys, shopping, filling out tax forms, or reading web sites. (Mashable)

It’s a bit of a controversial topic, because some observers think that adding video game elements is surely a fad.  But with hordes of digital natives accustomed to gaming in the world, these approaches are certainly worth exploring.  In fact, in a 2011 study conducted by MTV, it emerged that most digital natives report that a ‘game-like metaphor’ applies to just about everything in their lives.

Gamification techniques strive to leverage people’s natural desires for competition, achievement, status, self-expression, altruism, and closure. (Wikipedia)

To learn more about how video games motivate and engage, check out this TED talk from Tom Chatfield:

Why Gamification Works

If you know anything about human psychology, you’ll know that humans are hard wired to respond to reward.  Pavlov’s dog is the classic example:  ring a dinner bell before feeding the dog and the dog begins to salivate in anticipation each time they hear the bell.  This is referred to as ‘extrinsic’ motivation.

Everything from market research to customer support are now being gamified, as business struggle to find new mechanisms to engage customers.  There are also many options available for increased productivity in life, or to manage health care concerns.  Social sites like Facebook and Quora also include gamification elements, like upvotes and ‘likes’.  There aren’t tangible rewards associated with these mechanisms, but they go a long way towards making people feel recognized for their contributions.

Over 70% of Forbes Global 2000 companies surveyed in 2013 said they planned to use gamification for the purposes of marketing and customer retention. (Wikipedia)

Elements of Gamification

According to gamification consultancy Bunchball, there are several key components to gamification:

1.Real-time Feedback reinforces useful behaviors by letting users see their progress as they go.

2.Transparency allows users to see how their efforts stack up against others.

3.Goal Setting gives focus to all interactions and can be used to reward behavior.

4.Competition acts as a motivator to improve.

5.Badges illustrate a user’s progress and allow them to show others their mastery.

6.Leveling Up gives the user opportunities to progress and developers can reward them with more freedom and options.

7.Teams allow users to combine their efforts with other users.

8.OnBoarding and Mastery allow players to learn as they go, no manuals needed.

How to Gamify

The first step towards successfully gamifying anything is to put on your game designer’s hat and think about how to turn your site or service into an activity to be gamed.

Understand what behaviors you want to encourage.  This could be anything, from sharing an article to uploading a photograph or adding new friends or members to a service.

Think about what might make the task or application more fun.

Consider what kinds of gamification elements are most appropriate for your goals.  It’s easy to start with something simple like badges, then progress to more complicated mechanics.  Contests and sweepstakes are great motivators, and entries can result from certain activities or by accumulating points for a variety of act

Decide what types of rewards you will offer.  If someone accumulates a lot of points, for example, what do they receive in return?

How will players redeem their rewards?(source:bigfishgames)