Games ultimately are all about accomplishment and so there is quite a bit to learn from them when writing more “serious” goal-driven apps.
There are almost 50 different game dynamics within the theory of gamification. Not all apply to fields outside of gaming, but many do.
Since this is a large and complex subject we will divide the subject over a number of posts.
Business apps such as scheduling, task management, sales tracking and CRM, and many others in the productivity realm can increase engagement (important in freemium business models), both in frequency and time spent in-app, by seemingly minor tweaks that turn individual reporting or tracking tools into collaborative and competitive environments.
Far too many business apps are merely reporting devices, a remote UI to a desktop or server-based system. Mobile is a completely and conceptually different platform, not just a smaller copy of a desktop or web app. In addition to the small form factor the developer must also take into account that apps are used in small bites. “Gaming the system” in this case is a good thing.
There are quite a few game dynamics that are useful here and we will concentrate on three in this post: Companion Gaming, Achievement, and Leader Boards.
The technical definition of Companion Gaming is “games that can be played across multiple platforms”. Ideally this means that a single game has the same implementation, look and feel, or as near as possible given the constraints and abilities of different platforms.
The trap many developers fall into here is copying their web or desktop application to their mobile implementation. As we have pointed out mobile requires different conceptual and UX approaches.
Look no further than the behemoth Facebook, a company whose motto is “move fast and break things”. Initially the company thought that an HTML5 web app would be their best move to get onto mobile (since they already had the web back-end in place, knew HTML, and would be able to leverage HTML5’s purported cross-platform abilities). In technical terms: it sucked.
Abandoning that approach Facebook published iOS and Android apps, but something was not quite right. A re-think was in order. For now iOS only, Facebook released Paper, a thinned out app that feeds Facebook statuses and the news feed in small bites. By all accounts it’s the best product Facebook has released.
The lesson for business apps? Be multi-platform, not cross-platform.
The meaning of “Achievement” is obvious. As the individual or team advances towards a goal, they receive incremental reward for each step they accomplish. Remember the gold star from elementary school? It’s not that much different. Even business apps can create more engagement by the use of badges, push notifications, and medallions. Causing the user to open the app to check their Achievements certainly increases engagement.
Leader Boards extend Achievement by adding recognition and adds a very important dynamic to the app: competition. Especially in situations where competition among and between users/employees is a desirable thing (for example the first to meet a daily sales goal, or the highest sales in a certain period) having a leader board accessible to all peers can drastically increase engagement and user satisfaction.
A wise design approach for the implementation of a mobile leader board is either by push notification as the top position changes, or as quick notification upon opening the app. What is important to avoid is making the leader board the central element of the app which detracts from the operative elements of the app. In other words, the app should exist to enable accomplishment, not be about accomplishment.
There has been ongoing discussion for many years among developers about “hobbling” freemium apps as a means to encourage upselling to the paid version of an app. “Hobbling” an app is generally done by reducing the feature set or amount of possible activity with the free version – “disincentivisation” in gamification jargon. There isn’t a “one size fits all” solution to this strategic question and we will address it in a future post.
However, freemium productivity apps that do implement the principles we have discussed here still have a financial opportunity before full conversion of a user to a customer by adding advertising, special offers or app promotion.
There are almost 50 different game dynamics within the theory of gamification. Not all apply to fields outside of gaming, but many do.
Since this is a large and complex subject we will divide the subject over a number of posts.
Business apps such as scheduling, task management, sales tracking and CRM, and many others in the productivity realm can increase engagement (important in freemium business models), both in frequency and time spent in-app, by seemingly minor tweaks that turn individual reporting or tracking tools into collaborative and competitive environments.
Far too many business apps are merely reporting devices, a remote UI to a desktop or server-based system. Mobile is a completely and conceptually different platform, not just a smaller copy of a desktop or web app. In addition to the small form factor the developer must also take into account that apps are used in small bites. “Gaming the system” in this case is a good thing.
There are quite a few game dynamics that are useful here and we will concentrate on three in this post: Companion Gaming, Achievement, and Leader Boards.
The technical definition of Companion Gaming is “games that can be played across multiple platforms”. Ideally this means that a single game has the same implementation, look and feel, or as near as possible given the constraints and abilities of different platforms.
The trap many developers fall into here is copying their web or desktop application to their mobile implementation. As we have pointed out mobile requires different conceptual and UX approaches.
Look no further than the behemoth Facebook, a company whose motto is “move fast and break things”. Initially the company thought that an HTML5 web app would be their best move to get onto mobile (since they already had the web back-end in place, knew HTML, and would be able to leverage HTML5’s purported cross-platform abilities). In technical terms: it sucked.
Abandoning that approach Facebook published iOS and Android apps, but something was not quite right. A re-think was in order. For now iOS only, Facebook released Paper, a thinned out app that feeds Facebook statuses and the news feed in small bites. By all accounts it’s the best product Facebook has released.
The lesson for business apps? Be multi-platform, not cross-platform.
The meaning of “Achievement” is obvious. As the individual or team advances towards a goal, they receive incremental reward for each step they accomplish. Remember the gold star from elementary school? It’s not that much different. Even business apps can create more engagement by the use of badges, push notifications, and medallions. Causing the user to open the app to check their Achievements certainly increases engagement.
Leader Boards extend Achievement by adding recognition and adds a very important dynamic to the app: competition. Especially in situations where competition among and between users/employees is a desirable thing (for example the first to meet a daily sales goal, or the highest sales in a certain period) having a leader board accessible to all peers can drastically increase engagement and user satisfaction.
A wise design approach for the implementation of a mobile leader board is either by push notification as the top position changes, or as quick notification upon opening the app. What is important to avoid is making the leader board the central element of the app which detracts from the operative elements of the app. In other words, the app should exist to enable accomplishment, not be about accomplishment.
There has been ongoing discussion for many years among developers about “hobbling” freemium apps as a means to encourage upselling to the paid version of an app. “Hobbling” an app is generally done by reducing the feature set or amount of possible activity with the free version – “disincentivisation” in gamification jargon. There isn’t a “one size fits all” solution to this strategic question and we will address it in a future post.
However, freemium productivity apps that do implement the principles we have discussed here still have a financial opportunity before full conversion of a user to a customer by adding advertising, special offers or app promotion.