Bally Chohan UK

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Gamification 101-by bally chohanWhy games are
becoming a key marketing toolwww.ballychohan.com
- Insight Curator
By Bally Chohan
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What is gamification?

• Gamification is an increasingly important
  marketing method which seeks to effectively
  engage customers and influence their behaviour
  through game structures and mechanics.
• It takes advantage of our psychological tendency
  to engage in games. As a technique it is mainly
  used to encourage people to engage in behaviours
  they might ordinarily find boring
• shopping, completing surveys, or reading
  websites.

By Bally Chohan
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Why is gamification important now?

• Though game mechanics like adding levels, points
  or rewards have been used in customer loyalty
  programmes for many years, it is only now with
  such behavioural data explosions, that we can
  really begin to harness the power of games
  effectively.
• Gaming culture has become universal

By Bally Chohan
www.ballychohan.com
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Universal Gaming Culture - Why games?

• Games are the most engaging medium around
• - Games change peoples behaviour and mindstates
  because they are so engaging while playing in
  isolation, games have relieved burns victims of
  their pains, more than any other medium.
• - Some online games have had to introduce
  fatigue systems which give less points the
  longer your play or offer double points for
  taking a breaks, as some gamers were developing
  damaging addictive compulsions to play.
• - Games can get people engaged in eating
  healthily, Xtreme Xrunch Kart is a racing game
  that takes the speed of the vehicle from the
  crunch sound of eating carrots.
• - There are more than 10 millions gamers in the
  UK each playing more than 20 hours a week
  thats more than a part-time job!

By Bally Chohan
www.ballychohan.com
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Universal Gaming Culture Beyond Games

• Social media is a part of gamification the
  social gaming market is worth billions already.
• Consoles have infiltrated the mainstream. Every
  new device ends up being a gaming device.
• Hacks of the Xbox Kinect have crossed over into
  many different mediums beyond gaming, which will
  only continue given Microsoft have now released
  an official software development kit
• Digital shadow puppetry. Invisibility.
  Quadrocopter radar. Shopping accessibility.
• There are plenty of gamificiation creative
  executions, both brand-led and hacker-led, taking
  place right now

By Bally Chohan
www.ballychohan.com
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Brands Using Gamification

• There are lots brand examples out there
• McDonalds
• Toyota
• Nike
• VW
• Coca-Cola
• Heineken
• Mini

By Bally Chohan
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Hackers Using Gamificiation?

• A clever Foursquare hack recently turned New York
  into a giant game of Risk.
• There are many new location-based technologies
  (here, here and here) that have the potential to
  engage people further.
• Maybe we could create a location-based game in
  London of Monopoly using Oyster card game
  Chromorma and Foursquare?

By Bally Chohan
www.ballychohan.com
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So what are game mechanics?

• There are different kinds of game mechanics that
  can be introduced into marketing campaigns
• Achievements
• Flowing Information
• Combos
• Countdowns
• Levelling Up
• Community Collaboration
• There are lists here and here.

By Bally Chohan
www.ballychohan.com
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Do game mechanics make good games?
Merely adding game mechanics to marketing
campaigns does not make good gamification. All
games are different so there arent necessarily
mechanics that you can apply to all games that
will make them engaging. Winning badges for
everything doesnt work. The mechanics chosen
need to come from how it feels to play. Games
that dont focus on gameplay dont work.
Designing good games should be based on the
Four Ms of Game Structure Mystery Mastery Mem
bership Meaning.
By Bally Chohan
www.ballychohan.com
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Four Ms of Game Design - Mystery
Mystery is all about exploration-based
learning at the beginning of a game. It involves
learning about the game environment, rules and
goal via exploration challenges. Mystery should
compel us to play by asking Where am I? Whats
the story? Why do I want to progress? To gain a
sense of Mystery games need 1) A goal. 2)
Rule. 3) Increasing difficulty. 4) Voluntary
participation. In short, Mystery is about
creating new worlds for us to discover
exploration designing in flow and giving us the
initial urge to want to master the game.
By Bally Chohan
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Four Ms of Game Design - Mastery
This is the step up from Mystery, once weve
understood the game world and want to continue to
play and participate. Mastery is about
challenge-based learning through capturing
moments of attention, elongating them and
repeating interactions to strengthen involvement.
The aim is to achieve flow from matching skills
to satisfaction. Three techniques can make
in-game challenges fun and engaging 1)
Collecting Tasks. 2) Graduated hurdles and
enemies. 3) Random rewarding. The Mastery urge
emerges when challenges are achievable but an
improvement of skill is needed. Mastery is never
totally out of reach.
By Bally Chohan
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Four Ms of Game Design - Membership
This is where social media can fit in
particularly well To understand Membership,
its often useful to look at the opposite
exclusion, alienation, being an outsider and how
the resulting feelings drive human behaviour.
Membership is largely about inclusivity and
exclusivity as well as defining the boundaries of
identity in a given group. The Mac and PC
advertising that Apple used for a number of years
is an example of these boundaries it creates
vitriolic feelings between members of the two
groups.
By Bally Chohan
www.ballychohan.com
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Four Ms of Game Design - Meaning
Meaning in game structure is derived from the
goal of the game, or what impact the game has
beyond itself in the players life. Different
games have different meanings. Some games are
typified by being difficult. They require the
player to acquire acute skills and punish them
for not doing this even the language can be
punishing lives and game over. Casual
games, which are becoming increasingly dominant
dont require skills but rather time and often
currency. These games take their meaning from
status. Individuals must be able to derive
meaning for themselves from a game.

By Bally Chohan
www.ballychohan.com
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Going Forward With Gamification
All good stories need a good dramatic
structure, in a beginning, middle and end.
Similarly good game design needs the Four Ms of
Mystery, Mastery, Membership and Meaning. Using
these structures to evaluate gamificiation will
increase levels of engagement in marketing
campaigns and will ultimately influence customer
behaviour.
By Bally Chohan
www.ballychohan.com