Gamification: The 7 Deadly Sins

Last November 29 I spent an exceptional day at the CIBBVA with people passionate about something as sacred as play. People who have given something as valuable as their free time to learning and to improving the possibilities of applying play to every area of their life.

At this 5th edition in Madrid of the Gamification Spain Meetup #GSMm, they offered me the chance to share my learnings, and I devoted my talk to sharing what I called the 7 deadly sins in Gamification. Here they are:

1. Lust: ... we got hot and bothered ...
When we started getting results with BBVA Game I have to admit that we got "hot and bothered". One of the first experiences a digital marketing professional faces when trying a gamification exercise for the first time is that the historical results, the ratios they are used to, shift into positive territory spectacularly.

Our approach was a competitive approach, and this type of exercise is not valid for all users, and even less is it a formula that can be kept up ad eternum over time. In my judgement, the days of competitive approaches are numbered.

2. Envy: ... we felt jealous...

We were pioneers in introducing game dynamics and mechanics into a boring environment as a lever for obtaining business results. We started following other experiences and other initiatives and we confused dynamics with mechanics. I have to admit that we felt jealous of other initiatives. Applying progress bars, creating levels, badges, points, the potential of leaderboards, etc.

The fact is that we started trying to incorporate everything we saw outside, without giving ourselves time to check whether or not it had a place in our approach. Now the reflection is that n****ot all mechanics work for all approaches.

3. Greed: … my precious …

The same energy that let us drive BBVA Game forward independently is now what makes us languish. The startup approach is possible in a large organisation, and consolidating an innovative project requires other skills and possibly other people, to see it through.

Possibly the learning is that in any organisation and in any project, there is one team to give initiatives their initial push and another team to grow and consolidate them.

4. Arrogance: ... I think I already know...

Shortly after starting, we discovered the importance of the typologies and motivations of each player. Our interpretation was to bring player typology down to the demographic variables we had to hand. We started creating different versions of the game and different challenges for different types of users. Maybe it wasn't the smartest call. That has added a layer of complexity that makes administering the game very resource-intensive. Spain is a leading country in the development of gamification approaches and we, n****ever let ourselves be advised.

5. Wrath: … Damn X! …

Damn X or damn Y. There is always someone to pin the blame on when you are angry. In our case, when we switched from the loyalty approach to acquisition there was a cooling in engagement that we put down to football and to the trough in the activity cycle between the end and the start of each season. @dparente commented at this #GSMm that 80% of players do not get beyond 20% of the challenges set in a game. And there is always more to keep researching.

The learning is: search and keep searching, do not judge. The passion for discovering is the key to developing a "gamified" project.

6. Pride: … This can't be happening to me …

We thought that what made the game evolve for us one day was going to be a continuous source of learnings. Introducing the survey challenge opened up a spectacular space of possibilities for evolving the game. The user gave us clues about how to evolve the different challenges and prizes. Now that oracle no longer gives so many clues.

The learning is still pending: has the source of continuous improvement perhaps dried up, or have we lost freshness in our listening? We keep learning.

7. Gluttony: … 1 segment, and another, and one more …

So much segmentation has given us indigestion. If it is already hard to keep up the tension and the engagement for one typical player, imagine it for several segments. We have created a complexity that is now difficult to govern.

The learning here is simplicity and the return to a single approach. **Less is more.**There will be time to make it complex once we have learned from the simpler approach.

And like all lists, it calls for a summary learning. Here's mine:****_"There is always a way to make anything in life simpler. The Universe does the most complex things with simplicity and naturalness. How arrogant of us, to make_ complicated something as sacred as play !".

When I finished my talk, many of the Gamification professionals attending the Gamification Spain Meetup #GSMm, admitted to me that they too had fallen into some of these sins. I am not settling for that. And I have to admit that it consoles me.

This post is an acknowledgement of your valuable feedback. My gratitude to all the GSMer's.

This post was originally published in http://bernardocrespovelasco.blogspot.com.es/2014/11/gamification-7-pecados-capitales.html

Bernardo Crespo is Digital Transformation Leader at DIVISADERO and an Ontological Coach certified by Newfield Network in Bogotá (Colombia). He holds a degree in Business Studies from UCLM and final year of a BA Honours in Management and Economics, University of St Andrews. Executive Master in Relationship Marketing, CRM and E-commerce from ICEMD, and a lecturer at several business schools in Spain. He worked as digital marketing director at BBVA Spain.

I currently devote myself to helping companies walk the path of Digital Transformation at DIVISADERO.

I have discovered, and keep discovering, the beauty of play applied outside of play #gamification