Blog post

The game is not the endgame

min read

A strategic look at gamification as a component of engagement.

Ken Greer, Augeo CMO, recently had the opportunity to participate on a panel discussion about Gamification. While the three presenters came from different backgrounds, all agreed that "gamification" is not just playing games. Gamification can help organizations accomplish tangible business goals such as fostering collaboration or team building, increasing consumer product knowledge or training a workforce. The key to a successful gamification strategy is to keep in mind that "the game" is not the end game. Rather it is a means to a business-driven outcome.
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A few important questions from the discussion.
For a sample clip or to see the entire discussion use the links below.

When should you choose to add gamification?
Don't think of "adding" gamification. Gamified elements are ever present. It's part of what motivates or inspires people to do something. It's a sense of meaning or purpose. It's the desire to achieve or win. It's a quest to learn or discover a better path. Think of it as "leveraging" gamification elements versus "playing" a game. Gamification taps into the pride you feel when you achieve a goal, the affirmation you feel when others agree with you in a poll, or the rush of learning something that improves your life.

Remember, the game is not the endgame. Focus on the desired behavior, on creating additional brand value in some way, helping people get to know your products or services, demonstrating that your brand is popular creating a sense of group validation, helping people fall in love with your brand because it's educational, entertaining or just plain fun!

How does Augeo measure the ROI on gamification?
Of course we collect information regarding who "played", how often, scores and other tangible metrics but ultimately, our analytical focus is more strategic. Our goal is to engage our client's key constituents - employees, customers, members or channel partners. We look at pre- and post-gamification to see who, how and where people are engaging. Does "playing" lead to higher levels of productivity, longer tenure, better collaboration, advocacy? These are outcomes we are looking for so we try to correlate gamified actions to desired behaviors.

Correlation is fairly easy to identify. I wouldn't go all the way to say the gamified activity "caused" the outcome but they were connected. If people who engage in the activity become more valuable to your organization, then continue promoting the activity even if you cannot prove one thing actually "causes" the other.
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