The Power and Pitfalls of Gamification
The Power and Pitfalls of Gamification
The Power and Pitfalls of Gamification
By Katy Milkman
May 25, 2021
Summary
Today, thanks to science, we know a lot more about when gamification really works, and what its boundaries seem to be.
Examples like this one might make gamification seem like a no-brainer: Why wouldn't a corporation want to make work more fun? Despite Gallus' exciting results, more recent research shows that as a top-down strategy for behavior change, gamification can easily backfire.
The researchers had asked everyone in their game a set of questions: Did people follow the game? Did they understand the rules? Did they think it was fair? These questions were designed to measure which salespeople had "Entered the magic circle," meaning that they agreed to be bound by the game's rules rather than the normal rules that ordinarily guide their work.
My colleagues argue that their study highlights a common mistake companies make with gamification: Gamification is unhelpful and can even be harmful if people feel that their employer is forcing them to participate in "Mandatory fun." Another issue is that if a game is a dud, it doesn't do anyone any good.
Gamification can be a miraculous way to boost engagement with monotonous tasks at work and beyond, or an over-hyped strategy doomed to fail.
Gamification may have worked so beautifully at Wikipedia in part because Wikipedians don't get paid but instead come to the site as volunteers.
At its best, gamification seems to work when it helps people achieve the goals they want to reach anyway by making the process of goal achievement more exciting.
Gamification can tank when players don't buy in.
Amazon seems to understand this: They've kept their gamification program entirely optional so employees who enjoy it can use it, but it isn't imposed on anyone.
While not every context is the right one, under certain conditions, gamification can make pursuing your aspirations feel more like play.
Reference
Milkman, K. (2021, May 05). The power and pitfalls of gamification. Retrieved August 04, 2021, from https://www.wired.com/story/power-and-pitfalls-gamification/