Do you actually need gamification?
Believe it or not, a big part of my job is often telling people that they shouldn’t use gamification. 😱
But you might ask… Zac! Isn’t gamification what you do for a living?
And the answer is always the same. It sure is! But gamification isn’t going to solve every problem out there.
Although I can see why it’s easy to think it might.
You see, there’s still a lot of hype around gamification and it’s often seen as a silver bullet. Something that can fix ANY problem!
Employees not completing safety training? GAMIFY IT.
Customers not clicking purchase product on your website? GAMIFY IT!
Forgetting where you put your keys? GAMIFY IT!!!
I totally get it. If you’re new to gamification it can be a pretty confusing topic to get your head around.
A lot of people have heard of the term, but don’t fully understand it.
And with the hype and news stories that keep reinforcing the positive impact and potential of gamification, then it’s easy to jump to the conclusion that gamification could fix anything.
Don’t worry though! I have a simple way to help work out if gamification is worth pursuing as a solution.
Just ask this question… Is it a motivational problem that you’re trying to solve?
I find that this is always a great starting point because we move from talking about gamification as a solution to instead focusing on the problem we want to solve.
This shift in focus makes it a lot easier to ignore the hype and think about the reason for exploring gamification as a suitable solution in the first place.
Gamification can be a great tool to provide engaging scaffolding around a motivational problem. But if it’s a different type of problem you have, then gamification may not help.
For example, if your employees aren’t completing their safety training because they can’t find the link to the training website? Well then maybe an email with the link might be the solution you’re looking for and not gamification.
So if you’re contemplating whether gamification can help you, then try shifting the focus to the problem you’re tackling and ask yourself… is it a motivational problem?
