Bite-sized Gamification - Vol.1

July 25, 2024

A Fresh Start

Hey everyone! We’re so excited to annouce a new series in our blog posts solely focusing on what we do best - gamification! Each week we look forward to briniging you smaller and more condensed posts about different aspects of gamification, case study examples and how it can take your product to the next level.

Hope you stil around with us because we have lots of mechanics to cover and would love to have you along for the ride! 🚗

To start off, we have Achievements.

Achievements

What are Achievements?

Achievements involve a specific goal being set for the user to reach a badge or positive feedback when the user reaches the goal. Achievements have requirements that can either display them to the user or have them hidden. Having achievement requirements be visible creates a guidepost to the user, while a hidden achievement is a secret goal that they may have to search to unlock.

Achievements have proven incredibly popular in recent years, to the extent where most major video game consoles and marketplaces have implemented achievements as the norm. This is because players have found achievements to be compelling and rewarding, where they actively seek to collect more. One motivation behind this trend is that players want to have a large collection of achievements that they can show off to their peers.

Effectiveness of Achievements

From a review of several studies that analysed the effectiveness of gamification in gamified applications, it was shown that achievements tend to fulfil both the competence and relatedness needs that are outlined in Self Determination Theory. Achievements fulfil the competence psychological need by reinforcing an accomplishment set within the game. Relatedness is also fulfilled as achievements can provide a collection of special events that are easily shareable with others, often being a source of pride for users.

Achievements can also be used to encourage users to pursue a greater level of challenge or an alternate way to engage. This can allow users to strive for a greater challenge if they find the basic difficulty too easy. On the other hand, alternate methods of play can be not only a greater challenge, but can introduce someone to a new way to approach the challenge. For example, in a role-playing game with swords and magic, an achievement may be a magic-only challenge that offers players a new gameplay experience. As players explore the game in a new perspective, this might inspire them to play again in the future using a blended approach with their new favourite spells. Who knows - It might become their favourite way to interact with the game.

How Achievements are Used in Education Games

We created a set of achievements for Invader Crusaders, a custom web game to educate youth on invasive species. In this game, we designed achievements to encourage players to beat every level and demonstrate their mastery of the gameplay. Some achievements are earned through completing varied level difficulties, and even beating a level without having any invasive species left on the map.

For a player to accomplish this, they would need to be smart about using their actions as well as choosing the best response to an encounter with invasive species. This approach was effective in motivating players to complete more of the game while enhancing their knowledge of invasive species.

Limits of Achievements

Achievements are a good external reward, giving some additional motivation. However they shouldn’t be the only motivator you have for them. If your bank gave achievements for paying off your credit card, would it change your behaviour at all? No, because it is a task you’d normally do, and it can feel frivolous in this setup. A better use for a bank having achievements would be signposting better financial strategies.

-> Setting up a savings account -> Auto saving a money into your savings account -> After savings hits X$ recommend investing YS -> Leaving money in investments for a certain period of time. Why are these better? They are giving the users direction and goals to achieve. Things that a user may not have thought of using. In this kind of setting it would be beneficial to have earning an achievement have either a tangible reward or a chance of one. One idea would be if you get one of these achievements in a month you get a ticket into a monthly draw for some prizes.

If you’d like to learn more about Gamification and how it can benefit your company let us know at info@raccoopack.media

References:

Review of several studies about gamification in the wellbeing space. Johnson, Daniel & Deterding, Sebastian & Kuhn, Kerri-Ann & Staneva, Aleksandra & Stoyanov, Stoyan & Hides, Leanne. (2016). Gamification for Health and Wellbeing:A Systematic Review of the Literature. Internet Interventions. 6. 89-106. 10.1016/j.invent.2016.10.002.

Self Determination Resource Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2021). Self Determination Theory. Retrieved March 17, 2021, from https://selfdeterminationtheory.org/theory/