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Adding incentives to boring activities sucks. But adding a layer that helps people measure their progress/achievements is absolutely not bullshit, if done well.
by Hisoka 15y ago
Adding incentives to boring activities sucks. But adding a layer that helps people measure their progress/achievements is absolutely not bullshit, if done well. Why? Because of human nature. Saying it's bullshit is fighting against our intrinsic nature.
Think about the normal job. We're given abstract goals and vague feedback. How do we "win" at getting a project done? Or even becoming a better developer? We can't. The result is too far in the future, and we easily become unmotivated, and demoralized when we can't see the result as quickly as possible. However, anything that helps measure our progress gives us motivation to continue on. Indicators that tell us how far we've improved keep us in the game.
Any goal that takes too long can benefit from these principles, whether it's language learning, work, etc. We don't need badges, points, etc. We just need something that feeds our desire for progress, improvement and achievement. We need that sense of "win". The same feeling you get when you finish cleaning your room, or heating something in the microwave for 1 minute.
Call it gamification, or whatever. To be honest, I don't even think it should have a term (it just causes people to screw things up as they try to apply it to stuff that don't need it). Things like loyalty cards, or racking up points for a flight is NOWHERE near where the real benefit lies. It's just marketing.
But saying it's bullshit is a disservice.
- absconditus 15y agoIt is bullshit because its main use is getting people to do things that are unnecessary so that corporations can make more money. One must also wonder why such things are necessary now.
- dave_sullivan 15y agoSales orgs have been running sales contests since the beginning of time. Salespeople don't take part because it makes the company more money (even though it does) they take part because it connects with their competitive spirit, gives them an opportunity to make more money, and is usually associated with some new push/technique/product for the rep to try out in the field. Game mechanics as it applies to business is essentially just the internet version of the sales contest applied to different orgs. The problem has been that areas like customer service and development have been harder to track than areas like sales. And even sales has had to define new metrics as the sales cycle gets longer and longer, it's no longer enough to just measure the outcome, you've got to measure what happens in between. These same techniques can and are being applied to other areas, and there's a lot more that can be done. To some extent 'game mechanics/gamification' is just another buzzword but it also represents a pretty powerful concept that can be used to build more effective organizations.
- Pointsly 15y ago'do things that are unnecessary' - that's a pretty bold statement. who are you to decide?
- iloveyouocean 15y ago"The result is too far in the future, and we easily become unmotivated, and demoralized when we can't see the result as quickly as possible." This isnt a problem for me if I am acting from my 'core values' and doing work that I believe to be leading me towards a goal. Aligning my actions with my internal beliefs is far more effective than climbing the ranks of the leaderboard.
- timwiseman 15y agoBut adding a layer that helps people measure their progress/achievements is absolutely not bullshit, if done well. You have an excellent point. While I would not call it "gamifying", I certainly find that I go running more consistently and for longer distances when I make a point of logging more runs. It simply shows me clearly my progress (or lack thereof).