Inside the design technique that turns everyday products into engaging games.
Written by Hal Koss
Gamification is the application of game mechanics — like point scoring, timing or competition — to motivate engagement with a product or service. Injecting everyday tasks with a sense of play incentivizes people to not only complete them but to keep coming back for more.
Gamification refers to the application of game mechanics — like points, badges and leaderboards — to everyday activities, with the goal of nudging people’s behavior.
Companies of all kinds — ranging from Tinder to X, Starbucks to SAP — gamify their products, making them “sticky” to boost user engagement. All of that has made gamification one of the buzziest — and most controversial — design ideas around.
Gamification is all about making non-game activities feel like they’re games. It’s a way of adding extrinsic motivation — dangling rewards like carrots on sticks — to enhance participation and productivity.
While the term “gamification” was coined in 2002, the concept dates back to the 20th century, when retail stores introduced rewards programs to strengthen customer loyalty and industrial managers encouraged factory workers to see themselves in competition with each other.
In 1984 Charles Coonradt published The Game of Work, a seminal text about his experience helping Fortune 500 companies boost employee engagement and increase their bottom lines by lacing the workplace with game mechanics, such as clearly defined goals, better scorekeeping and frequent feedback.
Gamification caught a tailwind in the digital boom of the 2000s. An entire industry of consulting agencies and SaaS companies specializing in gamification sprung up, helping businesses add points, badges and leaderboards to their software.
Gamification’s popularity peaked in the early 2010s. Jane McGonigal gave her popular 2010 TED Talk, “Gaming Can Make a Better World,” in which she extolled the concept’s virtues. Early examples like Mozilla Badges and Foursquare’s competition for mayorship energized the industry. And Zynga, the company behind simple and addicting games like Farmville, went public in 2011, alerting organizations everywhere that video games resonated with the average person.
“About 10 years ago, gamification was a really big deal. It became trendy,” Rahul Vohra, CEO of email software maker Superhuman, told Built In in 2020. “Then it almost became a meme here in Silicon Valley.”
Yu-kai Chou, an entrepreneur and experience designer, says that to successfully gamify an activity, it needs to tap into one of eight “core drives” of human motivation:
In Chou’s framework, which he outlines in his book Actionable Gamification, when your gamified activity hooks into at least one of these human instincts, it will feel like playing an engaging video game.
There are other frameworks to consider too. Kerstin Oberprieler, gamification researcher and CEO of gamification consultancy PentaQuest, draws upon Reiss’ 16 basic desires and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. These psychological principles help inform how Oberprieler designs game-like software for clients.
One such principle is the need for purpose. We see this in the game Death Stranding, for example, in which the main character is tasked with reconnecting isolated cities after a cataclysmic event; or in The Legend of Zelda, where the main character fulfills his destiny by bringing balance to the universe.
Oberprieler said the need for purpose is especially important when designing gamified products for clients in the non-profit sector; the desire to contribute to something larger is the reason many people choose to work in that industry. The type of game element that aligns well with purpose, Oberprieler said, is one that shows off collective achievement or shares stories of impact. The type of game element that doesn’t align well with purpose are leaderboards, which rely on competition and social comparison.
“In nudging behavior, you’re tapping into psychology or changing social dynamics and culture within the system of an organization,” Oberprieler told Built In in 2020. “It’s just not going to be as simple as throwing on a few mechanics.”
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of mechanics and concepts derived from games that are used to gamify everyday activities and environments. Here are a few of the most common game elements seen in successful products.
Purpose is all about instilling the sense that you are specially chosen for an epic quest and are contributing to something larger than yourself. This often is communicated through narrative.
Progress refers to an indication that you are overcoming obstacles and getting closer to your goal. This often takes the form of points, levels, boss battles and progress bars.
Pressure is created by promoting urgency to take action, the fear of losing or the feeling that you can’t turn back now. Countdown timers, streaks and scarce collectibles are all examples of pressure in action.
Position in gamification means there is a way to showcase your accomplishments and compete with — or compare yourself to — other peers or players. It shows up in activities by way of trophy shelves, badges and leaderboards.
Play refers to the sensation of fun, pleasure and surprise. Typical examples of play include easter eggs, branching choices, exploration and customization.
The game design principles underpinning a successful product or experience are often invisible to the user. People who edit a Wikipedia entry or bid for an item on eBay don’t think they’re playing a game. “This is like a doorknob,” Chou wrote, “where the best designs are the ones that you aren’t even aware of but simply use to open the door.”
Here are eight examples of gamification in action:
