Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges and Leaderboards

While I am not a designer, I am interested in behavior economics. This was an inspiring and eye opening book. Chou does a great job of clarifying and classifying human motivation, which if nothing shows the reader the ways designers in manipulate their audience. An unexpected take away for me and my family, who love discussing film, and literature, is the way the Octalysis model has added depth of understanding regarding characters and their motivations.

A very useful and interesting book. I will use the system described in my work. Thanks to the book, I have become interested and plan to study behavioral psychology further. The material is written in a simple and accessible language, supported by examples and links to further literature. The acquired knowledge can be applied as soon as possible after reading (of course, the methods the author writes about were also used for writing this book).

Ask people about their jobs and many will tell you of the tedium, satisfaction-free time they spend earning their living. That is without adding toxic management or a negative social environment. It really doesn’t have to be this way. After reading ‘Reality is Broken’ by Jane McGonigal (reviewed in this column,) I felt sure that gamification could well alleviate much of the unnecessary drag of the workday, and vastly improve the quality of the work experience. Gamifying work does not rest on the altruism of business owners; there is a vast literature confirming that people who are engaged and find satisfaction from their work, produce a higher quality and quantity of results. I have been looking for a book that could guide a company or a unit in gamifying relevant work, and Yu-kai Chou’s is the best I have found. Here is why. He has developed an eight-part model which he calls the Octalysis. It is not an eight-step process for developing a stunning game. Rather, it is based on the credible assumption that almost every successful game, appeals to ‘Core Drives’ that all people possess. These drives motivate us towards decisions and activities. On this assumption, it is equally credible that if none of these Core Drives are behind the action or output that you desire from staff, you should not be surprised if there is no motivation; and the desired outcome never materializes. As you read through this review, it is useful to think about how you could use these “Core Drives” to promote the activity you desire from your staff. The first of these drives is “Epic Meaning and Calling”, and is the motivation behind the success of Wikipedia, (for example,) the free, online, reliable encyclopaedia. This mammoth work is only free because many intelligent people and specialists give their time freely to the encyclopaedia’s epic calling – the protection of humanity’s knowledge. The second drive is our internal desire to make progress. This is where the majority of gamification efforts focus – awarding points, badges, or a place on a leader board. The third drive is the sense of empowerment that comes from being engaged in the creative process, figuring out new things and trying different combinations. The satisfaction derived from this drive has the brain effectively entertaining itself. The fourth drive is the sense of ownership and possession. When people feel ownership of something, whether it is a company, a project or a process, they innately want to increase and improve what they ‘own’. The fifth drive is social influence and the feeling of relatedness to others, things or places. This drive would include all the social elements that motivate people, such as mentorship, social acceptance, social feedback, companionship, and even competition and envy. The sixth drive is fuelled by the scarcity of what we desire, and an impatience to get it now. This explains people’s desire for what is extremely rare, exclusive, or immediately unattainable. The seventh drive is what keeps us engaged when we don’t know what will happen next – the drive of unpredictability and curiosity. This is the drive that is behind gambling addictions - we don’t know if it will be the next card, or just one more spin. The final human drive is the fear of loss - “Special offer for a limited time only!” – and the avoidance of pain and discomfort. To achieve a desired outcome, whether it is adherence to a health regimen or installing air-conditioning ducts flawlessly, one or more of these common human drives needs to be present. Where none is present “there is zero motivation and no action takes place,” Yu-kai Chou explains. The diagram of these eight drives is arranged in the form of an octagon. “Left brain’’ type activities associated with logic and analytical thought, are arranged symbolically on the left side. The “right brain” type activities of creativity, self-expression, and social dynamics are arranged on the right side. The positioning indicates both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Those drives at the top of the octagon are more positive - the “White Hat” motivations, the joy of achieving or receiving. Those at the bottom are the “Black Hat” motivations, and are more negative, such as the fear of a loss of some sort. To be able to derive the benefits of gamification requires a serious amount of analysis, testing, and adjusting. Successful gamification of a leisure or work activity, requires that the participants want to play, not have to play. As such, the first step is finding why people would even want to try out the experience, what positive or negative core desire could and would the ‘game’ address. Additionally, you will also need to communicate very early on exactly why the user should participate in your game, and become a player. The second phase is to develop the rules and tools of the game so that the participants are motivated to achieve the outcome you desire. Then you will need to ensure that the participants learn the rules and tools to play the game. If the rules are too complex, the motivation that could exist will quickly be dissipated. One only needs to hold the image of a cell-phone game in mind to grasp the importance of accessibility to the game, for retention and satisfaction. The third phase is to have the participants engage with the game repeatedly and with ever increasing satisfaction. The reason the participants engaged with the game on day 1 is often very different from that on day 100. The core drives might well change as the experience and competence of the player evolves. One of the many psychological insights to which Chou refers, is ”flow”. In positive psychology, flow, or ‘being in the zone’, is the mental state in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement and enjoyment. Dr. Csikszentmihalyi’s model flow state is achieved when the challenge of an activity is in accord with the participant’s level of skill. If the challenge is too low and the participant’s skill is high, they will be bored. If their skill is too low for the challenge, they will experience anxiety. Gamification needs to take all these and other considerations into account. No simple task. However, if gamifying an activity over an extended period leads to lower costs, higher quality, greater worker satisfaction, larger profits, etc., the effort required is certainly justified. If gamification is justifiable in any part of your business, this book is a good, basic, starter’s guide. Readability Light -+--- Serious Insights High -+--- Low Practical High -+--- Low *Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on strategy and leadership and is the author of the recently released The Executive Update.

Yu-kai is an absolute beast in the fields of Gamification and Behavioral Science, his model "Octalysis" is the only one I've seen that is able to incorporate everything else in the space in a single framework that is truly actionable. You will learn about this blue octagon that contains all the 8 types of motivation that exist, but also how to apply them to different scenarios/situations based on their position around the octagon (some work better in the sort term by creating a sense of urgency, while other work better in the long term, making people feel empowered and in control of their actions). Before this book, I used to think "motivation" was a single thing that worked the same way for everybody. Now, I will never see it like that anymore, but instead as a powerful tool to drive people's behavior in pretty much any field or market.

Detailed and easy to read.

A very comprehensive book looking at design in terms core motivational drives and what motivates us as people. It explores the reasons why certain design techniques work as well as how to use them. Many companies who try to slap a "gamified" system on top of a product without knowing why it works end up unable to improve their system when it doesn't perform as expected. For those of the technical inclination, this would be like learning jQuery without understanding JavaScript. This book will help you understand how/why/when these systems work. Don’t let the word “Gamification” turn you off, many of the case studies and real world applications of this text far exceed the realm of “games” as you might think of them. Very thoroughly researched and full of both great theory and practical application. Pairs well with Evil by Design and Hooked. You can find a “No Frills” version of much of the content on the authors website as well. This really is the most comprehensive resource on the topic I have found to date.

I don't normally write reviews, but I bought this book and I absolutely adore it. I am an educator who wanted to try to revitalize his classroom. I had bought a few books about gamification, and "Actionable Gamification" stood out fast and far. The other books I got were vague and not helpful. Chou's book gives evidence, cites sources, and lists tangible ways to gamify any project you might be working on. It reads like a how-to manual, rather than some worthlessly optimistic, airy theoretical text. Chou begins by explaining that there are 8 useful motivating forces, or reasons anyone does anything at all; which Chou calls "Core Drives." Each chapter after this point focuses specifically on one of these forces, how you can use them to your advantage in your projects, and how, if abused, they can be a detriment to your project. He then lists several techniques for that core drive, wraps up the chapter with a thought exercise and a tie in to his website, and moves on to the next core drive. The book is incredibly easy to understand, well paced, and fun to read. I am excited to use what I learned in this book to go make lesson plans. :)

Chou writes as a videogame designer and consultant. I read it for the foundational principles and model for gamification to use in my instructional design work. It is useful for that, although it is definitely not written for that. I found the examples and case studies a bit tedious at times and excessive. I think the book could have been streamlined without losing any of its impact. However, I imagine if you are into videogames and their design (I have never liked videogames, even as a kid) then you would probably love this book. As a utilitarian reader, I found it helpful but not engrossing.