Games vs Gamification

"Gamification" became a thing because product teams started believing that popular game features could be replicated in other products, especially mobile apps. Games typically tend to be high on retention and engagement, so it is naturally tempting to want to replicate in your products whatever is replicable from successful games, and then hope to get a similar effect. Except, like all things in life, it isn't so simple.

Have you seen popular features such as leaderboards, rewards, gacha etc.? Game developers call them "systems", Most attempts at "gamification" seem to be using these, probably because people assume that these are the secret sauce of a good, sticky game. In reality, they are just supplemental features. If your intent behind "gamification" is to build the kind of retentive audience for your product that games typically get, then any such efforts are incomplete without understanding what sits at the heart of a sticky game.

And so, I ask you to repeat after me:

Good games aren't good because of their systems. Good games are good because of their core experience i.e the content.

All games are ultimately content. They are driven by stories, characters, emotions, entertainment, interactive mechanics... all of which culminate into a fun and memorable core experience. It is this core experience that makes a player start the game, play the game, and then re-play it over and over again. Without a strong and more importantly, a unique core experience, no amount of features can make a game playable. All that these features or "systems" do is amplify the core experience for players by bringing some sort of perceived meaning to it.

If you are looking to build the kind of fanbase for your product that games typically get, then stop copying these systems, slapping them onto your product and calling it "gamification". It is lazy and it is unoriginal. Think about what value these systems truly add to your users. Is there evidence to suggest that they will care about being #1 on the leaderboard of a commerce app? How much joy will accumulating points for referrals actually bring to your users? Why will anyone want to use a gacha if they aren't getting anything usable or meaningful for free?

Before building a "gamification" roadmap for your product, ask yourself these questions:

1. What is the absolute core experience that you are trying to "gamify" — is it fun, memorable, entertaining?
2. Are you hoping that "gamification" will fix your product's broken or ineffective core experience? (spoiler: it won't)
3. Will this "gamification" bring any joy to your users?
4. Do you truly understand what makes good games tick and what aspects of them can work for your product, or are you cherry-picking features that are replicable so you can tell yourself that your product has been "gamified" towards success? Check your bias on this one. Because the most easily replicable aspects of a good game are often the ones that contribute least to its success.