Gamification: Story of the Two Worlds

Read this if: You want to understand Gamification as an art form a better perspective?

Hey guys, my name is Shubham & I will guide you through this so let's start with your favorite movie mine is 3 idiots. Did you see a glimpse of the movie just now?

Ever Noticed A movie A game, A song, A Story, A novel An Anime, etc. have a world of their own which we are a part of but a silent part of .

Once we plunge deep into that escape we are there in that world thinking like a native of that world. Ever wondered if you were there in that movie like say in 3 idiots you were the Fourth idiot how will the story pan out ?

Did you ever feel like you also wanted to be sorted in Gryffindor and Be an active part of the wizarding world (Now you can in a video game ) ?

Did you ever imagine how it would feel ?

Here come games that allow us all to just do that and feel a part of that world but the way gamification is working now- a- days its kills that.

Anyway, that brings me to another point: how do all these arts (A movie, A Game, A Song, A Story, A novel An Anime) parallel each other?

We do feel all the emotions therein in that world but why do we replicate that emotion the main character feels? Did you ever wonder about that??

I did and there are many reasons to the last two questions

Relatability -

First is that the way the artist portrayed the world is in itself in resonance/ Relatable with you as a person that means the artist tried to build it in such a way by being considerate of his viewer and he also is in a trance of that world lost and then comebacks?

Human Behaviour -

The second is about human psychology which states that all of us humans behave in a certain way while interacting with the world and certain situations which is well used by the Artist. Artists try to predict some general reactions of the players and build around it?

No Risk Adventures -?

Third, we as people are not perfect and the world that there seems to be perfect with a rightful amount of adventure that we miss in our daily lives and yearn for it then again that sense of adventure brings about dangers of its own hence we tend to avoid it. Their dreams come true without any risk. You can fight monsters, drive fast cars, play with gravity & Physics, and Fly planes.?

The Tsukuyomi -?

The fourth one is that The other world as I would say makes it harder to context switch between the world there and a world here. They create a world where you want to be.

It's like an infinite Tsukuyomi Don’t ask me what it is if you know you know, you Naruto fan?

There can be many other reasons but I did Identify these few reasons are applicable to all pieces of art?

The Gamification -?

Considering Game is such an art piece we need to look at these factors closely. More often than not people wanting to Gamifying stuff take a very boring approach by introducing a leveling system based on task completion or adding petty rewards at the end of a leveling system

Gpay Case Study -

Look at Google Pay's gamified reward ecosystem which is bland. Yea as bland as Gordon Ramsay defines a bland dish.

*This is my opinion: don't bring out your pitchforks and run behind me a better way to do this is to debate it in the comments. I would love to have a conversation about it.

The major theme of gamification is the fun factor & user being an active part

The fun comes around when the reward is something the user wants & then goes for it. The fun factor comes around with a good balance of user interactivity towards the system with a reward that is much needed.

The Reimagination -

I would reimagine it to be revolving around the reward as it is the fun factor and the delight factor for the consumer which a user can select as a goal from N number of rewards like a quest.

Then there can be a set of small minigames or objectives that needed to complete for the person to get that reward while there is a fixed reward count where all people are competing for it.

One can give a personalized touch to the rewards by means of adding a little storyline to the reward. It can be as simple as telling a story of a local business owner keeping you a central piece in it while you make choices in the storyline.

It gives a person two reasons to use the app because now the consumer can choose his own delight factor and will feel he earned it as he works through an engaging story that also needs inputs from the user end.

Visualizing it -?

This all might sound fluff to you but to make you picture all this I will say just imagine the genre of interactive story video game like the game episode.

What is the Genre of Interactive story you ask a Valid question Let Shubham sensei help you visualize with the pictures ahead Let me take an example of my favorite game / my love of a game Witcher 3 that uses the elements of the said genre -?

Here as you can see there are options in the story where a user is made to choose which eventually can lead to two different outcomes & this is how one can truly gamify experiences by an understanding of Art, Psychology, fun factors & customer interactions.

Thinking Product -

Thinking as a Product guy I would have run a pilot with a small MVP with this but again it depends on several factors most of it including the user Research.

Considering the nature of people who open up and use Gpay one can create a user segmentation & target a small game to the people.

I would personally reuse the google doodle called champions Island (Link shared towards the end ) for the MVP and put in Elements of Gpay rewards attached to the journey of the main character RPG style where you are competing in the google Olympics having good leaderboard rewards .

Finishing the game with 100% completion gives you a reward you choose to get at the start + some random reward.

There are many ways to approach it but the best way is to be true to both the game and the customer engaging with it ??. The story of the two worlds the game & business should sync but one should not overpower others too much as to eclipse the thought & art of gamification.

I will respawn with some more articles on gamification till then PlusUltra & Dattebayo.?

谷歌 Outscal Stoa

#Gamification #product #productmanagement