Gamification

Hey there,

Welcome to Week 17 of TechExec - the newsletter that turbocharges your growth to become a Tech Executive!

As always, we are sharing a new set of BLTs this week

• 💼 B - a Business concept / theory / story

• 💝 L - a lifestyle advice

• 🤖 T - a Tech explainer

Here is the schedule:

Monday —>💼 B - a Business concept / theory / story

Wednesday —> 💝 L - a lifestyle advice

Friday —> 🤖 T - a Tech explainer

This week we covered Gift Cards on Monday and the Feynman Technique on Wednesday.

Today’s Tech Explainer is on Gamification!

💼 T - Gamification

Did you know that, to date, only twelve people have walked on Earth's Moon? All twelve are men! All twelve are Americans! The last two statements are not surprising, as the 20th century was very male-dominated, and Americans pioneered travel to the moon through the United States Apollo program. What is noteworthy is the fact that 11 out of those 12 were once Boy Scouts! Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, was, in fact, an Eagle Scout. His quote, “The Eagle has landed”, was a reference to that.

So, these boy scouts earned rewards for learning life skills such as fishing, leading a team, etc. — a primitive example of gamification. Gamification is essentially the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-gaming environments. It is a strategy that aims to engage users and solve problems by leveraging the human psychological predisposition to engage in gameplay. In the past couple of decades, several tech startups have integrated gamification into their products and services. The success stories are plentiful, but there are also pitfalls that startups need to be aware of and avoid.

Take Duolingo, for example. This language learning app turned learning a new language into a game, complete with points, levels, and competition with friends. What a way to make learning fun! The result? Over 300 million users and a valuation of $1.5 billion. Not bad for making grammar feel like less of a chore, eh?

Next up is Foursquare. Remember when they turned checking into your favorite coffee shop into a game where you could become the "mayor" of that location? That's gamification at its finest. And while they may have pivoted since then, at its height, Foursquare had over 50 million active users and was valued at $600 million.

One major pitfall is not aligning the game mechanics with the objectives of your startup. Users aren't stupid; they can tell when a company is trying to trick them into engagement with meaningless points and badges. Gamification should enhance the value proposition of your startup, not distract from it.

Another pitfall is focusing too much on competition. Not everyone is motivated by being the best; some people just want to have fun or learn something new. If your gamification strategy only rewards the top performers, you risk alienating a large portion of your user base. Therefore, it's important to create flexible gamification strategies that can cater to different user types.

And lastly, avoid complexity. Yes, your game mechanics need to be engaging, but they also need to be simple enough for users to understand quickly. You're running a tech startup, not planning the next piloted trip to the moon!

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