SASensei builds on community, knowledge and friendly competition
Since the earliest days of SAS, back in the 1970s, user groups and communities have been an important way for users to share information and experience. They allow people to seek advice from each other, as well as the ‘official’ SAS support teams. The SAS sponsored community, SAS Support Communities, has been around since 2006 and hosts nearly 245,000 customers. One of the most recent additions to these third party communities is SASensei, and it has grown rapidly since its inception. But what is it, and what does it do? I caught up with founder and community manager, Allan Bowe, to understand what makes SASensei different.
I’ve heard about how you use gamification to test and improve SAS skills among its users. How does this work?
SASensei is part of the trend towards gamification — the use of games and gaming technology to encourage desirable behaviours in particular groups. It is a quiz-based ‘adventure’ based around SAS software, including SAS Programming, Administration, and Viya. Users complete quizzes and answer questions to rise up through the ranks from Yellow Belt through Green and Black Belts, Sasamurai, and Assassin to reach (SA)Sensei level. Each rank unlocks new features and gives players higher levels of reputation on the site.
How is reputation earned?
As in any game, reputation is earned by your own performance and skills: users gain points for taking part in short quizzes and answering questions about various aspects of SAS use. Tokens and points unlock higher levels. In line with the general approach in SAS communities, however, and the site’s focus on teaching others, users can also gain reputation by submitting well-written questions and answers or explanations to the question bank. In other words, the more you help others to learn, the better your reputation. After all, a sensei in martial arts is someone with more experience, who helps to guide others.
Why is the question bank important?
User forums have always been among the most useful places to find information about your software and programming issues. SASensei has been able to build up its question bank by rewarding players who add good questions (and answers). It also makes sure that the questions and answers are high quality by reviewing them regularly. The bank is now the largest question or knowledge bank in the SAS community — and is, of course, still growing.
And you have included multi-player options?
SASensei is not just an individual game: you can also compete with your friends and colleagues once you have reached a certain level of reputation. Multiplayer games are encouraged, to share learning on SAS software and packages. You can share your achievements via social media to encourage even more competition and inspire other people (and yourself) to further improvements. You can also vote for other people’s contributions, and this helps to add reputation points.
Why a leader board?
Every player has a public profile, so SASensei is a good way to showcase your SAS skills and expertise. The leader board shows the top players/users on the site, and can be shown as a global list, or by country or continent, so you can really see how you compare with the best in the world — and show you where to look for support when you need it.
Who are your main users?
Both SAS consultants and external users like and use SASensei . It is, perhaps, rare to find third-party sites that are used and rated by both ‘internal’ and ‘external’ SAS users, even among SAS community forums. However, reviews on SASensei show that members of the site include at least one SAS institute consultant — who says that it should be a daily ‘brain routine’ for all SAS programmers — as well as external users and experts.
How is social media influencing community engagement?
Use of social media broadens the appeal of SASensei and opens it up to a wider community. SASensei uses social media, including a live Twitter feed on its homepage, to provide information about current events and challenges. The winners of the events are also publicised throughout the SAS community, giving their skills, knowledge and experience wider exposure, and showcasing their achievements.
What’s next?
SASensei is regularly and continually updated to improve the player experience. In the spirit of SASensei itself, and particularly its focus on learning and improving, the site is committed to continual and ongoing updates. These updates both add to the player experience and improve the learning potential of the site. The site also hosts special events, many of which have valuable prizes for competitors.
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