Get to Know UX Gamification
This is my first time writing a story here, and I want to share what I got about Gamification in UX.
User Experience is about designing based on user perspective and behavior, provide what user needs, and create interaction between user and the products. With fun, enjoyable and challenging elements can encourage user to interact more with the products. The gamification is the technique to bring that idea happen.
What is Gamification?
There’s a lot of definition about gamification, and here’s one for you
”Gamification is exerting game mechanics to none game context such as mobile application or web”
I am really interested about this because as I mention it before, gamification is a fun thing. It’s a fun thing that I found in an application or web like on mobile e-commerce apps such as shopee and bukalapak also for services apps like grab and gojek. Maybe this day a few people still don’t get it, that the challenges given to them and the rewards like points and voucher they get from an application are some elements of gamification. So here’s a few elements of gamification I can share with you guys.
1. Challenges
Challenges build user motivation, by completing some tasks and get rewards can improving user experiences. People always want to prove they were able to overcome the challenge, it’s kind a human nature. Give them rating to measures their success on completing the challenges.
2. Badges
Unique status represented by Badges, not everyone can get a badge. This is how it works, by completing a task, someone will get a badge. Then people who have not completed the task cannot get the badge they have. Badge is kind a symbol that show certain users capability to do something. They create the user feels important and expert, and build its connection with the brand.
3. Leaderboard
Leaderboard making the challenge even more interesting for everyone in competition. It works to motivate someone to keep playing the game to get status in a game. Being a leader can increase users’ enthusiasm better. But contrarily demotivating users, sometimes using this element can be something that does not motivate a beginner to play a game if user has seen the highest status of the leaderboard very far. So using a leaderboard on gamification must be careful.
4. Rewards
In several apps, after the users do the task then they get points, coins, or vouchers that benefit them related to the product purchases, to increase the value of the user experience felt by the user. And they feel appreciated in doing so. Using rewards in gamification can be such a weapon to pull back users to use the applications.
Conclusion
Today gamification is very hype in designing apps. gamification increase user engagement by giving users challenge and reward them with many points and vouchers.
