The impact of gamification in your everyday life is a lot stronger than you realize. Everyone around you on their smartphone, reading the news, checking social media or chatting with friends has been affected by these mechanics one way or another.
Through gamification, people’s innate desires for socializing, learning, mastery, competition, achievement, status, altruism and closure are aligned. The evolution of the gaming industry has taught us one important thing, people not only love to play, but they also love a challenge.
A challenge acts as a distraction and helps escape from their everyday lives while giving the addictive gratification of achievement.
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Did You Know Gamification Goes Back Over 100 Years?
You might not expect this, but one of the earliest examples of gamification can be dated back all the way to 1908 in the Boy Scouts. The idea of badges for achieving specific achievements is a way to make scouting more fun. If you were good at swimming, hiking, or camping, you got a sticker to display on your vest.
Eventually, back in 1973, Charles A. Coonradt wrote and released a book called The Game of Work which addressed the idea that recreation motivation can yield a positive result in the workplace. The book concluded that people will put more energy into their day-to-day jobs if they break from physical games.
In sports, players constantly receive feedback on their performance, the score is always known, and the clear objective of victory is established early on. This is something that is rarely seen in the typical workplace.
Finally, in 1978, gamification made its way to the gaming world. Developers Roy Trubshaw and Richard Bartle created MUD1, the first multi-user dungeon game that boasted a text-based interface. While it may not be anything that special to look at today, this was a revolutionary idea and is credited as the starting point for what online gaming is today.
This would eventually get the attention of academics in 1981, who wanted to research more about its abilities to engage players. Thomas W. Malone released two articles in that year: “Toward a Theory of Intrinsically Motivating Instruction” and “Heuristics for Designing Enjoyable User Interfaces,” outlining what could be learned from games like MUD1, what features are so engaging and can be applied elsewhere for different effects.
This has even continued into today’s gaming community. With consoles like Xbox and Playstation, it’s not enough to simply progress through the game; you also have to earn achievements/trophies. These consoles award players unique tokens for completing particular challenges that can prove more complex than the actual game itself.
Some of these achievements can be obtained by playing the regular game, but others reward you for particular tasks. If you manage to complete these tasks, you have the satisfaction of accomplishing something many other gamers could not.
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But Why Is This System So Effective?
Contrary to popular belief, people strive to be motivated. Ambition is fueled by dopamine, a chemical signal that passes from one neuron in your brain to another. This happens when you experience something satisfying or even pleasurable.
Many different things can set off this signal, but receiving a reward is one of the biggest… surprisingly. You can feel the dopamine rush even before completing the task because your body has learned the signs of something satisfying coming, so you’re ready for those good feelings.
Long story short, the more you do, could be work or even chores, the more waves of dopamine you receive. The more dopamine you receive over time, the easier it will be for you to stay motivated.
Gamification echoes the model described above.
There are several theories related to this subject through research that explain where our enthusiasm comes from through such a simple process.
One theory suggests Autonomy, the idea of being in charge of your own destiny. When you’re in control, it means you work harder to see your goals through till the end. Researchers realized that giving students the option of choosing their own courses led to longer persistence in problem-solving activities, therefore, more successful outcomes.
Another theory suggests Value, assigning value to an activity to increase motivation. When you put a value on a specific task or subject, the more you’ll care to see it completed. It should go without saying, but the more you care, the harder you’ll work at it.
And lastly, there is Competence, when you develop a proficient skill for the task at hand. Obviously, the more skilled you are, the more likely you not only see it done but continue doing it in the future. The higher your skill becomes, the higher your desire will become to pursue more similar activities.
In essence, gamification takes advantage of our need for personal gain and enjoyment of succession. This process works best when it satisfies both these motivational factors because even though feeling good about yourself is great, some form of reward is always appreciated.
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How Is Autoly Using Gamification?
The Autoly platform wants to combine the best elements of each gamification model to create a unique experience for our users. Within the app, private and individual sellers will have the opportunity to develop their own interactive garage.
What can you do in this garage? Not only can you decorate it however you see fit, but you can display all the vehicles you have on sale within this space. After you customize the garage, potential buyers can visit your garage and view your inventory, complete with a full rundown of the automobile’s history and specs.
In reference to Autonomy, sellers are in charge of their own space to sell their inventory, fully customizable. The more variety and creativity they bring to their garage, the higher the chance of attracting potential buyers.
In theory of Value, sellers may not customize their garage or display their inventory appropriately at first. Before bringing in the right buyers, there might be a learning curve to mix the perfect blend of copywriting and visuals. The more you succeed on this front, the higher your motivation.
Lastly, with Competence, those with high experience in this field will undoubtedly find more enjoyment with this feature. Those with solid experience in the automobile industry will be more likely to return to this app in the future for their business needs.
In addition, the app will offer a variety of tasks and activities for the user to complete, earning coins upon victory. These coins can be used to enhance your garage with new customization options to help the area fit your brand.
We’ll also be adding other features, including an avatar to better represent yourself within the community we’ve created and a tools section. Our app will be seeing significant updates soon as we move through the debugging process, so stay tuned on social media to learn what we have in store.