Gamification is a compelling device to attract, engage and retain consumers. If we take what people love about games and apply them to lifestyle applications, they are sure to turn out to be more entertaining and fun.
And the best part is you don’t necessarily have to be a gaming app to apply game tactics. Today, fitness apps have twisted tedious jogs into a race against zombie hordes. Productivity apps pit us against time to get us to complete our chores. With heaps of apps available in the app store, developing an app that remains needs more than just a great product. In recent years, since being in the digital age, mobile apps have become more and more popular in the fitness world. Gamification, the use of game design elements in non-game contexts, is often implemented in persuasive systems aimed to promote physical activity (Zuckerman, O and Gal-Oz, A, 2014, pg 13). It needs an interactive user experience. Even simple rewards like discount coupons or online badges or points can be effective motivators for consumers to finish a task or make a purchase.
Different trends around the world create different ways to gamify the applications we use in our everyday lives. Many developers in modern media are finding new ways to solidify their daily users and ensure that, as creators, individuals are constantly using their applications. Gamification is an extremely popular choice in how to ensure more users on these apps, as typical gaming software is implemented into apps that usually wouldn’t be created for the use of gaming.
‘Streaks’, a concept created by a popular application called Snapchat, awarded users with a displayable ’emoji’ and filter to show individuals the consecutive number of days they interacted with one another. By implementing this idea within their software, Snapchat has massively increased the daily use of the application and brought its effects into the real world. Users, mostly teenagers, when questioned about how they feel about the Snapchat streak and what does it means to them, stated that the longer the streak is, the more meaningful their relationship is with the other person.
Now, educationalists are emphasising on cognitive learning techniques that would keep students engaged and motivated. One such education application is Byju’s.
With Byju’s educational app, students are mastering vital concepts through the means of interactive videos, practice tests, and adaptive module sessions.Byju’s use of gamification has allowed students to play games, partake in activities, earn reward points, and challenge their peers through various competitions and quizzes. Competing with each other motivates pupils to work harder to achieve better results. This sort of gamification results in a win-win situation for the app as well as its users. By measuring users’ performance through quiz results, developing team evaluates the efficiency of the app and design more effective modules.
Starbucks was also one of the few companies to initially integrate gamification into its app. The Starbucks app features a loyalty program that rewards users with stars for each order placed, which can then be redeemed for free food and drinks. With a rewards or loyalty program, apps can boost retention by incentivizing users to come back to the app to redeem the points or discounts they earned from previous orders.
A gamified application must offer a worthwhile experience; otherwise, people are not going to use it. At the same time, its success has to be measured.
Let me know in the comments below what are some of your favorite apps that use gamification!
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REFERENCE LIST
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Zuckerman, O. and Gal-Oz, A., 2014. Deconstructing Gamification: Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Continuous Measurement, Virtual Rewards, And Social Comparison For Promoting Physical Activity. [online] Milab.idc.ac.il. Available at: <http://milab.idc.ac.il/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Deconstructing-gamification.pdf> [Accessed 9 May 2020].
PHOTO CREDITS
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