The holidays are full of emotional experiences that can drive people to act irrationally. I tend to be annoyed by much of the consumerism going on during December, and was thinking about whether or not there were ways I could make them more fun via gamification. But then, as I started to look more closely, it’s obvious that the basic tools of gamification are already well integrated with the season.
For example, some kids are happy to take advantage of the rewards a “Nice” reputation offers, while others aren’t too satisfied with the “Lump of Coal” negative achievement received for “Naughty” status. Achieving and maintaining the right status level can keep a kid focused on the right actions for a full year – just like me and my Starwood account.
Another example is how my True Love gave me a total of 364 items for sticking around through twelve days of repetitive lyrics – I will likely need to regift some of the Piping Pipers as the neighbors aren’t too happy about them. The lesson here is that those ongoing rewards for my loyalty kept me engaged and made me feel valued. Though I would have preferred an iPad or twelve.
An example of charitable giving in this realm is the typical Salvation Army kettle – it takes advantage of your sense of immediate gratification, providing you a small bit of warmth in exchange for some spare change as you walk into a store. Everyone benefits from a small opportunistic transaction.
The retail stores love to play the appointment and scarcity cards to offer up all kinds of Black Friday riches to only the most dedicated of customers. The excitement of the potential deal and the sense of adventure actually overcome the entirely horrible experience of lining up at stores at odd hours to get trampled.
Incidentally, this specific example illustrates how not all implementations work for all audiences – I would never be motivated by the promise of Black Friday deals; stores would need to find another way to engage me.
Finally, the New Year is the ultimate example of leveling up – everyone celebrates a collective achievement of getting to the next year, optimistic about the New Year to come and all the possibilities, and looking back on all the work and experiences that led to the new achievement. And better yet, this achievement typically comes with a kiss!
We’d love to find ways to make the holidays more fun, but we have plenty of work doing the same for client websites right now. So instead, we just would like to extend our warmest holiday wishes to you all. Please try to avoid stress this holiday season and have some fun. Make sure your holidays include the appropriate amount of love and goodwill – the sense of community and helping others is certainly the key and should be the focus. But just don’t tell that to my 7-yr old daughter – she’ll be doing her best to hit the top of the leaderboard of presents received, certain to share her achievement through her social network.
- Roy