It’s a vital aspect of many interfaces and experiences today. With the blend between 2D viewing experiences to a more 3D environment whether it be augmented or virtual I can only see this being a core tenet of the web going forward. I think gamification hasn't reached its full potential in our current traditional viewing experience on the web yet but we're starting to see more adoption through a web3 mental model. Heavy focus on community, decentralisation and participation all of which require gamification at some level. It will even introduce a shift in mindset towards an experience level focus on design as oppose to simply interfacing with a system, we'll feel as if we're inside, exploring a website as oppose to browsing it and gamification will be critical.

At a previous company we began strategising potential experience improvements using a competitive gamification approach amongst friends to be able to view each other's participation with the platform. The aim was to improve the efficiency in their learning whilst increasing user engagement. More often than not there was pushback on attempting something unconventional like this regardless of our efforts but we learnt a lot as a result about prioritisation and strategy. In retrospect I believe the company would still benefit massively from such an approach but I also now understand the limitations better after building a company of my own.

I think gamification as a term can be broadly applied in so many instances but yes there are certainly platforms out there that utilise dark tactics to enhance certain KPI's without the consideration for data showing negative mental impact. I attended a talk for a globally known gaming platform which was given by a user experience manager in charge of keeping users engaged with specific games. The speaker told us of rooms of game testers that would be paid to sit for a certain number of hours, playing in order to define game difficulty and they'd be watched from a ‘central observation room’. All this is to keep players engaged for the maximum amount of time possible and when I asked if there are any health precautions in place to consider the players mental and physical health he mentioned he wasn't aware of any. Gamification has a core of good intentions but it's easy to lose those core principles along the way once monetary gain outweighs user experience.

So much of design today has been gamified from infinite scrolling to emoji's, likes and notifications. At its core it comes down to instant gratification and users seeking a sense of validation from a positive reinforcement loop. Design for me is a constant cycle of engagement, positive reinforcement and validation, it could be as simple as a hover effect. I move my cursor and see an element can be interacted with by its styling changing so now I want to click it. It also means I'm seeking similar interactions throughout the rest of my experience with the site, sort of like a game. We're seeing a growing trend of micro interactions now with animations and effects for 'correct behaviour'. This all ties back to positive reinforcement loops you see in games, do something correctly and get visually rewarded, don't and you'll be stuck in a motionless state of stasis for all eternity... or at least until you close the page :) .

I think a lot of responsibility is placed on design and for good reason but it should be shared from a company wide perspective. If the ethos is to benefit the user as much as possible and at times forfeit small amounts of profit in favour of the user, then I think designers can flourish in their roles gamifying experiences. But designers have a duty to ensure the people using your product are benefitting mentally and this can be done through talking with them. Processes will only get you so far but until you discuss your product with users you will never know the impact it has on them and how you can help.

As mentioned earlier I think a lot of platforms popping up in the Web3 space are excellent examples of community driven, open source and decentralised experiences that put you as the user in charge of your interactions and data as well as company outcomes. I've recently used Mirror.xyz which is a DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation) that enables people to publish content as NFTs and share it with the community. You can also participate in a weekly vote to decide which writer gets a DAO membership to the platform based on an article they have written, so thats fun.

I come across bad gamification examples all the time whether it be a bank trying to get me to sign up to take out a loan by forcing me to complete app tours, or online stores giving out rewards points for certain purchases with minimal return if any at all. I think fitness does it quite well from the examples I've seen and in the long run will only benefit the user physically, it's one of the perfect markets for gamification.

Me - https://twitter.com/efesopoulos

Filmshape (The app we’re building 😊) - https://twitter.com/filmshape

It’s a vital aspect of many interfaces and experiences today. With the blend between 2D viewing experiences to a more 3D environment whether it be augmented or virtual I can only see this being a core tenet of the web going forward. I think gamification hasn't reached its full potential in our current traditional viewing experience on the web yet but we're starting to see more adoption through a web3 mental model. Heavy focus on community, decentralisation and participation all of which require gamification at some level. It will even introduce a shift in mindset towards an experience level focus on design as oppose to simply interfacing with a system, we'll feel as if we're inside, exploring a website as oppose to browsing it and gamification will be critical.

At a previous company we began strategising potential experience improvements using a competitive gamification approach amongst friends to be able to view each other's participation with the platform. The aim was to improve the efficiency in their learning whilst increasing user engagement. More often than not there was pushback on attempting something unconventional like this regardless of our efforts but we learnt a lot as a result about prioritisation and strategy. In retrospect I believe the company would still benefit massively from such an approach but I also now understand the limitations better after building a company of my own.

I think gamification as a term can be broadly applied in so many instances but yes there are certainly platforms out there that utilise dark tactics to enhance certain KPI's without the consideration for data showing negative mental impact. I attended a talk for a globally known gaming platform which was given by a user experience manager in charge of keeping users engaged with specific games. The speaker told us of rooms of game testers that would be paid to sit for a certain number of hours, playing in order to define game difficulty and they'd be watched from a ‘central observation room’. All this is to keep players engaged for the maximum amount of time possible and when I asked if there are any health precautions in place to consider the players mental and physical health he mentioned he wasn't aware of any. Gamification has a core of good intentions but it's easy to lose those core principles along the way once monetary gain outweighs user experience.

So much of design today has been gamified from infinite scrolling to emoji's, likes and notifications. At its core it comes down to instant gratification and users seeking a sense of validation from a positive reinforcement loop. Design for me is a constant cycle of engagement, positive reinforcement and validation, it could be as simple as a hover effect. I move my cursor and see an element can be interacted with by its styling changing so now I want to click it. It also means I'm seeking similar interactions throughout the rest of my experience with the site, sort of like a game. We're seeing a growing trend of micro interactions now with animations and effects for 'correct behaviour'. This all ties back to positive reinforcement loops you see in games, do something correctly and get visually rewarded, don't and you'll be stuck in a motionless state of stasis for all eternity... or at least until you close the page :) .

I think a lot of responsibility is placed on design and for good reason but it should be shared from a company wide perspective. If the ethos is to benefit the user as much as possible and at times forfeit small amounts of profit in favour of the user, then I think designers can flourish in their roles gamifying experiences. But designers have a duty to ensure the people using your product are benefitting mentally and this can be done through talking with them. Processes will only get you so far but until you discuss your product with users you will never know the impact it has on them and how you can help.

As mentioned earlier I think a lot of platforms popping up in the Web3 space are excellent examples of community driven, open source and decentralised experiences that put you as the user in charge of your interactions and data as well as company outcomes. I've recently used Mirror.xyz which is a DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation) that enables people to publish content as NFTs and share it with the community. You can also participate in a weekly vote to decide which writer gets a DAO membership to the platform based on an article they have written, so thats fun.

I come across bad gamification examples all the time whether it be a bank trying to get me to sign up to take out a loan by forcing me to complete app tours, or online stores giving out rewards points for certain purchases with minimal return if any at all. I think fitness does it quite well from the examples I've seen and in the long run will only benefit the user physically, it's one of the perfect markets for gamification.

Me - https://twitter.com/efesopoulos

Filmshape (The app we’re building 😊) - https://twitter.com/filmshape