10 Facets of Gamification

  • Achievement: A badge, a level, a reward, or points given to a person for accomplishing something.
  • Levels: Breaking a storyline or activity into levels or chapters, creating smaller goals. Leveling up can also be an experience level, showing how long you have worked. Often certain tools or story lines only become available at a certain level.
  • Appointments: come here at this time and get something good. You see this is World of Warcraft and Farmville, “your crops will be ready to harvest in 12 hours.”
  • Progress: Showing a person what percentage of a task they have completed or what portion of a map they have explored.
  • Countdown: Having a time limit to complete a task.
  • Tools: Needing to gain a specific item in order to complete a task.
  • Free Lunch: The feeling of lucking into something free because other people did the work. See Groupon.
  • Loyalty: Returning to a task or location repeatedly and gaining status for it: Airline levels, Foursquare mayors, etc.
  • Leader Boards: Displaying a list of people to recognize publicly who has earned the most achievements.
  • Loss Aversion: Do this or you lose this benefit.