July 31, 2008 at Application of game mechanics in social media
- Transfer
Game elements are a necessary part of any social media project. Human society is completely based on games (career, war, flirtation, lawsuit - these and many other life phenomena can be considered as special games with their participants, the place of action and clear rules), therefore it is very important to give people gaming tools on social networks, which is so important to us. This can be a variety of ratings, karma mechanism, status points and other numerical parameters for accumulating and comparing users with each other. American Internet entrepreneur Peter Kim in his blog talks about how game mechanics work in social media.
Everyone loves the game: someone simple as a tapeworm, someone complex like World of Warcraft. If you think that games are not serious, then think again. They help us achieve excellence in many things, simple, like hunting for animals, and complex, like training surgeons or helping victims of a natural disaster. But, as in everything, moderation is important here, because some people died when they were too fond of games.
People fall into the trap of selfishness if they are too keen on game elements in social networks and focus on the aspects of the game, and not on the content and meaning of their actions.
This is how game mechanics work.
My friend Max Kalehoffpublished a list of five key elements of successful game design. I bring these points here.
1. The collection of things. People have the primary instinct to collect and show others what they have collected. Offline it can be badges, candy wrappers or brands. My old roommate was collecting unusual Coca-Cola bottles. We have twitter widgets online, Facebook demo pages, Flickr photo albums.
2. A set of points.This determines the size of the achievements and translates them into social status. In offline mode, the Formula 1 winner is determined in this way and scored points to receive discounts at the store or a free ticket. Online is the number of friends or subscribers to your content. The largest world PR agencies advise their clients to pay attention to those people who have “influence” or “authority” based on the above numerical characteristics. We further increase the power of these points by studying the lists of the most popular bloggers, the most read twitter users, and even the most mentioned people online .
3. The feedback from the system.Offline it’s shopping with a cumulative discount card or accelerating your car when you press the gas pedal. Online, these are not comments or backlinks (they are translated into numerical characteristics), but the response from the system itself. She herself tells you how much percent your LinkedIn profile is filled, what level of your karma on Habrahabr [approx. translator: original - karma Plurk]. The system itself calculates this according to its own algorithm.
4. Exchange of values. Successful social relationships. Offline we go to visit each other and invite each other's children to their birthdays or help things or money to strangers, saying “give it to someone else”[pay it forward; approx. translator: the phenomenon of the gratuitous transfer of things or debt is little known in our culture; it means refusing to return in favor of another person, as a result of which in society a value-exchange system is created, alternative to the modern monetary system]. Online is also a process of relationships: exchanging messages on each other's pages, exchanging greetings, virtual gifts. Marks “I like it too” on what your friend liked, @ -twitter on Twitter.
5. Customization and personalization. An opportunity to be creative. Offline, a person chooses wallpaper for an apartment, a case for a mobile phone, stickers for a laptop. On-line, these are details in a profile, photograph, or background image that says something about a person’s interests.
The trap of egoism is always there when it comes to the point system. When a user stupidly accumulates quantitative indicators (the number of friends, readers, etc.), then his accumulations become garbage-like. Feedback exceeds reasonable limits. Sharing values is not fun.
From the point of view of business, that is, from the position of the owner of the system, all this is good. They pave the way for monetization - banner advertising, sponsorship, branding campaigns, etc.
From the point of view of the user himself, this is good only to a certain limit, after which the benefit only decreases. True, the numbers are relative. For example, I feel comfortable right now when I have about 500 friends on Facebook. But Jeremy feels fine with almost 2500.
Concentration is the main factor that will allow you to dodge the trap of selfishness. Play for a specific purpose. Social games never end because our life is made up of them. In the end, winning or losing turns into a state of consciousness, and does not remain some kind of episode in time.
Everyone loves the game: someone simple as a tapeworm, someone complex like World of Warcraft. If you think that games are not serious, then think again. They help us achieve excellence in many things, simple, like hunting for animals, and complex, like training surgeons or helping victims of a natural disaster. But, as in everything, moderation is important here, because some people died when they were too fond of games.
People fall into the trap of selfishness if they are too keen on game elements in social networks and focus on the aspects of the game, and not on the content and meaning of their actions.
This is how game mechanics work.
My friend Max Kalehoffpublished a list of five key elements of successful game design. I bring these points here.
1. The collection of things. People have the primary instinct to collect and show others what they have collected. Offline it can be badges, candy wrappers or brands. My old roommate was collecting unusual Coca-Cola bottles. We have twitter widgets online, Facebook demo pages, Flickr photo albums.
2. A set of points.This determines the size of the achievements and translates them into social status. In offline mode, the Formula 1 winner is determined in this way and scored points to receive discounts at the store or a free ticket. Online is the number of friends or subscribers to your content. The largest world PR agencies advise their clients to pay attention to those people who have “influence” or “authority” based on the above numerical characteristics. We further increase the power of these points by studying the lists of the most popular bloggers, the most read twitter users, and even the most mentioned people online .
3. The feedback from the system.Offline it’s shopping with a cumulative discount card or accelerating your car when you press the gas pedal. Online, these are not comments or backlinks (they are translated into numerical characteristics), but the response from the system itself. She herself tells you how much percent your LinkedIn profile is filled, what level of your karma on Habrahabr [approx. translator: original - karma Plurk]. The system itself calculates this according to its own algorithm.
4. Exchange of values. Successful social relationships. Offline we go to visit each other and invite each other's children to their birthdays or help things or money to strangers, saying “give it to someone else”[pay it forward; approx. translator: the phenomenon of the gratuitous transfer of things or debt is little known in our culture; it means refusing to return in favor of another person, as a result of which in society a value-exchange system is created, alternative to the modern monetary system]. Online is also a process of relationships: exchanging messages on each other's pages, exchanging greetings, virtual gifts. Marks “I like it too” on what your friend liked, @ -twitter on Twitter.
5. Customization and personalization. An opportunity to be creative. Offline, a person chooses wallpaper for an apartment, a case for a mobile phone, stickers for a laptop. On-line, these are details in a profile, photograph, or background image that says something about a person’s interests.
The trap of egoism is always there when it comes to the point system. When a user stupidly accumulates quantitative indicators (the number of friends, readers, etc.), then his accumulations become garbage-like. Feedback exceeds reasonable limits. Sharing values is not fun.
From the point of view of business, that is, from the position of the owner of the system, all this is good. They pave the way for monetization - banner advertising, sponsorship, branding campaigns, etc.
From the point of view of the user himself, this is good only to a certain limit, after which the benefit only decreases. True, the numbers are relative. For example, I feel comfortable right now when I have about 500 friends on Facebook. But Jeremy feels fine with almost 2500.
Concentration is the main factor that will allow you to dodge the trap of selfishness. Play for a specific purpose. Social games never end because our life is made up of them. In the end, winning or losing turns into a state of consciousness, and does not remain some kind of episode in time.