The term “Gamifier/Gamification” refers to a process of making an area that is not directly related to gaming playful.

Gamification is not reserved for digital screens and can be brought about in many ways. It can take many forms in everyday life.

The so-called “Ice-breakers” techniques are good examples of Gamification outside the digital universe.

All areas are conducive to the use of Gamification. One of the rules of the latter is that it must benefit the user as well as the project/company and that there must be an interest in setting it up.

Some examples:

nintendo e-shop allows its users to earn “coins” with each purchase, so they can use them later to lower the price of a future game.

Duolingo uses the level mechanism (player level and game levels) to motivate its users to keep learning a new language.

Zombie run uses horror game codes to push its users to exert themselves and push their limits even further.

Gamification has repeatedly proven thatit facilitates the memorization of certain elements and allows greater motivation for the user. Earning money is only a consequence of a good user experience.

Richard Bartle defined 4 types of players in his book: “HEARTS, CLUBS, DIAMONDS, SPADES: PLAYERS WHO SUIT MUDS” and are used today everywhere in the field of Gamedesign as a reference.

The Killers : Focus on the competition and be the first in the standings

The Achievers : Their goal is to complete the objectives quickly or 100%

The Socializers : They are the ones who make the community live, they seek interaction with people similar or complementary to themselves

Explorers : No more secrets are safe with them, they are keen to discover the smallest plots of the universe you have created.

the farmer is a behavioral trait that can be found among players of any type, it consists of amassing a large amount of resources (Gold coins, Wheat, Tomatoes etc…)

You can discover your player profile with the Bartle test below bartle-test

It is essential to know the expectations of each type of player to be able to integrate/satisfy them as well as possible. Each project has its own objective and style of play.

Let's try to fill the player profile gauge with the Pokemon GO example :

Catch pokemon to complete the pokédex: achievements

Discover your region and many others thanks to the map: Explorers

Obtain powerful pokemon and take over arena and defend them: Killers

Sending gifts and exchanging pokemon: Socializers

The measurement of motivation is not one of the rules of Gamification but is part of the creation process, the most used motivational theory is “self-determination theory”. It is the fact of classifying motivational factors as extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic motivation provides the first boost of motivation to action, but intrinsic motivators are more reliable in maintaining the desired behavior.

See the article on this subject

The rules are as follows (with explanations)

Free will: Users must be able to freely choose

Benefit and Importance: Gamification must serve the user and the company

Personalization of the experience: The actions of the user must have consequences on his gaming experience.

Long-term interaction: Design the game in an evolutionary way (time, investment, motivation etc…)

Anticipate negative side effects: Gambling can be harmful for some people (addictions, loss of the feeling of intimacy/private life, sources of stress, etc.)

Ethical and legal principles: Take into account the existing legal context, for example: personal data and confidentiality.

Rule: this is particular and is only based on the context of the game being played. Each game has its rules and Gamification must have them too.

People can play football without a real pitch, but they can't play it without rules. Ditto in the context of Gamification, if you establish a level system, you will have to determine the conditions to be met to achieve it.

Take for example the dodgeball

Game mechanics are the rules of the game, this is what determines the possible interactions between the user and the game

example: being touched sends you to prison, if you manage to block the ball you are not eliminated and continue to play etc...

Game Elements is the equivalent of the ball, this is what allows the user to interact with your game.

example: catching the ball or throwing the ball at an opponent are part of the game

Game dynamics is how the player interacts with your game mechanics,

example: bounce the ball against the ground/a wall to decoy the opponent, pass to a trapped player to backhand the opponent, etc.

As far as we can go back, gaming has always been a part of life, we forgot and lost some games but we can begin to identify the first games in Mesopotamia around -2600, the dice and their final form (sum of opposite faces equal to 7) around the 7th century BC,

we can therefore imagine that since Man is Man he has always tried to make his activities playful, we can even imagine learning to hunt in a fun way based on victory/reward.