Gamification Mechanic Monday: gifts

With a lot more research coming out that with age our interest in competition decreases and our interest in more philanthropic style. In terms of gamification with ageing work populations in a lot of companies, this is also a significant statistic to keep in mind. It is with this in the back of our thoughts that gifting as a gamification mechanic came back up.

Gift giving is something a lot of us are accustomed to for significant occasions from birthdays, to weddings, celebrations relation to religious days, welcoming a baby, housewarming, etc. Some people even just bring a gift when visiting friends and family. Yet when it comes to our work environments gifts are not often on the agenda. I can still count on one hand the companies that actually did give gifts. One media company I worked for did give fun gifts for contributing innovation ideas and then on special occasions such as Valentines day for example a rose was waiting on our desk, Easter fun at Easter etc. I always remembered those small yet fun talking points.

Receiving gifts when don’t expect it, creates both a small and frequently a warm feeling of being appreciated. Most of us learn the habit of gifts in our home environment which for most of us means gifts are given with love. To reignite this feeling a gift can rekindle memories.

A gift that you really want to have and didn’t expect is the ultimate. Now in a work environment receiving an allowance to choose your own gift with can be significant. But imagine being given the gift of time with a person you look up to in your organisation. I would be totally chuffed if I could ever have the gift of time with Richard Branson, who I have followed for quite some time. Equally a lot of experienced workers may be delighted to share with younger generation or colleagues who want to learn from them.

Gift giving requires imagination on behalf of the giver and an understanding of what the receiver would really like. It is an ideal environment to put your user research to the test and create some gamification related gifts in enterprise gamification environments.

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