Gamification stuff we love: Octalysis
As I am writing this blog post I am also emerging myself in a 3 day online program by Yukai Chou on his framework Octalysis, so it only seems good timing to tell you more about why we love this framework.
Simply said Octalysis is an octagon shaped analysis framework to see which core drivers of motivation you are hitting on with your campaign, your tool, your design project. You can use it before you start designing as a starting point or when you already have a project, to analyse what exactly you are covering.
So far we covered the foundations in the first level course and the thinking behind the model. when it comes to gamification, tools like this are invaluable to test your reasoning and also to show to clients what exactly they are working with. For me it also seems to give leverage to introduce other game elements, which may make total sense from a consulting point of view but may not jump off the page for the client in the first instance.
A lot of the conversations I have with clients start with the question what can gamification do for my business/problem/ situation etc. I always look for their reason for asking this question in the first place and why the scenario is important enough for them to consider gamification as a potential solution. I think at this level octalysis can give guidance and show what motivational factors could be of importance, but in the end of the day the goal is still to reach the business objective in the most engaging way for the company and it’s people. What I like about Octalysis is that it put’s people motivation at the heart of the design.
If you want to find out about the framework, I highly recommend you start following Yukai Chou online and read up on his material about Octalysis.
The 8 motivational drivers the framework is based on are
1. Epic meaning and calling (think charitable campaign for something bigger than you)
2. Development and achievement (think certificates, diploma’s, degrees, etc)
3. Empowerment of creativity and feedback (think creative engagement, making things, appreciating things)
4. Ownership and possession (think collecting things such as stamps, books, etc)
5. Social influence and relatedness (think doing things together with friends, Facebook likes, competition etc.)
6. Scarcity and impatience (think limited offers, waiting or paying)
7. Unpredictability and curiosity (think unexpected gifts, unlock able items)
8. Loss and avoidance (think keep logging in to keep points status)
Anyway these are my short take-aways from the first level and I look forward to applying it in the next two levels. In the end of the day the model is best explained by Yukai on his site, so whilst I love the framework and we will be using it, I hope you check it out too.
If you have already used it, we would love to hear how and what with?
