Gamification stuff we love: Camp Pluralsight
As I was researching for a project on LinkedIn an interesting ad for Camp Pluralsight caught my eye. I had used Pluralsight for some technical courses on the recommendation of a developer, hence I knew what the company offered and from a motivational perspective I am course curious. The invitation read something along the lines of complete our quests and be in with a chance to win an Apple watch amongst other things. Because I am also in the market for the Apple watch because we are working on some apps for it, I decided to enter Camp Pluralsight.
For anyone in the learning realm offering courses to students, the Camp Pluralsight approach of offering a number of incentivised quests is definitely a good attraction strategy. The first quest is to complete a course, what better way than to get your target audience acquainted with what you actually do. The course selection is divided into beginner, intermediate and advanced levels as well as categorised under developer, IT ops and creative. The learner has a good cross section of courses to choose from and can start at their level.
Camp Pluralsight runs over a number of weeks and includes six challenges, at each point you are set a new quest with very specific criteria which earns you a badge and then a chance to win a prize. The quests are time based, so they take place over a week and the next quest is only unlocked when the timing has expired so all players even late joiners can enter with a chance to win a prize. The prizes available are attractive for most of us with a technical geeky side.
From a motivational perspective, I was curious about the set-up because of my work with gamification in learning, equally I already knew the company offered great quality courses, but the actual sign up happened because of the lure of the Apple watch. I was slightly disappointed that the quest with that prize has already finished and some lucky learner won it. But yet I am taking a course. I only have a limited amount of time, so not all quests will work with my schedule, but the prizes are great incentives to get me started. In my view the closer of the deal for me was extrinsically motivated but the starting of the course is definitely more intrinsically focussed and once I am hooked on the material it is more a case of the benefit I gain from new knowledge with the cherry on top to be in with a chance to win. The occasional earned badge is a good progress indicator.
From a gamification perspective I have to say Camp Pluralsight is setting a good example on how new learners can be enticed to join by not only great content but progress tracking, timed quests, badges and seriously compelling prizes.
If you also joined the challenge, we would love to know what attracted you to join Camp Pluralsight?
