Last week I got to go to the Digital Shoreditch Play event. It was a wonderful day, listening to games developers, designers, experts and Gamification gurus all with amazing tales to tell from the coal face of the industry.

The audience there were of similar calibre , most being experts in their respective fields. It was talking to a few of these people that really got me thinking. You see, within certain circles, Gamification is almost a swear word. After a little digging I discovered what the real issue was. You see I thought it was some kind of clique that was in place. “Games are ours, business can’t have them”. But actually it was more than that. It was born of a deeper understanding of the psychology of what is know as “extrinsic rewards for intrinsic motivation”.  Their objection was not to the use of gamification, but to the generalized poorly conceived usage that is being used and promoted by many.

But What Does it Mean?

Still, it took me a bit of time and research to figure out what exactly was wrong. It turns out it is a similar objection to something I have been banging on about for ages. Badges are not the only or even a good way to motivate people.  Taking an external, almost unrelated reward and then using it as a way to motivate people to complete tasks is actually counter productive, especially when the task is not by it’s nature fun. People begin to do the task to get the reward. If I gave you a pound for every line of data you entered, you would only enter data if you got a pound. As soon as the pound was gone, you would stop. The love of the reward takes over from the need to do the task.

Scouting for the Answer

You can’t polish a turd

On a side note, I will be doing more research into this.  I am fascinated by the psychology behind it all, so expect more on this topic.

Originally posted on my blog http://marczewski.me.uk/index.php/2012/06/07/why-badges-can-be-bad-...