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RewardMe Network in the Workplace
In the RewardMe Work Environment: Coworkers, Superiors and Janitors
In the work environment, you could say everyone is an existing contact that is relevant to RewardMe. Or can you? So many times people just think about coworkers as “the guy that sits across from my cubicle” and only know that they are lazy and talk loud on the phone. They’re not regarded as people. They’re viewed as the environment, the setting, the job title.
Out of 35 coworkers, many people only know 3-4 personally. Maybe you just get along with 3-4, but does that mean the others aren’t people? Does that mean they’re not worth caring for? You should maintain good relationship with everyone you work with. Have a little friendly chat every once in awhile or simply just a hello. Smiling is a very useful tool here in this environment, where everyone works under boredom or stress and would rather sit on a beach or just watch TV.
It’s the same concepts that apply with your superiors and people who work under you. Don’t be scared when talking to your superior. Be confident and smile. Apologize with respect of what you did wrong.
Don’t be arrogant when you talk to people who work under you. Be confident and smile. Apologize with things that you did wrong. Would you work harder for a boss that apologizes to you? People who work under you might feel the same way.
Do your work the best you can. Don’t slack. Do more than you need. Instead of complaining about your lack of responsibilities and promotions, prove that you deserve them. Your boss that sees you being more capable of your work will give you more work (ah, something that many complain about again), and when you do it well without more pay, he/she’ll give you a position that justifies your ability. In fact, you should ask for more work! People who are under you who see you are hard working will also feel the culture and become more hard working. That helps you get your projects done on time. You can push them, but always remember to care about their feelings, and set by example. They need to be willing, not pushed. In the work place, just like everywhere else, attitude is everything.
People with similar positions as you need a little more work. They might think you are a suck up and dislike you. However, in many cases, if you always maintain a good relationship with them, and they will know you are hard working in nature (hopefully also one with integrity), more often than not they will be fine with it. They see your work ethic and know that they chose to not put in the effort you did. This works out well when you often have a sincerely smile and ask them if you could help them with anything.
Most of all; don’t be phony. Don’t pretend you have a good work ethic. HAVE a good work ethic. People at your work place are more often jealous of those that are hypocritical and pretend to be someone else in front of superiors.
If you did all of that, and people still dislike you, it’s their personal flaw and you don’t need to worry about it. Let their unjustified jealousy choke themselves.
You can even give coworkers advices on working harder too so they don’t need to complain about their position anymore. Again, think of the analogy of the pit. If you help your coworkers become your superiors (even though you would most likely succeed instead with the right mind set), then you would have a superior who appreciates you and would present you other opportunities every time there is one. He/she’ll write the best references for you to his superiors or your new employers. If you do that often, you’ll likely end up where you were aiming for, and you are in good terms with those around you. Now you have accomplishment and peace in mind (and great connections!). Don’t try to lower other people, try to raise yourself and others. Competing is for short-term purposes; helping is for long-term achievements. You can decide which one is more important.
Janitors are important too. Shock! Is that possible? Janitors are people too. And people have infinite possibilities. You never know what that person will do tomorrow or is doing today! They for sure know some people that you don’t know and some things that you don’t. You can even help them to do something great and we end up back into the pit analogy again. That nice thing is that, janitors are easy to be friendly with, as they don’t expect a lot from you. You simply need to smile, say hello, and ask about how they are doing to make their day better.
Think about this scenario: maybe one day you will be sitting in office in a bad mood. The janitor who you have been friendly with regularly sees it and asks if there is anything wrong. You explain to him your problems. There is chance that he may say, “Oh yea, my uncle is an expert in this field and might be able to help you out! I’ll go ask him for you.” That could turn out to be valuable resources and connections.
You should care for all, because maybe one day you would like one of them to care for you.
RewardMe Networking: existing friends and family
RewardMe Networking: existing friends and family
Your existing contacts, for most of you, are your most important contacts. I say that because they probably have the longest history with you and are the most personal. They are ones that are likely to care about you more (remember, most people don’t have the true cores of Networking). All the other networking activities are mainly trying to expand this group of people. This isn’t a sale; it’s a relationship, and maintaining existing relationships are just as important as getting new ones.
The easy part about this one is that: you already know how to do most of it, or else they wouldn’t be your friends in the first place. Now the only thing you have to work on is to apply some of the cores and principles to it.
The No.1 rule in this is to ALWAYS MAINTAIN CONTACT INFORMATION. If you still know how to contact your friends from elementary school, middle school, and high school (and I mean all of them), how much bigger would your network be? True, some of them haven’t done that many amazing things in their life, but I guarantee you that all of them know someone that you don’t, something that you don’t, and some place that you don’t. Even if its just one thing per person, with all these people that you lost contact with, isn’t that still pretty amazing? Perhaps it’s impractical to actually know all of them, but we must first know the ideal before we can work towards it.
Following with the principles given before, the next rule is to actually contact and checkup on your contacts. Once a year or however long is appropriate for that specific person, send an email or make a call. Check how are they doing and if their life is going well. It doesn’t need to be the best conversation, but just remind them that you still exist and still care. You’ll also have a good idea of the things they will be able to help you at if there is ever such need.
Now remember that during this process, you must always maintain the 6 cores introduced earlier in this guide. They must be ingrained in you. They must become who you are. With that in mind, when you talk to your contacts, always make them feel that whenever they need help, they can come to you. Again, think about how you can help others (that in itself is an opportunity!) not how others can help you.
Be a good friend, and you will receive good friendship.
As for your family, they can’t really run away, so all I can say is to treat them well. Family is valuable because they are usually the people who “would” give you the most care and help. Many people forget to maintain a good relationship with family members until they need some kind of help. This is because most people know help will come anyway. Don’t abuse this relationship. There isn’t much to say about this, just don’t be the donkey in the family; be the one with the carrot.
Octalysis Review of Qwertee (T-Shirt Company)
The goal of Qwertee is to sell t-shirts and hoodies, and aim to do so by creating a community whose members vote the designs that will be printed on shirts and hoodies; members are pop/nerd people, with interests in videogames, anime, movies, etc.
Define Business Metrics
– A verage number of sold shirts
– Number of +1/Likes on G+/Facebook
– Number of reshare on G+/Facebook/Twitter
– Number of comments on G+/Facebook
– Number of votes on Qwertee
Define Desired Actions
Discovery:
– Learn about Qwertee
– See a selection of interesting designs
– Access Qwertee site
Onboarding
– Surf current and future designs
– Share Qwertee designs with friends
– Learn about Qwertee working (costs, shipping, etc.)
– Subscribe to updates
– Subscribe to G+/Facebook/T witter page
Scaffolding:
– Receive and read daily deals
– Participate in daily draws by +1/sharing/commenting
– Visit Qwertee and vote future designs
– Participate in forum
– Buy shirts
Endgame:
– Submit/propose designs
– Participate in forum management
– Become a Qwertee local dealer
Define User Types
Players will be people interested in nerdy/pop things, so people likely to be involved in communities (like Star Wars fan forums, etc.); for them a t-shirt isn’t just something to wear, but is a way to show something of themselves.
According to Marczewski player’s types:
– Free spirit, because wearing clothes linked to something we really love is a way to express ourselves and our passions
– Socializer, because it’s likely users are in communities dedicated to the things they love
In current Qwertee’s design there isn’t really something to appeal other player’s types, so we will think about how to make them interested in Qwertee’s products.
Define Feedback Mechanics
As interaction media, Qwertee uses its site, G+, Facebook and Twitter. As feedbacks currently employed:
• Countdown Timers (Core Drives 6 and 8)
• Reminder of deadlines on G+ and Facebook (Core Drives 6 and 8)
• T -shirt giveaway (Core Drives 7)
• Blog, G+ and Facebook posts to announce information (Core Drives 6 and 7)
• Buttons clearly visible, which change color when clicked (Core Drive 2)
Incentives and Rewards
Current incentives and rewards employed:
• Social Community (forum, G+, Facebook and Twitter)
• Feeling of accomplishment (voting and proposing designs)
• Easter Egg Surprises (free unannounced candy with each purchase)
• Free shirts (via different things: sharing, etc.)
Level I Octalysis Ideation Process
Analysis of The last Secret, Legend of Taelmore via Octalysis
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Project, Product or experience: “The last Secret, Legend of Taelmore” A Gamified classroom. (Explicit Gamification) |
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Author: |
Brandon Abril Ávila |
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Organization: |
Unidad Educativa CEBCI (A highschool from Cuenca – Ecuador) |
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Gamification is a powerful tool and we already know why. One of the aspects in which gamification is extremely helpful is Education. In the actuality being a teacher is hard and that is because our mission, our task is almost impossible. We have to teach not only content but also teach competence. It should be interdisciplinary and of course it should include techniques and materials to simulate things that students will face in the real world. Also it must be problem-oriented, interesting and challenging enough to keep the student engage. And at the same time it should motivate students to learn. This task is not possible with the traditional and of course actual way of teaching in Ecuador, here we have a lot of problems to motivate students, our classrooms are not high tech so we have to think in a way to solve these problems and create a change in education in this country. The Last secret is a big project, a full gamified classroom where each student become an adventurer that is called by the Blue Wardens, an elite organization that is searching something called the Last secret. It has a really well done story (2 literature teachers of the school helped to write it). Students are going to have a full RPG experience while leveling up their character, getting some new powers, badges and gold for buying items that help them in regular classes’ activities. They will have a guild and they will have the CRAFT possibility; they will “CRAFT” a project based on the “profession” they choose as a guild. We have prepared PvP events, PvE events. Also they are going to be part of LARPs events to make the experience even more engaging. We also know as an Educational institute that parents are really important in the education process of our students. That is why we are also creating an Implicit gamification process for them, called the “Parents School” where they will be graded by points; they will attend to parenting capacitation’s, etc… |
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Abstract |
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We also are going to implement a web page where, parents, students and teacher can participate. Teacher can plan their lessons, missions and task for students. Students can talk about The last secret and other topics and Parents can talk about, well, their kids.
Objectives:
General:
Design and implement a new class model that is fully gamified in which students will be able to build their own knowledge by making short and middle term projects. This will be possible thanks to the creation of a whole and original story and web page where the students will feel unique and motivated, parents will be part of the education process too and teachers will have a new tool to improve their classes. With this will be able to get a class where students are fully engaged to learning and they will improve their fluid and emotional intelligent.
Specifics (3):
1) Analyze the main problems teachers have in their regular classes so we can focus on them in the design of the process. 2) Imagine and design the gamification process based on the 8 cores of Yukai-chou Octalysis.
3) Apply and socialize the process and method we are going to do, with teachers, parents and students.
Octalysis:
Analyze why your product is engaging through the 8 Core Drives.
Core Drive 1: Epic Meaning & Calling
The Last secret has a beautiful story it is engaging… After students create their characters they get a letter. The letter is a call of duty; The Blue Wardens are searching only the best of the best to create an elite team to search something called the Last Secret. When they finish reading the letter a big trailer is projected (3 minutes about the lore of the story). Then everyone throw the “Lucky dice” it is a beginner gift we give to them, depending on the dice result they get a basic item from the shop. Also later on they get to know the “Craft” mechanic, that it means that they have to create a project but the objective of the project is to help the community, so they also feel that their quest, their mission is not only to help themselves but also others. And we get a deal with their parents “Each homework and classwork they do is equal to 1 cent that is going to be donated to a Cancer hospital called Solca that is really close to the school”
Octalysis Analysis of Zero Theorem
Octalysis Analysis of Zero Theorem
I’m just back from watching Terry Gilliam’s latest iteration of his Dystopian *Brazil* like future. The technology mix of up-to-date computing, neon-glow power and data storage juxtaposed with retro, almost steam punk tech is almost overwhelming at first. Once you settle in for the ride, this clash along with the darkened classic buildings and corporate structures and intrigue of Kafka-esque proportions creates one of the most visually stunning but scary worlds you are ever likely to see.
In many ways it felt similar to Brazil, from Christoph Waltz’s tortured problem solver Qohen Leth as the mysterious protagonist, alien-like initially and a character I wanted to win by the end. Trapped in his nightmare society, not wanting to be part of it. Just waiting for his call to understand his greater purpose. Warning – I have tried to keep spoilers to a minimum!
So why am I compelled to write about this right now? I was stunned to see how Gamification was so simply immersed in this world and so wonderfully captured and it may sense to review the Octalysis 8 Core Drives against it.
Core Drive 1 – Epic Meaning & Calling
Initially Qohen Leth is clearly just a cog in a bigger corporate chain, however his unique logic/problem solving skills come to the notice of the management (scarily played by Matt Damon). He is then given the quest to embark on proving the Zero Theorem, which is positioned to Qohen by many characters as unsolvable. Interestingly the reason behind its impact is not clear but not his main driver, he is looking for his purpose in life (literally and figuratively waiting for a divine call – in Qohen’s case this is also reflect in his choice of home. A Church).
The games he plays to achieve his goals are more logically based problems.
Core Drive 2 – Development & Accomplishment
Clearly the initial work he is doing and the game he is playing is not very challenging for him. Qohen is viewed as the “top dog” of his team (via feedback from his supervisor) and works at very a fast pace. He gets immediate feedback through sounds and screen prompts. He is expected to manually change over the data storage tubes (glowing fluid in a test tube) each time a goal has been hit. Also the level of challenge in the Zero Theorem game is significantly more difficult – of flappy bird proportions!
Core Drive 3 – Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback
The initial games appear to be very logic puzzle orientated (simple tasks). As Qohen moves on to the Zero Theorem the game becomes much more fluid, he has some basic grinding in pulling “entities” together into blocks that form logic/math/algorithms and it appears at this point the game is more about his creativity than logic. He gets instant feedback as its clear to him how he is progress and when things are not going so well, towers of blocks dissipate when he fails or is too slow!! Its never clear whether this part of the game (stuck in the scaffolding phase) is likely to be evergreen.
Core Drive 4 – Ownership and Possession
A particularly strong element both in the game and outside as Qohen is driven to solve the unsolvable problem within the game, leading to a breakdown! It would seem he has total ownership of the problem, part of this is the external factors that are motivating him, those who have promised to get his “phone call” that he has been waiting all his life for.
Core Drive 5 – Social Influence and Relatedness
Qohen has a fear of most things, including social interaction. It’s appropriate then that the games have no inherent socialness it would appear. However he does have various social pressures due to his supervisor keeping close eye on him, he has a Big Brother management problem as well 😉 Later on there is an element of mentoring from a young and bright character that helps him move forwards at a point where he is stuck.
Core Drive 6 – Scarcity and Impatience
The main dynamics driving Qohen in the game are constant reminders he is due to upload his latest progress, within the hour! However his own personal driver is always much stronger, he intrinsically wants his phone call that he has been promised and this impatience is what keeps him going.
Core Drive 7 – Curiosity and Unpredictability
A large part of the Zero Theorem work is based on the curiosity core drive, the need to understand why and what the solution is. There are no obvious techniques in place such as Easter eggs or sudden rewards.
Core Drive 8 – Loss and Avoidance
The main element in the game that is demonstrated is when he makes a mistake, it seems the tumbling towers have a negative impact on his progress (sending him backwards?) but it’s not visually clear, his emotional reaction is what gives it away.
So overall its fairly balanced, plays very well to Qohen strengths (and his flaws). I imagine that there are many things Terry Gilliam could do to drive his character even more but I’ll save those for another time 😉
Above is the contribution by Rich Wallace. Our feedback below:
Thank you for having chosen such an original and challenging subject for a Octaysis analysis! It is awesome when people feel empowered to apply the Octalysis framework to novel settings. The fact that you realize that you can literally apply Octalysis to every fictional and non-fictional situation, demonstrates that you have grasped the basic Octalysis concept well.
I have read your analysis with interest. It’s very encouraging to see that you have mastered the understanding of a number of key Octalysis basic core drives. I have not seen the movie, but you did tickle me in my CD 7 to go and see it 😉
Before I go into your analysis, I have one remark. I did experience a bit of confusion about the ‘product’ that you are analysing at times. Sometimes it looks like the analysis focuses on the main character; sometimes on Zero Theorem, the Quest; and sometimes on Zero Theorem, the movie. I will focus your analysis from the perspective of Zero Theorem, the Quest. This is where I think your analysis connects the most with.
Your Anaysis
Drive #1: Epic Meaning and Calling
It’s clear that the Zero Theorem is very much an epic quest and that this is a very motivational force. You rightly point out that Qohen (let’s call him the “player’) believes that he is doing something greater than himself. In fact he is chosen to do this quest of epic proportions, and is a kind of Humanity Hero (Game Technique #27).
Drive #2: Development & Accomplishment
You mention correctly that the challenge that Zero Theorem poses for the player is of enormous proportions, especially compared to the brainless activity he was used to be doing. What is important to mention in your analysis is whether the challenge posed actually makes the player feel smart and accomplished or not. If the task is too easy compared to the skill level, this will lead to boredom and disengagement, which is a loss of motivation (read also “FLOW” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi). So that part would not be true Core Drive 2. If the player is feeling self-improvement towards mastery during the Zero Theorem challenge, then he would be experiencing CD 2.
Gamification — Drawing Employee Attention More Towards Work
In an organisation, employee’s loyalty and engagement is everything. It is needed for the whole company to function effectively, along with many other factors that come along in a working environment.
These days, a popular tactic has been known and used to make employees more driven and engaged at work. This tactic, which is now used by most of the modern companies we have today, is called Gamification.
What is Gamification?
Gamification is popularly known as the process of taking anything that has been existing already, and incorporating game mechanics to help employees be more motivated and engaged, and also to strengthen their loyalty and participation. It uses the techniques from game designers which are meant to engage gamers and are applied in a non-game setting such as the workplace.
How does Gamification work?
Employees can add elements from games to their everyday interaction in the workplace. Simple steps like unlocking of rewards with activities, conducting contests with prizes through social media, and many more gimmicks can be a great way to practice gamification. Through these examples, employees will be more engaged and would want to stick around longer, making them has fun at work and when they do, and their work performance will also improve.
Using gamification at work fuels employees’ competition, and that is a good driving force for people to do their best. Game-like incentives and friendly competition at work will help them break away from the usual boring work routine, and they are more likely to achieve success.
Gamification — what employees really think about it?
Octalysis Breakdown of TradeVille
(This analysis is provided by G Fadlun)
Introducing the product
I will run an analysis on a company’s product I am working on, a Binary Options Broker trading platform coded name TradeVille.
TradeVille allows registered users to run online trading investments on given assets, basically betting on the foretold result of the market, for the same asset, in a chosen time frame (60 sec. and up).
TradeVille is a regulated brand targeted for European users from different countries and languages. Desired actions for this product are (in this order of commitment): registration of a new account, depositing funds and trading.
Running Octalysis through TradeVille and analyzing why it is engaging through the 8 Core Drives.
CD 1 – Epic Meaning and Calling
The website lures users with a promise of easy success and wealth.
As weak as it is, this message is probably the closest thing to a “Calling”; and raises the question “Why should I use this product”, with a quick answer of “To easily become rich and powerful.”
Estimated CD 1 Octalysis score: 1 (very weak)
CD 2 – Development and Accomplishment
Upon registration, the website offers an educational webinar that teaches users about the trading platform and the different features it offers. An average sense of development comes from the educational programO it helps our users gain a sense of accomplishment through a “winning state.” This is achieved by using a personal strategy of investment and results to increasing funds through knowledge and skill.
Estimated CD 2 Octalysis score: 3 (weak with potential)
CD 3 – Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback
This is where the product becomes interesting.
Users are able to choose how much they want to bet, on which asset, currency, stock or index and which range of time the bet will cover.
The game itself allows the use of any strategy they prefer, based on their own knowledge of the market or their funds, to achieve the wining state (Meaningful choice GM#11).
The platform allows the use of different combinations on specific trades to gain more from the asset chosen (Combos).
Based on current economic events, users receive constant offers which work as boosters which can be beneficial for a higher chance of success.
There is, therefore, a perception of being the author of your own fortune with almost instant feedbacks, although the result of an investment will still depend on market behavior (CD 7 Unpredictability & Curiosity).
Given the nature of the game, which is based on the current economic market, the mechanic is always valid and to be considered as an Evergreen.
Estimated CD 3 Octalysis score: 6 (average good motivation)
CD 4 – Ownership and possession
The product is based on trading and winning/losing real money; therefore there is a big sense of protection towards the balance and great motivation to increase it. (Protection)
Users are divided, depending on the program they join, in categories or VIP statuses, which grant them additional services, education or priorities compared to those of a “lower status”. Additionally, there are promotions offering bonuses or prizes rewarding users after a desired action, like Deposit or Trades (Earned Lunch). Users can always monitor their progress and check their History of transactions and trades, increasing their sense of ownership and possession (Monitoring). The more the users feel to be experts, especially after viewing several educational webinars, the more they will invest while growing in confidence and knowledge (Learning Curve).
Estimated CD 4 Octalysis score: 5 (Average motivation)
CD 5 – Social Influence & Relatedness
Every user has a personal agent assigned to them who they can refer to for special advices on managed accounts. The personal agent will call the client often to give advices, suggestions or updates on recent market reviews, creating a Tutorship relation that pushes users to take advantage of the product. (Touting)
Most decisions are made after reading reviews, market events, signals and experts advices. These aspects influence user’s trades and sometimes offer a Water Cooler environment from the game like blogs, forums, and economics focused portals. However, webinars are the only moment in which users perceive the presence of other players on the platform during educational courses. (Mentorship).
Estimated CD 5 Octalysis score: 4 (Scarce but yet present motivation)
CD 6 – Scarcity & Impatience
This is one of the strongest Octalysis CDs on this product.
Binary Options trading is built on Scarcity and Impatience, also using a mix of Unpredictability (CD 7) while a user awaits the result of a trade.
Appointment Dynamics regulate the trading. A user will have to wait 60 seconds to a month or year to finally know the outcome of their investment. Throttle is a natural consequence of trading with real money. Once the balance is depleted, money needs to be deposited again in the account (insert coin to play).
Moats are implemented when giving access to special services only when playing enough (turnover) or joining a special VIP status package.
Being dynamic by nature, the market always changes and drives result in different directions making things more interesting. (Refreshing content).
Estimated CD 6 Octalysis score: 7 (pretty strong)
CD 7 – Unpredictability & Curiosity
This is another strong aspect of TradeVille, which is basically a gambling site. Trading is the main action in this “game” and it is strictly related to the results and rates of market creating a strong sense of unpredictability and curiosity. Random Rewards are given by periodic promotions, offering different deals. Sudden calls from personal agents offering Easter Eggs as bonuses or advices on market events and deals are also an option.
Estimated CD 7 Octalysis score: 7 (pretty strong)
CD 8 – Loss & Avoidance
This is a very strong Octalysis CD on TradeVille and it is not to be underestimated.
Several promotions, offering deals on special events, always have an expiration date, which adds a sense of urgency and Evanescence of Opportunity. Sunk cost tragedy doesn’t involve a real progress or status loss as much as a real loss of investment. The user already spent and lost money which they won’t be able to win back if they decide to leave the game. A user also wants to keep playing as much as he wins, to accumulate more (blissful productivity), and as much as he loses to get back what he lost (Sunk Cost Tragedy).
The market also moves forward, adding a strong feeling of losing opportunities of investment on “easy trading” (FOMO).
Losing all credit and balance undoubtedly involves a progress loss as users associate a zero balance to their failure and loss of all the money invested (visual grave).
Estimated CD 8 Octalysis score: 7 (Pretty strong)
Applying the Octalysis Framework Tool to TradeVille
“Your experience is fairly balanced in both White Hat and Black Hat Core Drives. Also, you seem to have a great balance between Left Brain and Right Brain Core Drives, which means you likely have a good balance between Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation. Just be very careful because Extrinsic Motivation designed badly may kill Intrinsic Motivation.”
How to increase the product’s engagement through Octalysis
What is missing and what can be added.
CD 1 – Epic Meaning and Calling
This is the weakest of the Octalysis CDs on TradeVille and therefore the ones that can be improved the most.
TradeVille is obviously missing a sense of Epic meaning and Calling to something greater than the single user.
The product is known as a profiting business which people easily associate to gambling and therefore to a “vampire entity” only willing to “take your money”. People play the game to become richer, not to make the world a better place but that can be changed by completely shifting the concept of the business. What would happen if TradeVille would donate 1% of all funds lost by users to beneficence? The user wouldn’t feel so upset anymore about losing his money, knowing that at least 1% of the money he lost would go to help people in real need.
The company wouldn’t lose so much money, in fact, all the money donated every single month would buy better advertising than anything else. It would also attract even more users by the chance of making money and in the meanwhile be a humanity hero (GM #27). This results in the product becoming a winO win situation for both the platform and the user.
A user who reaches a certain amount of money donated (money lost), would receive recognition as a reward and maybe even be advertised on a wall of heroes.
Introducing a story to support this initiative would also give a chance to use some Narrative (GM #10) during the onboarding phase and Elitism (GM #26), during scaffolding phase. This would divide user’s donations by country, city or even creating groups of affectionate traders of a specific trading asset.
CD 2 – Development and Accomplishment
There is a lot of potential here and I already developed an entire system to increase this specific Core Drive. PBL – Points, Badges, Leaderboard serve us well in this case.
I created a virtual currency of points (exchangeable points GM #75) along with Status Points (GM #1) to support a level based system (Level up Symphony). Levels are gained by Status points, which are basically the total turnover of the user (Only growing) while currency, or exchangeable points, are still earned by turnover but also by other means, and their number increases and decreases constantly while they are earned and spent.
A Progress bar (GM#4) increases every time the user places a trade stating the player progress and how long is needed to reach next level (Milestone unlock GM#19).
Note: both status and exchangeable points are earned on trades no matter the result of the trade, so the user is always earning something from desired actions. Badges (GM#2) are given when completing missions (Quest List) or achievements which also increase exchangeable points.
Leaderboards are introduced on a weekly basis and are related to weekly tournaments. Players have access to tournaments only when reaching the 2nd level (Moats) and can earn lots of currency points there. They also face Boss Fights (GM#14) as Group Quests (GM#22 CD#5), to reach a certain total amount of Exchangeable points (between all participants) before the time expires (Count Down CD#6).
CD 3 – Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback
This CD is pretty well developed already, since trading involves personal knowledge and meaningful choices, but I didn’t see the reason why I could not add some spice in it.
What I did was add “Special powerOups” (Boosters GM# 31) which also give more meaning to gaining levels within the system since, otherwise, there wouldn’t be so much reason to level up, right?
Basically powers are acquired by spending currency points and reaching a level which unlocks the chance to pay and buy the power.
Powers need to be activated by paying exchangeable points and each power has three levels of effectiveness, which again, can be unlocked and acquired only reaching a specific level and paying in currency points (Moat).
Now the result is that, the more the user grows in levels, the more meaningful choices are presented resulting in wider possibilities, strategies and Combos a player can decide to use while trading. The game becomes much more exciting this way and users begin to learn to use powers, slowly growing into their levels and learning how to combine them (Learning Curve).
Since at the beginning, a user can only use one power per trade and later he will be able to combine up to three powers on the same trade. There is Choice Perception, Milestone unlocks, Evergreen Mechanics, Combos, Autonomy and Instant FeedbackO all planned to last.
CD 4 – Ownership and possession
Introducing PBL’s was literally a “Butterfly Effect” for all other CDs and it helped a lot when designing all other elements and balancing them.
A great missing point on TradeVille is still a proper sense of ownership of a user’s account. People register and fill forms full of personal details to be able to play and trade and then forget about their account until someone asks them for documents to prove their identity (Regulation process).
People don’t even use a nickname; they are given an ID number and access to their account using their emails, so I thought: “why don’t we give a meaning to that account?” The first step was adding a proper username to the player, upon which users can recognize themselves then of course an Avatar (GM#13) which could be an uploaded image or one picture from a selection provided by TradeVille. Avatars would show also the level achieved, giving importance to it and adding a nice bragging/tout flag element (GM#57 and GM#64).
Users will be able to change or modify their avatars growing in their level, choosing between more options given and being able to personalize their “appearance” more.
Accounts will also contain information to be shared with others about achievement or status from registration until the last minute update, which will give a sense of evolution to the account (Built from Scratch GM#43). Later in the Game, I was planning to introduce a third status point, which would be called “Prestige point”, introducing Virtual goods (GM#8) and Collection Set (GM#16) to be bought with currency points. This GM however will be introduced on a later version.
A major sense of possession, along with badges and achievements earned “on the shelf”, will increase the Protection sense of the users toward their account giving more meaning to CD#4.
CD 5 – Social Influence & Relatedness
Social Influence and Relatedness is probably the trickiest CD to improve.
Right now the platform does not support social interaction between users and for good reasons. Changing the way the users behave on the “game”, would
maybe allow more social interaction, but until that will be possible, everything is restricted to Social Networks.
Leaderboards will without a doubt give more sense of participation of other users along with more sense of competition.
Tournaments will push people to compete between themselves or help each other to beat the Boss Fight before the time expires (Group Quest GM#22) but as already mentioned this won’t be ideal without direct contact the users.
Users may be able to click on someone else’s nickname to check a summary of another user’s achievements and badges.
Maybe in the future even be able to request advice, give mentorship or interact within an internal chat. For now, the implementation of Water cooler websites will be enough.
We will create wiki pages and discussion pages where users will discuss about better strategies to follow to level up faster or have better results on trades and where currency points are well spent or wasted. This will definitely increase a sense of community on TradeVille.
CD 6 – Scarcity & Impatience
The games already have a high level of Black Hat – Scarcity Core Drive elements which I wouldn’t increase at this point. What I would do is add some more Appointment Dynamics (GM#21) to which the user would refer to comply with the desired action.
The introduction of powerOups of course implies the use of a few other game techniques like Evolved UI (GM#37). Meaning that as the user grows; they learn how to use more powers and how to combine them. In addition, we can introduce Torture Breaks (GM#66), which force the users to wait a specific amount of time after buying a new power to be able to activate it (Countdown). PowerOups will also increase their function when upgraded by spending a considerable amount of virtual currency (Big Burns) and then will be activated every time a user wants to take advantage of them.
A wealthier user, in terms of Virtual Currency, may like to pay an amount of his exchangeable points to end prematurely the waiting time and use the power instantly without having to wait.
This will dramatically increase the use of exchangeable points, creating a sense of scarcity and introduce a final Black Hat technique, Anchored Juxtaposition (GM#69), as a user in need of more virtual currency, may like the idea to buy a great number of it for some real currency, instead of earning it in time by trading larger amounts of real money.
CD 7 – Unpredictability & Curiosity
Given the nature of the “Game”, the product is already well developed on this CD, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be improved with more exciting elements.
Most of unpredictability on this product is focused on the trade’s outcome the user awaits impatiently. I like the idea of shifting some of user’s attention to other elements like Rolling Rewards (GM#74) granted to all active users every week, Mystery Boxes (GM#72) granting any kind of reward, from more virtual currency to virtual goods or boosters.
Focusing more on the onboarding phase, I would use some Glowing Choices (GM#28) to guide new users through the platform and throughout the gaming system, showing from the beginning and every time they gain a new level, what their new powers are and how they could use them to their advantage.
Some valuable techniques I would add from the beginning until the end game phase is Narrative (GM#10) and Visual storytelling furthermore increasing user’s sense of curiosity.
CD 8 – Loss & Avoidance
Last but not least, this Core drive is already well developed and I would feel it would be dangerous to increase it furthermore. Nonetheless the main issue in this product is the user’s focus on the loss of their capital, which brings frustration and desire to leave the game.
Tournaments come handy on this, shifting the attention from the loss of their capital to new earning opportunities. Tournaments will be organized to be weekly, there will be an entry fee (symbolic one) and closed numbers, although there will be several tournaments organized by user’s level. This will significantly increase a sense of Evanescence Opportunity (GM#86).
Furthermore, every tournament will have its own Leaderboard especially on Group quest tournaments, where all participants share join their efforts to beat the Boss, users will suffer from the Scarlet Letter game technique, pushing themselves try harder to get the big Reward.
The 4 Phases of Engagement within TradeVille product.
Discovery
Right now, the Discovery Phase is purely advertising on related websites and networks based on our Affiliating Marketing system. TradeVille is a regulated and European oriented product which grants security and fairness to its users. Once the new system is introduced, my plan is to insist much more on the experience itself, unique and different from any other product alike.
Onboarding
Right now on the onboarding phase, users are engaged by customer support and personal agents calling on the phone and contacting via chat on the platform. New users are guaranteed, after a first commitment, an introductive webinar on how to use the trading platform.
Along with that, users will be introduced to the new system, explained through F.A.Q. pages, Terms and Condition pages, Glowing Choices, Narrative, tooltips.
Scaffolding
During scaffolding phase, users are constantly in touch with their personal agents and engaged by promotional emails and popOups on the platform.
Introducing the system will change the dynamics of interaction between personal agents and users, as the latter agents won’t have to interfere with game’s mechanics helping to avoid shifting the whole delicate balance structure around it.
The more the user play to increase their level, more strategies and more opportunities will arise, pushing the player along the journey to End Game phase.
Endgame
After the long journey to this phase, users will still be engaged by the Evergreen Mechanic of trading, scaled up by a now full entourage of powers to be used and combined between them, to try to take advantage of different strategies.
Along with that top level users will be granted new exclusive tournaments, to which only them have access and will grant end game prizes, exclusive Virtual goods to increase their “Prestige Points”, bragging features and of course competition between the “Big Shots” on the platform.
Every week/month/overall there will be a champion (Crowning CD#2) and champions that last longer on top will be granted with special unique powers.
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