They are the holy triumvirate of the “gamification” movement here in Seattle. OK, I just made that up. But if you want to learn how to use video-game mechanics to enhance your business’s website, drive traffic and customers, and maybe boost your revenues, you could do worse than to talk to Scott Dodson, Neil Patel, and Keith Smith. Each is working on a different aspect, but it’s thanks to entrepreneurs like them—and more broadly, Seattle’s expertise in gaming and digital media—that the region has become an epicenter of activity in gamification of the Web.
Now we just have to be careful not to overdo it.
The two-minute history of gamification goes like this. Games have been around in some form since we were cavemen, possibly even before the inception of human language. Sports and competition are deeply ingrained in our psyche. Fast forward through board games, Dungeons & Dragons, and early console video games. Now gaming has gotten to the point where companies are using it to manipulate human behavior—namely, getting people to spend more time and money on the Web.
That’s according to Dodson, the co-founder of Seattle-based Bobber Interactive, who gave a brilliant talk on gamification at the NWEN Breakfast Buzz event last Friday. Dodson, who says he “gamified everything as a kid,” also talked about how adding a “game layer” has improved some absolutely vital functions in society, like air traffic control (through graphics and a game-like interface). It has also led to effective and economical ways of driving behaviors through things like Boy Scout merit badges and frequent flyer mileage programs.
But when it comes to the Web, adding game mechanics—like keeping score of points earned through various activities on a site—is all about the game metric (virtual currency), persistence (things carry over between visits), progression (do more and you earn badges or levels), and what Dodson calls the velvet rope (a certain amount of exclusivity and scarcity). Some early examples: Priceline (“you can win,” he says) and Google image labels. About 20 million Google image labels have been created by people playing a kind of matching game for a small reward. Another point he made is that games are fun and all, but tying game mechanics to real life is where the real payoff could come.
Some more recent examples of gamified websites or related services: Foursquare (of course), LinkedIn (which uses goal completion to urge people to finish their profiles), CauseWorld, MyTown, GroundSpeak, Urbanspoon, DailyBurn, Swoopo, Lockerz, Seriosity, Ribbon Hero from Microsoft, Mindbloom, and, yes, Bobber Interactive (Dodson’s financial services site). Meanwhile, DevHub, made by EVO Media Group, recently has added game mechanics to its website-builder product (see image above).
Also in Seattle, BigDoor Media, led by Keith Smith, is making a splash in
