Gamification - How I Learned to Love my Job

(Laurak the Dragon Knight.)

Gamification is the idea of incorporating video game mechanics like levelling, grinding and boss battles into everyday life. When I arrive at work I mentally picture myself, Sword in hand, preparing for a long day saving the world. I started by plotting out 100 levels for my character and the extra skills she would develop. I outlined rewards and treasures she would receive, when she would receive them and fleshed out her back story so I knew exactly who I was. Next I worked out a progression curve for experience so it would be easy to achieve the earlier levels but maxing out my attributes would take a long time. I worked out how much experience I would get for every hour worked, special achievements and for working on my day off. It took some tweaking. Getting the progression speed right took a lot of time, but as soon as this story running in my head I found my boring days became a lot more exciting. I wasn't aimlessly scanning items, I was level grinding so that I could treat myself to that tub of expensive icecream in the freezer. I was working my days off so my character might be strong enough to defeat one of the wizard's minions and earn me a day out at my favourite bit of beach. The world was a much more interesting place and the part of my life I once dreaded had become something not only bearable, but fun too. To make matters even more interesting I took things a step further. About a month ago I invested a day into working in a program called RPG Maker VX. It's a simple visual editing tool for creating two dimensional, top down RPG's, but I used it as a way to enhance what I was doing with Gamification at work. I set up my character with the attributes I had worked out earlier and set up some dungeons with various bosses that fitted into a little story I made. Every time I levelled at work I would boost my character by a level in the game and see which bosses I was strong enough to defeat. It provided some great milestones to pursue and really pushed me to do my best at work every day. In a recent interview with Ben Bertoli, creator of the classrom JRPG format ClassRealm, I asked if he had any ideas for using Gamification in the workplace. He responded by saying that €œPeople find their jobs boring. Gamification spices it up! Also at home, chores are boring but "Adventures" that involve cleaning are WAY more fun. Putting a "game" spin on anything usually makes it more enjoyable... You could earn special rewards for doing certain tasks or like get a huge level boost for every blue shirt you ring up. Competition is big part of that as well, it's even more fun if you're competing.€ As you can see, Gamification can be a pretty powerful motivational tool. It has made a big difference to me day to day, and I really think it has a lot of areas where it has the potential to help others achieve the level of motivation it has helped me achieve. What do you think of these ideas? Have you ever tried anything similar? Would you consider trying this out? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and feel free to ask away if you want any advice on testing these methods out yourself.