There is growing interest in how gamification – application of game design principles in non-gaming contexts – can be used in business. However, academic research and management practice have paid little attention to the challenges of how to best design, implement, manage, and optimize gamification strategies. To advance understanding of gamification, this article defines what it is and explains how it is prompting managers to think about business practice in new and innovative ways. To this we draw upon the game design literature, and present a framework of three gamification principles – mechanics, dynamics, and emotions (MDE) – to explain how gamified experiences can be created. We then provide an extended illustration of gamification, and conclude with ideas for future research and application opportunities.

1. Ian P. McCarthy
IS IT ALL A GAME?
UNDERSTANDING THE PRINCIPLES
AND VALUE OF GAMIFICATION
IanP.McCarthy

2. PRESS PLAY TO START
• This presentation is based on research in the
following papers, which you can download:
– Robson, K., Plangger, K., Kietzmann, J.,
McCarthy, I., & Pitt, L. (2015) Is it all a Game?
Understanding the Principles of Gamification.
Business Horizons, 58. 411-420
– Robson, K., Plangger, K., Kietzmann, J.,
McCarthy, I., & Pitt, L. (2014). Understanding
Gamification of Consumer Experiences.
Advances in Consumer Research, 42, 352-356
– Robson, K., Plangger, K., Kietzmann, J.,
McCarthy, I., & Pitt, L. Game on: Engaging
customers and employees through gamification.
Business Horizons (forthcoming, late 2015)

3. LET THE GAME BEGIN
• What is gamification?
• What does gamification do?
• Gamification principles - the MDE
framework
• Gamification at work
– Jay-Z Decoded
– American Idol
• Some takeaways
• Quiz

4. GAMIFICATION DEFINED
• A game
– a physical or mental activity or
contest that has rules and that
people do for pleasure
• I’m game
– eager and willing to do something
• Gamification = “the application of lessons from the gaming
domain in order to change stakeholder behaviors and outcomes
in non-game situations” Robson et al. (2014: pg 352)

5. GAMIFICATION: WE LIKE TO COLLECT THINGS

6. GAMIFICATION EXAMPLES
• Interactive advertising campaign
• 50 million views on YouTube
• Created 30% more business for the brand
• Won more than 20 international awards

7. GAMIFIED BOOK LAUNCH
• Every day for a month each of the 320
pages in the book are posted in 200
locations across the world
• The book is assembled online by fans who
find the pages
• The pages are hidden in places that relate
to the page content and life of Jay-Z

8. This Cadillac is
wrapped in a page,
that paid homage
to the birth place
of hip-hop in New
York.

9. Part of page as a plaque in
the Marcy Projects where
Jay-Z spent his child hood.

10. A page at the bottom of the Delano
Hotel in Miami where Jay-Z stayed
A page on the plates of his
favorite burger joint

11. A page in the lining
of a Gucci jacket

12. PAID FOR AND POWERED BY BING
• High levels of player
engagement
• Jay-Zs Facebook fans grew by 1
million that month
• Decoded entered the best
seller’s list for 19 consecutive
weeks
• Campaign earned 1.1 Billion
global media impressions in one
month
• Jay- Z paid nothing for the $2
million campaign. It was paid for
by Bing

13. WHY GAMIFICATION?
• The growth of the
computer game
industry
• The pervasiveness of
social media, mobile,
and web-based
technologies
• The quest to better
influence the behaviors
of employees and
customers
Look at their expressions. That is
ENGAGEMENT!

14. WHY GAMIFICATION? • Modern Warfare 3 =
$775 million in first
5 days
• 1,900 years of
playing time every
day
• 25 billion hours, or
over 2.85 million
years of total
playtime.
• Outliers and the
10,000 hour rule

15. Kevin Werbach
15
SELF DETERMINATION THEORY
Autonomy
• Player-centered
• Experimentation (less fear
of failure)
• Customization
Relatedness
• Sense of purpose or goals
• Creation of meaning
• Social interactions
INTRINSIC
MOTIVATION
Competence
• Problem solving
• Progress toward mastery
• Frequent and direct
feedback

16. GAMIFICATION PRINCIPLES: PARTICIPANTS
• Designers - develop and design, as well as often manage and
maintain, the gamified experience
• Players - compete in the gamified experience
• Spectators – often present, but are defined in that they can
influence how the gamified experience works
• Observers – watch, often from outside, but defined as those
that can’t influence the game
See Robson et al. (2015)

17. GAMIFICATION PRINCIPLES
Designer Player
Observer
Spectator

18. TYPES OF PLAYERS
Robson, K., Plangger, K., Kietzmann, J., McCarthy, I., & Pitt, L. Game on:
Engaging customers and employees through gamification. Business Horizons
(forthcoming, late 2015)

19. GAMIFICATION MECHANICS FOR PLAYER TYPES
Robson, K., Plangger, K., Kietzmann, J., McCarthy, I., & Pitt, L. Game on: Engaging customers
and employees through gamification. Business Horizons (forthcoming, late 2015)

20. Mechanics
Set up, rules and
progression
Dynamics
Player behavior
Emotions
Players’ state of mind
Gamified
Experience
GAMIFICATION PRINCIPLES
Robson, K., Plangger, K., Kietzmann, J., McCarthy, I., & Pitt, L.
(2015) Is it all a Game? Understanding the Principles of
Gamification. Business Horizons, 58. 411-420

21. MECHANICS
• Mechanics: the goals, the rules,
the setting, the context, the
types of interactions, and the
boundaries
• Setup mechanics: where it is to
be played, what objects are
needed for it, and how these
are to be distributed
• Rule mechanics: shape the
concept or goal of the gamified
experience
• Progression mechanics: badges,
trophies, winnings, and other
instruments that show standing

22. DYNAMICS
• Dynamics: types of player behavior that emerge as players partake
in the experience
• A product of the strategies and interactions that emerge.
• Dynamics are impacted by observers and spectators
http://www.tournamentterminator.com

23. EMOTIONS
• Emotions: the mental affective
states and reactions evoked
among individual player.

24. GAMIFICATION AT WORK
• From 2003 – 2011 the top ranked US
show in terms of ratings.
• Produced 345 Billboard chart-
toppers
• Uses gamification principles to:
– Engage customers (i.e., viewers)
– Engage potential employees (i.e.,
the artists)
• It gamifies a TV show and a talent
search process

25. AMERICAN IDOL PARTICIPANTS
• Designer = Simon Fuller and 19
Entertainment
• Players = contestants
• Spectators = live studio audience,
judges, and voting TV viewers
• Observers = non influencing (i.e.,
non voting) viewers

26. AMERICAN IDOL MECHANICS
• Setup mechanics:
– auditions online and in various cities in
the U.S.
– live studio audience of more than 7,000
members
– broadcasted to millions via TV and
Internet
• Rule and progression mechanics:
– once a week, for an average of ten
weeks
– contestants take turns performing songs
based on a weekly theme (e.g. Motown,
Elvis, Number 1 hits)
– Voted to stay on

27. AMERICAN IDOL DYNAMICS
• Survival and winning
• Collaboration (e.g. duets or group
performances)
• 19 Entertainment issues contracts
that have extreme control over
players
• Ringers planted by producers
• Strong spectator dynamics:
– Ethnic and gender bias voting
– Power voting call and texts
– “Vote for the worst” campaign

28. AMERICAN IDOL EMOTIONS
• “juicy feedback” –
imagine the show
with no judges
providing feedback
• “on the rails” the
illusion of freedom

29. SOME TAKEAWAYS
1. All the world’s a game. Gamification
practices existed long before the term did
2. Why gamify? Because you want behaviors
and outcomes linked to intrinsic motivation
3. Recognise the different participants.
Designers, Players, Spectators and Observers
4. Recognise the different players. Scholars,
Slayers, Strivers and Socialites have different
motivations and the skills that produce
different outcomes
Overcoming
disengagement
Robson, K., Plangger, K., Kietzmann, J., McCarthy, I., & Pitt, L. (2015)
Is it all a Game? Understanding the Principles of Gamification.
Business Horizons, 58. 411-420

30. SOME TAKEAWAYS
5. Gaming the game. How might
participants change and cheat the game?
6. Rewards are not enough. It is the playing
and progress that makes the experience
fun
7. Life cycle of the game. What is the
ending? Is the game replayable?
8. It is not a game. It is all about designing
business processes, not games
Robson, K., Plangger, K., Kietzmann, J., McCarthy, I., & Pitt, L.
(2015) Is it all a Game? Understanding the Principles of
Gamification. Business Horizons, 58. 411-420