[…] Read More: fredmcclimans.com/2011/01/26/gamification-and-the-gaming-of-foursquare/ […]…

That was/is part of the problem with sites like Foursquare (lack of locational
validation) that some companies (like Shopkick) have attempted to
counter with combined mobile/local-device mechanisms or pattern recognition systems.

Another approach, which might be better for the classroom (or workplace), involves a built in awareness check, much like a Captcha. In the classroom, the goal of the system would be to verify an academic achievement – the proof/captcha of which would be the demonstration of the knowledge (the lack of which would become apparent if the person where to actually have to demonstrate their achievements).

The flipside, of course, is that you could have a person who simply doesn’t test well, or has poor knowledge retention (such as reads well, but can’t recall details over time), so any knowledge check would have to be built-in.

In the end, however, the reward has to be the knowledge gained, and not just points on a board. If that metric is rewarded, it will be a constant game of wits (purely based on my own experiences as a student!). In fact, this is one of the reasons why I’m not a huge fan of some of the “reward” systems I’ve seen with my kids in school (read X number of pages for special points and treat…).

You have an interesting challenge here. Please keep me posted on this.

To eliminate the risk of being gamed, shopkick places a sound transmitter (relatively low-cost and not audible to humans) at each merchant location. The shopkick application installed on your phone acts as the verification that you are, in fact, on-site. They also have integrated a barcode scanning feature into their system (using your phone’s camera) that allows the user to gain points for scanning certain in-store products (perhaps items that the merchant is interesting in pushing?). In this way, they have upped the level of sophistication in their system and helped to eliminate the type of gaming approach that makes Foursquare vulnerable. But there is a cost…

In order to a merchant to participate, they need to install the local sound-tranmitter device – something that might be an easy sell to large chain stores (American Eagle Outfitters, Best Buy, Crate&Barrel, Macy’s & Target are amongst their bigger clients) but might not be so appealing to smaller, independent merchants. It also (at least today) restricts the fun of the game to retail outlets (checking in to your favorite park and broadcasting your location to friends who might want to meet-up is clearly not part of their game or value proposition).

Shopkick also appeals to a slightly different type of game-player, allowing you, for example, to donate points that you have accumulated (and the discounts/value that go with them) to charity organizations. While Foursquare is going after everybody in the known universe (even allowing people to create their own check in locations), shopkick is going after a different, more closed, user base.

In the end, I think there is space for both business models, and perhaps a bit of model-melding to occur.

Thx – and see you in the stream – Fred

Regarding B2B and Gamification, yes, they are absolutely becoming increasingly intertwined. Let’s talk about a way to bring that discussion to the forefront – it would be a great topic!

Fred

I think your point about people viewing Social Media from a gamification perspective is often (unfortunately) true. Blogs are a great example, where some bloggers compete for site badges, like the “AdAge POWER150″ ranking, or value in the number of comments or tweets they get (yes, I’ve even fallen into that category, although the really important measurement is how many people contact you directly after reading the post, and does your post result in actual “real-world” engagement with the reader or the parting true “value” beyond just comments and tweets).

Twitter and Facebook are also great examples where friends, follower counts and RT’s (and the ever precious Klout/PeerIndex/Twitalyzer rankings) are valued as pure gold by many users – despite the fact that those metrics are just numbers, and don’t (yet) place a tangible “value” on your interactions with peers in your social graph.

Thanks Margie – Now I’m looking forward to reading YOUR next post! – Fred