HTML 5 GAME DEVS reputation system

[hilderonny]

Hi there,

this website uses some kind of points systems with the reputation points and the leaderboard. I also saw some websites (StackOverflow) to use some kind of rewarding system.

Do you, admins, use any kind of framework for such a reward system?

I find it very interesting to have such game mechanics in business apps. Many collegues find it boring to use an application or website every day and doing the same tasks over and over. So my idea was to give them such a reward system like in games, where one gets experience points by doing any business tasks and later on can compare to other collegues in leaderboards.

Dou you have any experiences in such technologies or do you know some good HTML/JS libraries which can be integrated into websites?

[mattstyles]

Almost every app I use has this sort of thing, even with the ability to share your progress or 'compete' against others.

Games nicked it from real life and now 'real life' apps have nicked it from games. A lot of the reward addiction stuff comes from gambling, but most comes from getting the best out of employees, particularly those that work in an intrinsically non-motivational environment (some jobs require a lot of 'grind', back in the day this would be done with fear and whips, nowadays we tend to use the carrot more than the stick).

Most apps and games nowadays unfortunately use external motivators. These are things like 'play/use for an hour to get rewards' or 'play/use a certain amount of times in a day', they're external because the environment (the game) sets them and you, as a user, are just following along. They aren't particularly effective but they cheap and easy (usually) to implement.

Some apps/games go a step further and use the human need for completion against users i.e. if you're on todo item 9 of 10 it'll tend to nag at you to get 9 and 10 finished and squared away. This todo list completion effect is still often implemented as external (win 2 battles today, post 3 times today, learn 3 words today etc etc) but slightly more involved as it uses the incomplete list effect to gain addiction. MMO's are rife for this sort of thing, they'll give you a couple of easy tasks to complete and then some more time-consuming ones when you're already 'invested' in completing that list. Many learning apps (such as language learning apps) do the exact same thing to great effect.

Some of the best motivators are internal motivators. Sandbox games that truly are sandbox set out the rules of the world and let you go, they sometimes add reward tiers etc etc but, largely, you, as a user, set your own course of action. There are loads of superb examples in this field but it requires a whole heap more designing than many games go in to (particularly casual gaming, for good reason). Games/apps that leverage internal motivators are usually played by players for a long time (years is common) but its hard to set up world rules that allow for beginner and advanced players to get the same enjoyment, usually they have a steeper learning curve and 'deeper' gameplay. Some learning apps may leverage this type of motivator in some way.

Business/lifestyle apps are pretty tricky to get into the internal motivator category as users will already come for a very specific reason, hence, the scope of the app is small and focussed (which is good) but it makes exploration and personal/group goal-setting difficult.

Many business/lifestyle apps go down the Weight Watchers style route of group motivation i.e. they can be very aggressive about sharing with a group or competing so that human interaction (rather than app nagging) will keep you engaged and they will reward both the bragger and the supporter in any dynamic.