Gamification Out

There are plenty of start-ups trying to ‘gamify’ any number of B2C or B2B business segments.

Most creatives that use apps occasionally gets all enthusiastic about some gamification idea they have.

Three schooners in and the idea has morphed into something so complex that 20 types of B2B relationships are needed on top of an instruction manual the size of the Bible.

I have come to the conclusion that gamification rarely works and that success in gamification is the exception that proves the rule. The same is true for apps that rely on social recommendations and a bunch of other ideas.

Why is this you may ask?

Well I think it’s a case of the exponentially decreasing market rule (that I just made up).

The first gamification effort probably attracted a lot of attention because it was the first effort.

Thereafter each subsequent success garnered less and less interest as the novelty wore off.

That is, every sales increment halves the market!

Today the chances of getting a new gamification app off the ground are pretty close to zero even if you pay people to use it.

Phone users have just so many hours in the day and they are getting less and less interested in apps that require them to either immerse themselves for hours or to learn complex systems.

‘Quick and simple’ is the key to adoption and this plays against gamification.