Gamification and Marczewski's User Types
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For me, personally, the metaverse is everything that involves being behind a screen;
socializing through a screen.
Introduction
The engagement strategy is vital to building a community. Among the various tools available for its design, gamification attracts and retains people, with the potential to convert them into a group of people committed to our proposal. Gamification uses elements of game design to achieve objectives in areas that are not necessarily related to leisure (Deterding et al., 2011), which is very useful for maintaining a thriving community.
It is often used to design applications that promote specific behaviors and modify behavioral patterns. It is used in health, education, training, online communities, crowdsourcing, sustainability, customer loyalty, marketing, to improve moods, and work productivity (Raftopoulos et al., 2015, Seaborn & Fels, 2014).
Sometimes, gamification may be perceived as a game by the target audience we want to integrate into our community. However, we can also be very subtle when using it.
This is how gamification would be integrated into our engagement strategy:
Think about how you want your audience to engage with your proposal (values, relationships, experiences...)
Design relevant content that is consistent with your proposal, that attracts and retains people so they become part of your community.
Use gamification as a tool to design that content. So that the audience engages with it, beyond simply consuming it.
To take advantage of gamification as a tool, understand the different player profiles that exist and think about their motivations.
Marczewski's User Types
The key is to know the motivations of each of the user profiles. This way we can try to satisfy and leverage them for the benefit of the community.
Understanding the types of players helps to understand the audience's responses to gamification and, with it, helps the community to develop. What motivates each of these people?
Motivations
The four basic profiles of Marczewski are driven by the following motivations:
Relationships: Socializers
Autonomy: Free Spirits
Mastery: Achievers
Purpose: Philanthropists
There are two additional profiles to the basics: players and disruptors. These show attitudes of the four previous profiles, but focus them on their own motivations:
Rewards: Players
Change: Disruptors
According to Marczewski, when applying gamification to achieve your goal, it is not ideal to focus on these last two profiles. Players will be more concerned about the prize they can get from you than your proposal. Disruptors will directly want to change your proposal. The most practical thing is to work on the motivations of the basic profiles.
To identify your user profile in a gamified system, you can take the following test: https://www.gamified.uk/UserTypeTest2023/user-type-test.php
Interaction among user profiles
Each user profile has its own set of motivations and behaviors. The interaction between these profiles can help create a more attractive and pleasant system for everyone.
Socializers
Socializers mainly seek interaction with other users, not so much with the system.
Activities (social fun):
Teams
Social networks
Social status
Social discovery
Social pressure
Competitions
Free Spirits
Free spirits value autonomy, they enjoy exploring and choosing their own adventure. They are more interactive with the system.
Activities (easy fun):
Exploration
Branching options
Easter eggs
Unlockable content
Creativity tools
Customization
Free spirits can become disruptors if they are dissatisfied with the system.
Achievers
Achievers are motivated by mastery, they are driven to face challenges and learn new skills. They fight with the system, rather than compete against other users.
Activities (hard fun):
Challenges
Certifications
Learning/new skills
Missions
Levels/progression
Boss battles
Philanthropists
Philanthropists feel personal gratification in helping others.
Activities (serious fun):
Meaning
Taking care of others
Access
Collecting and trading
Gifting
Sharing knowledge
Players
Players learn everything necessary to obtain rewards, incorporating elements of the four basic profiles, but with their own motivations:
The consumer, an achiever player, learns to get more rewards, not for the pleasure of mastering knowledge.
The self seeker, a philanthropist player, helps others when it brings personal benefit.
The networker, a socializing player, seeks to generate more opportunities to obtain rewards by networking with other people.
The exploiter, a free spirit player, exploits errors in the system instead of reporting them.
Activities (rewards):
Points/experience
Physical rewards/prizes
Leaderboard
Badges/achievements
Virtual economy
Lottery/gambling
Disruptors
Disruptors can seek to change the system in a negative or positive way, depending on their motivations.
The destroyers, achiever disruptors, damage the system because of some discomfort it has caused them.
The griefers, philanthropist disruptors, focus on causing harm to other participants in the system.
The influencers, socializer disruptors, try to influence others for positive change.
The innovators, free spirit disruptors, seek to improve or alter the system in a positive way.
Activities (change):
Innovation platform
Voice/Vote
Development tools
Anonymity
Anarchy
Disruptors can be beneficial if they remain positive, but they can become destroyers and griefers if they become upset.
Conclusion
Gamification is an essential tool for growth and active participation in communities.
By applying the correct strategies, the user profiles defined by Marczewski can be properly nurtured and motivated. Each one has its own motivations and unique ways of interacting with the system and other users.
The key is to maintain a positive and beneficial interaction among all profiles, balancing their needs and creating attractive, rewarding, and meaningful activities.
This is great! I didn't know the Marczewski's User types, it is a very valuable information!