The Gamification Problem

Gamification is often touted as a powerful tool for employee engagement. However, while it can be beneficial in individual pursuits like learning math or a new language, it is dangerous to use as a company-wide reward system. This article will explain why.

Good Interaction is Both a Need and a Reward

For millennia, human interaction has been held together by communication – dialogue and reactions. You say something funny, I laugh; someone is nice to us, we smile. You ask a question, I answer, and you say, "thank you." The reactions and comments are the reward in and of themselves. Just ask any school teacher or comedian why they do what they do.

This system has worked well for ages. It also translates to social media: you post something, and people react. Old friends may send hearts, and someone gives you an insightful comment. This is probably one of the reasons social media has taken over the world – we crave and want other people’s attention, commentary, and reactions.

Company Culture

A monumental part of good company culture is that same human interaction: good communication, getting feedback, being praised for your efforts, and having understanding co-workers who support you. Good leaders listen, help you, and give you the advice you need to progress in your role, and often, as a person.

Turning it into a Game

Back in the 2010s, gamification was all the rage in tech. "Let’s just turn it all into a game, and people will be happy and have fun at the same time," or whatever the idea was.

Now, ask anyone who ever implemented a gamification learning platform in their company, and they will all tell you the same: it works for about a week with new employees, and then people stop caring about some badge or point system. Maybe 5% of people do, but the vast majority simply do not. Give them real human feedback — that’s what people care about.

The Danger of Gamifying Social Interaction

Some tech people even decided, "Let’s turn social interaction into a game as well!" By this, I mean people in the organization get points for liking, viewing, and commenting on, for example, wall posts. The idea here is: "If we turn human interaction into a game, people will interact more, and therefore company culture will improve." However, the exact opposite is actually true.

Once you create an internal point system where individuals get points for liking and reacting to others’ posts, you water down that sacred human interaction. The person who made the post you are reacting to will probably think, "They’re only liking that to get points." So now you’ve installed mistrust and selfishness in your organization – two things that are poison to company culture.

Also, the few people who care about the point system will start gaming it by opening the app and scrolling through the news without actually reading it. Now your data is useless, too — who actually read this and who did it just for points? You can never know.

Moreover, the idea that people should be competing against each other instead of working together as a team is so outdated and ridiculous — and will most likely scare off the best team players you have. Doing great for the team doesn’t show up in your points.

Let the Culture You Have Flourish

Once you put tech between human interactions, it has to be an effortless medium. Its primary job is to let communication — feedback, comments, likes, and reactions — flow freely and effortlessly between people. It has to be fast and intuitive. You shouldn’t be thinking about the app you are using; you should just see and feel the people it connects you with.

In that sense, good communication tech is like a football referee — the job is well done when it doesn’t steal the focus from the actual game.