Super incentive system for gamified product operations

This article was first published in 2015. In recent years, there have been many new supplementary thoughts on this product concept, so I have reorganized and published it.

Most products will have an incentive plan for their users in the middle and late stages, which may include various points methods and gold coin rewards. Many people are also talking about various means of gamification operations. This article wants to put aside all the specific optimization measures and instead explain to you the logic of gamification product operations from the underlying thinking of gamification logic.

I drew the entire underlying logic into a diagram, as follows:

Let’s first analyze the meaning of this picture.

1. Fun (interest): entrance and forming external force. Interest is obviously the entrance for users to enter this siege. Once entered, it is also the wall of this siege. If they want to go out, they will inevitably encounter this wall. There will be a screening under the "supervision" of the external force. If the user's escape force is greater than the external force, the user will exit the siege; if the external force is greater than the escape force, the user will return to the inner loop.

2. Competition and levels/missions: underlying structure. It is the basis of the inner loop. What users continuously do in the inner loop is mainly competing and completing level tasks, which consumes most of the users' time.

3. Rank/Finish: Center Force. The generation of central force is actually the self-realization of users through ranking and completing tasks, so it will generate the strongest demand motivation and form the central force of the entire internal circulation, which is equivalent to the heart. Competing with others means competing and comparing with others. Completing cards and tasks is actually comparing with yourself or with the makers of the game rules. Completing it also realizes yourself.

4. Points/Coins: Accumulate power. Points and coins can be obtained through competition and level tasks, or through ranking and completion results. Generally, the latter is achieved more frequently, so the points/coins will be more than the former. No matter where it comes from, the points and gold coins link is actually a process of accumulating power. Assuming that this link is cancelled, it actually has no direct impact on the internal cycle. The worst that can happen is that you can get props directly after passing the level (which is indeed the case in many cases). Then why is there an extra link of points/coins?

In fact, a hurdle is deliberately added to allow users to accumulate strength. The advantage of charging is that users may not release all of it. If they do not release it completely, they will feel it is a pity to have charged but not released it, thus continuing the internal cycle. On the other hand, charging can give users space and allow them to release selectively. At the same time, the progress from charging to releasing is deliberately lengthened, which makes the internal cycle path longer and the time users can stay longer year-on-year.

5. Items/Skills: Release. This stage is the release of points and gold coins. The released results are then reapplied to the competition and level tasks, linking with the underlying structure and completing the closed loop of the internal cycle. The above structures exist in a complete gamification incentive system in different ways, but they all cannot escape this kind of interlocking logic.

After looking at this logic from the bottom up, we need to look at some of the key rules within this logic.

Key rule 1: The length of the path through which external forces enter the internal cycle determines the retention rate of new users.

When we play games, there is usually some user guidance. For example, when planting vegetables, we will at least guide you to plant seeds - harvest fruits - plant seeds again - harvest fruits again - open up new fields... Simply put, this is a user teaching process, but from the relationship between the inner cycle and the external force mentioned just now, this process is the path to bring you from the external force into the inner cycle. If this path is very long and you still don’t feel the stimulation of the internal loop after many steps, you may give up the game and end up leaving.

Therefore, the path of this process determines the retention of new users. The length of the path is not completely related to the number of guided steps, but refers to how quickly you can stimulate the user to enter the inner loop. Some solutions with strong stimulation may have many steps, but they can also successfully lead users into the inner loop, which is also a success. For example, suppose you can get a reward of 1,000 RMB for playing a game. Even if the guided action takes 2 hours, you will be stimulated by the inner loop to "complete" the 1,000 RMB.

Under certain stimulation conditions, the fewer steps and time, the more likely it is to retain users. Conversely, steps and time are the interception force that the external force gives to your users. If there are too many steps and time, users will escape from the external force and leave. Therefore, the internal cycle of stimulation must be completed before the external force is consumed.

Key rule 2: The weaker the external force, the stronger the internal circulation is needed; conversely, the stronger the external force, the less strong the internal circulation is needed.

Simply put, the simpler the gameplay of a product, the stronger the internal circulation needs to be. In fact, it requires a strong core force for ranking and completion. For example, previously popular games such as Shoot the Plane, Jump, Bounce, and Candy Crush, which always top the list of casual games, as well as those H5 games that can quickly become popular on WeChat, all have simple gameplay but strong core force.

In order to retain as many users as possible, great emphasis is placed on ranking and completion effectiveness, and the ranking and completion results are even amplified through sharing on WeChat. For another example, WeChat Sports can actually be seen as a game. The underlying gameplay is just walking, and the peripheral force is very weak, but the central force is indeed the entire power of this gameplay. The presentation method is directly the ranking list, and the central force is amplified by pinning the cover to the top, allowing the internal cycle to continue.

Although this "game" does not have point props, users will develop props for themselves by "taking a few more steps" or even using technical cheats to achieve a better internal cycle, which shows how terrible the central force is.

Key rule three: If the external force is strong, the life cycle will be long; if the external force is weak, the life cycle will be short.

Although many popular products are simple and have strong internal circulation, they usually have weak external forces. This type of product causes users to run quickly in the internal loop due to strong stimulation, so the life cycle will also lead to death due to the rapid consumption of the internal loop. This is like a person with strong cardiopulmonary function, who reaches the end of his life faster due to over-consumption of his strong cardiopulmonary function.

What can truly extend the life cycle over a long period of time is external forces. Just like large-scale productions such as "Onmyoji" and "World of Warcraft", meticulous production in art, game world setting, and derivatives of peripheral IP products can greatly enhance external power. Such products gain multi-dimensional external power to extend their own life cycle.

So you can simply understand that if a game is very complex and large, then the external forces are usually very strong. It is because they have made very complex and large designs that the external forces can continue to increase. Therefore, the requirements for the internal circulation are not that high at this time. In fact, most stand-alone games only have strong external forces and do not pay much attention to the internal circulation. People who plan stand-alone games understand this. Large-scale stand-alone games will not pay much attention to completing tasks and rankings. Even if they do, the entrances to these may be deeper, and more time will be spent on plot and picture design.

Key Rule 4: Internal circulation and external forces can be nested and superimposed on each other. The more nested and overlapping they are, the stronger the force.

You will definitely find that most games have multiple points and gold coin systems used simultaneously. There may be complex exchange relationships such as points for gold coins, gold coins for gems, gems for physical strength, physical strength for time, etc. "Redemption" is actually just a connection point for multiple points systems. Gold coins have their own consumption system, which is an internal circulation system. At the same time, gems and physical strength correspond to an internal circulation system. Their direct connection point is the "exchange action".

The more inner loops you nest, the more complex the user's loop path becomes, and the stimulation path becomes longer and more multidimensional, thus creating a stimulation effect of 1+1>2.

It's not just the internal circulation. External forces can also be nested and superimposed. The art design, plot design, world view design, IP derivatives, etc. mentioned earlier, these elements combined into a game is a kind of nesting of external forces. You may be attracted by the art of this game, and then you fall in love with the interesting plot and character design of this game. This is the superposition of external forces, and it is also the result of 1+1>2.

How can non-gaming products learn from this? First of all, external forces are usually established when a product has its own product logic. What we generally call user incentives usually refers to the construction of the internal loop.

1. First of all, we must be able to open up the internal circulation

Not every product can easily complete the internal cycle, but if you are not aware of the existence of the internal cycle, it will greatly reduce the central force. The central force that is hard to generate is released outside the siege during the release link. How can you still surround your users?

If we view community participation as a gameplay, that is, the underlying structure, many communities have usually established a ranking and completion system when they are in operation. For example, they will set up leaderboards, sign-in tasks, and some have also established points/coins. There is an overwhelming amount of virtual currency in various communities, but because the props and skills released in the end are often exchanged for prizes that are irrelevant to the underlying structure, they have no effect on the underlying structure at all, resulting in a break in the internal cycle and a loss of a lot of central strength. Most point malls have this problem. Is there any case of completing the inner loop? have. Especially in the taxi industry, the internal cycle can often be completed naturally, that is, points are obtained, points are exchanged for taxi coupons, and taxi coupons act back on the underlying structure, thus realizing the internal cycle. The one that has done better in this regard is Alipay. Alipay gives Ant points through user payment actions, and the benefits of redeeming points can usually stimulate user consumption and payment, thus achieving a perfect circulation system.

2. Strengthen the central force and nesting ability of the inner loop

As mentioned earlier, the simpler a game is, the stronger the internal circulation and central force should be. Usually the underlying structure of a community is very simple, it is nothing more than discussing one content, so we can regard the community product as equivalent to a simple game product like WeChat operation from a gaming perspective. So at this time, the stronger the internal circulation and central force, the higher the user stickiness.

Central power can be reshaped by setting up an internal ranking system, building social lists, etc., or it can be enhanced by adding incentive chips. For example, Paipai and Qutoutiao use cash red envelopes to strengthen the central force, WeChat Sports uses "grab the cover" to strengthen the central force, and Koi activities use explosive prizes to strengthen the central force...

3. Let users enter the inner loop faster and earlier

Don't design your points system as a game that only a certain group of people will play regularly. It is imperative to find a way to bring users from external forces to the stimulation of the internal cycle as soon as they enter the product.

Entering the inner loop usually does not affect the main process of the product, so let users enter the inner loop at an appropriate time and experience the stimulation of the central force of the inner loop. Then users will have new reasons other than interest (external force) to open your product.

4. When users want to exit, you can emphasize your external forces and internal loops

The most common way is user interception on the Android side (although this sounds a bit rogue, it is really effective). When a user wants to leave the product, a pop-up window telling the user how many gold coins are left to claim, or saying something like "You're just a little bit away from getting first place today," is very effective in retaining the user. This is to emphasize the outer force or inner loop when the user wants to escape.

Therefore, if you want to increase user stickiness, there are only two ways to do it. Either enhance the fun and diversity of the underlying structure of the gameplay to make the peripheral force stronger, so that when the user is about to escape, he is trapped by the peripheral force and returns to the inner loop. The way to increase it can be through the optimization of the gameplay and design of the product itself; or enhance the central force. Even if there is nothing fun at the bottom, it will allow users to stay in the inner loop more continuously in the existing underlying structure.

Author: Box Fungus

Source: Activity Box