Gamification features on your forum

[Shawn Gossman]

What does everyone think about gamification on forums?

Is this something you do?

Gamification is when you add playful activities to your community where members can engage to "play."

Examples of this could be badges, credits, points, etc.

If you use gamification features in your community, what ones do you use? How do you encourage members to use them? And have the use of them been successful for your community?

 

[Software Miscellanist]

On my old gaming forum, we had 'xp' that members could earn by posting content and level up, gaining different ranks and getting access to special sections of the forum.

It worked well initially when activity was boosted after this was introduced. There was also an arcade that was always popular while the forum was up.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I currently have a trophy system installed on Thee Zone where members get trophies added to their account once they reach certain posts or participate in a few video game challenges.

 

[KensonPlays]

I have the Dragonbytes credit and shop system, but not many options in the shop for purchase yet. But they can earn "dino bones" for almost anything they do on the site.

I also have Ozz's badges addon, but not sure if I'll keep that one, as I want to reduce addons where I can for faster updates to XF 2.3.

 

[TechWiz18]

I think gamification is a great way to get people to engage with each other and build a closer nit community. Not to mention, depending on the gamification it could result in folks spending more time hanging out on the website.

 

[JoelR]

What does everyone think about gamification on forums?

Is this something you do?

Gamification is when you add playful activities to your community where members can engage to "play."

Examples of this could be badges, credits, points, etc.

If you use gamification features in your community, what ones do you use? How do you encourage members to use them? And have the use of them been successful for your community?

Gamification from a social perspective can be powerful.

There are users who strongly value things like collecting items, showing off trophies, and finishing a set, and this can be used to reward positive behaviors in the community.

One thing I want to emphasize is that automated gamification should be tempered and balanced with manual, human-driven rewards as well. Gamification can become meaningless very quickly if it can be 'gamed' by users, so it's important there's a balance between automated awards and manual awards.