Game Mechanics in Non-Gaming Applications

Earlier this week, Offerpal Media had a strong presence at the SNAP Summit in San Francisco, where hundreds of application developers, social publishers and others gathered to discuss ways to increase engagement and improve the user experience on social web sites.

One major theme that came up time and again was that of game mechanics and how important they are to the social experience. During Offerpal’s workshop on Monetizing Socia Traffic through Virtual Currency, a pointed case was made by Jason Holloway of Apps-o-Rama when he said, in response to an audience question asking how game mechanics apply to non-gaming applications, “If you don’t think your application is a game, you are missing the boat.”

The point that Holloway went on to make is that all social web sites are essentially games, including mega-properties like eBay, which uses traditional game mechanics such as Exchanges, Points, Rankings, and more. Even applications and social web sites that don’t think of themselves as pure games must incorporate gaming elements if they are to succeed.

Holloway then urged the audience to study the teachings of Amy Jo Kim, a Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience, in-demand consultant on game design, and someone we have referenced here on this blog in the past. One of Kim’s most popular presentations is below:

What are your thoughts? How does your application or social web site utilize game mechanics? Drop us a line or leave a comment if you’d like to discuss.