Gamify the community experience

"Gamification is design that places the most emphasis on human motivation in the process. In essence, it is Human-Focused Design (as opposed to “function-focused design”)." - Yu-kai Chou, Author of Gamification

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Having a system of awarding badges allows you to:

• Recognise the good samaritans in the community for their efforts. Community is all about helping members help each other.
• Distribute ownership and responsibilities to your most active community members.
• Drive engagement organically and make it a rewarding experience for the members.
• Delight members by adding some fun element to the community experience.
• Extend shareable assets that members can share outside of the community and drive word of mouth

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Any gamification system though has its downsides as well so here are a couple of caveats:

• Linking points or badges volume of activity might result in spam. Instead, have a system that gives higher weightage to quality of activity e.g. received gratitude from another member, reactions or comments on a message
• Use points or badges as a method of gratification and recognition of the effort rather than using it as an incentive (i.e. do x to get y). The latter kills genuine interactions.
• If at any point, this does not help in creating a safe and encouraging environment for your members to be themselves and help each other, discontinue it immediately.
• It is not just about implementing a Points, Badges and Leaderboards system. Recognising and nurturing the true champions of your community goes beyond - decentralising ownership, co-creating values, creating an environment where members can be their truest selves are far more important drivers to building an engaging community.

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🛠️ Resources

The Octalysis Framework for Gamification & Behavioral Design - Learn how to use Gamification to make a positive impact on your work and life

Gamification Book - actionable Gamification – beyond Points, Badges and Leaderboards.

mee6 Bot - configure moderation, leveling, Twitch alerts, and much more by adding this bot to your Discord server

SamosaBot - Foster a culture of gratitude. Give the heroes of your Slack community the recognition they deserve.

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