Gamification in Software Testing

gamification

While we were setting up Beta Community Testing we asked ourselves what makes games successful and is it something which can also be applied elsewhere. Soon we stumbled over the term “Gamification” but what does it actually mean?

Gamification is the concept of applying game-design thinking to non-game acitivities to make them more fun and engaging.

WHAT MAKES AN ACTIVITY A GAME?

There are four clear conditions that determine whether an activity is a game or not:

Goals

There are clear and defined goals or outcomes that needed to be achieved.

Rules

There are set rules in place to limit how you can go about achieving the goal. By limiting obvious approaches to receiving the goal you are forced to think creatively or strategically.

Feedback

They must provide feedback telling us how we were progressing or when the game is over. Even if we lost they provide us with feedback so that we knew how close we got so that we are further motivated to get there.

Voluntariness

They must be voluntary. No one forced us to play them.

GAME MECHANICS

What does players engage and motivate them to play or continue to play? There are many more mechanics so following just a small selection:

ACHIEVEMENTS

Achievements are a virtual or physical representation of having accomplished something. They can be easy, difficult, surprising, funny, accomplished alone or as a group. Achievements are a way to give players a way to brag about what they’ve done indirectly as well as add challenge and character to a game. They are often considered “locked” until you have met the series of tasks that are required to “unlock” the Achievement.

BONUSES

Bonuses are a reward after having completed a series of challenges or core functions. Can be completing from a Combo or just for a specific special task.

COUNTDOWN

Countdown is a dynamic in which players are only given a certain amount of time to do something. This will create an activity graph that causes increased initial activity increasing frenetically until time runs out, which is a forced extinction.

DISCOVERY

Players love to discover something, to be surprised. For example: Discovery encourages players to discover new pages within a website which drives up page views and time-on-site.

LEVELS

Levels are a system, or “ramp”, by which players are rewarded an increasing value for a cumulation of points. Often features or abilities are unlocked as players progress to higher levels.  Leveling is one of the highest components of motivation for gamers

POINTS

Points are simply a running numerical value given for any single action or combination of actions.

PROGRESSION

Progression is a dynamic in which success is granularly displayed and measured through the process of completing itemized tasks.

STATUS

Status: Last but not least we have the rank or level of a player as players are often motivated by trying to reach a higher level or status.

With our Beta Community Testing we were already using the game mechanics Countdown (the missions are time boxed), Discovery (the missions only give a rough rather than a detailed description) and Bonuses (each valid report is eligible for a small reward in terms of in-game currency). To improve our Beta Testing we are already in the process of defining the next steps which will include a leaderboard with points, achievements and badges.