Game mechanics (aka
gamification) of sites has for some time become a necessity rather than a
luxury. Everyone is talking about retention, engagement and acquisition, but
are Points and Badges enough to give an answer?
Apparently it is not.
Gamification is all
about manipulating the behavior of the on line users, in a way that would
benefit both user and service provider. Effective behavioral influence requires
subtlety and sophistication. Consumers need to be motivated and not lured.
While trophies are nice to show, they need to represent a true achievement.
Game theories have
long been addressing the issues of motivation and creating the economics of
behavior.
The well-known prisoner’sdilemma addresses the economy of fidelity by imposing different rules of
engagement; a reasonable player is bound to a particular behavior in order to
climb up the ladder of success.
Equally celebrated,
is the Nash Equilibrium used to analyze strategic interactions of a multitude
of decision makers.
Both of the examples
above assume the intelligence and reasonability of the players, and comprised
of bona fide motivators.
Data services such as
sites, telecommunication, enterprise applications etc. usually contain a range
of challenges that flex and differ depending on the current situation of the
participating user. In a way, much like board games, the rules of engagement
differ in dependence of the state and history of the user.
To match such an
elaborate engagement system, the Markov chain proves to be best accurate.
The Markov chain is a
mathematical system that describes transitions between a finite (or countable)
number of states. This implementation provides the robustness and flexibility
of a multitude of challenges that are either with or without accumulation of
memory.
Perhaps the best
known implementation of the Markov chain is in google’s PageRank algorithm,
although it can be manifested in as simple as a board game.
So can the Markov
chain be used for site gamification?
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