The stereotypical solution for gamified Communities is as follows:
1. Define the expected activities
2. Select the number of points which should be offered for the certain activity
3. Built a reward mechanism where earned points can be exchanged into something desireable for the user
Unfortunately in many cases the offered rewards are costly for the community owner or not sufficiently motivating for the user - so the whole point system becomes flaw.
Yet, some score systems manage it perfectly to establish immaterial points for community participation, which become very valuable for the user and cost the communty owner almost nothing.
SCN Member comment on the reputation bulding benefits of the Professional Network
A great example of such a score comes from the SAP Community Network (SCN), where every month 2 million professionals engage, blog, and help each other, and in return are rewarded with points and badges. The SCN points and the status are indications of the members skills and professionalism, as Carter Lusher from the analyst group Ovum describes in his latest Case Study: Gamification at SAP Community Network:
One of the unexpected outcomes, and proof point on the impact of gamification, is how some members have used their SCN status (bronze, silver, gold and platinum) as part of their professional credentials. The crowd-sourced aspect of the quality assessment (members awarding points based on their assessment of usefulness by rating and liking content) gives SCN status validity. What is interesting is that SCN status is not only useful for SAP and within the community, but also other organizations. Employers looking to hire IT professionals with SAP product expertise are asking “what is your SCN status?” Therefore SCN members, whether IT professionals or third-party consultants, are now adding their SCN status to resumes, LinkedIn profiles, brochures, and other documents. This is a powerful validation of the points and levels gamification.
Another unexpected outcome is that the point system also helped SAP to quickly identify collaborative and engaged thought leaders and technical experts outside and inside SAP. This gives SAP the ability to tap these individuals for their insights and advice as well as invite them to participate in programs such as SAP Mentors or to be recognized as a Member of the Month.
Example of an SCN User profile
The manager of a big German company stated whenever he gets résumés from job applicants in the IT space, those listing SCN points on their CV are the ones that he is inviting first. Because knowing their SCN status, he can double check their contributions and evaluate the quality of the work right there.
Don't be surprised, if we'll see soon on LinkedIn and job-platforms additional fields that ask you to link to your scores from a variety of platforms. For SAP professionals, a gamification-based skill score is already reality today. Just check out Mario Hergers SCN Score to see a real life example.
Special thanks to Mario Herger for his input to this article and his inspiring blog about Enterprise Gamification
