• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Gamification Nation logo

Gamification Nation

Gamification and game design for business results

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Solutions
    • Gamification strategy and design
    • Serious games design & development
    • Tools
    • FREE RESOURCES for COVID-19 – Serious Fun
      • A Planet called Hope
      • Covid-19: Guess what – Poll
  • Speaking
  • Store
  • About us
    • About Gamification Nation
    • Awards
    • What our followers and clients say…
    • In the media
    • Contact Us
(+44) 0845 056 9828
Is gamification right for your project?

Feminine gamification viewpoint: online communities

An Coppens | 9th September, 2019

share:

Feminine gamification viewpoint: online communities

I am often asked to advise on how to make online communities more engaging and gamification is often considered as one of the means to achieve that. Typically they are also structured around knowledge sharing such as technological advice, academia, science based material and other very specialist topics people are passionate about. Sometimes the question is even more specific namely we want to encourage more ladies to share and participate in our community, we know they are members but they rarely post.

When I hear the last comment I am immediately looking for access to see what is happening in the community, what I have found  in most cases where ladies withdraw from contributing is that the tone is very competitive, the language used bordering on offensive or abusive and ‘one-upmanship’ is actively encouraged. I see nothing wrong with being proud of your work and wanting to show it off, what I find unacceptable is then other community members attacking the person behind the work rather than enhancing the work itself with useful critiques and pointing out other sources which may also be great additions. Simple curation can go a long way in encouraging all your members to contribute and managing the tone is one essential for dual gender participation.

When looking at incorporating gamification, a lot of knowledge based communities look at Stack overflow as an example where you rate the contribution up or down depending on it’s merit in your view. Peer review in an academic setting is welcomed and most knowledge based communities does play a part. Ranking with stars can also add another level of endorsement to this equation apart from just the vote up or down. A 5 star rank by someone in your field that you respect may do a lot to boost your theory and application of it. As soon as ranking is introduced, you also want to give guidelines as to what is considered  which level and you will by the nature of ranking also attract people who disagree and will contest the rank. Again curation will be key to keeping the community friendly and constructive.

A lot of communities use leaderboards for top contributors, which if it is an all male leaderboard will turn ladies away from sharing, because they fear looking foolish or fear being made fun of (often because they are female in a male community and know some of the not so kind behaviours that can happen). I would recommend if you are using leaderboards to make it about trending topics and conversations rather than individuals. Instead endorse individuals privately for their contributions from their first one to a high ranked one and then allow them to wear earned titles such as regular contributor, highly rated commentator, etc. Use badges if they suit your community spirit to reflect some of these earned titles, but often just the status is enough.

One online community which has most of the ladies tied in is Facebook, take a leaf out of their book and see what ladies are responding too. Typically you will find they will engage with close friends on questions, emotions and other things such as pictures or videos. The like button and the upcoming emoji’s are adding to the positive flavour. They don’t have and from what I understood from Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement will not be introducing a dislike button but rather the emotional buttons which can often be more appropriate when you want to express support for a bad situation when ‘liking’ it seems inappropriate. I really don’t understand where the media got the dislike button from, but maybe I missed something.

So how to engage the ladies in a community, make it a safe and positive place to contribute. Curate critiques that are aimed at the person and are inappropriate in nature. Encourage reporting of bad behaviour and then follow up to manage it. When implementing gamification really examine what you intend to encourage and achieve in the community and choose wisely.

What have you seen in knowledge based communities that really got ladies talking?

Categories: Feminine Gamification Viewpoint, Friday Feminine Angle Tags: Association management, Feminine Gamification Viewpoint, Gamification, knowledge based communities, meritocracies, online communities, online groups, Social media

share:

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Book a Strategy Consultation

Strategy consultation

Book a strategy session now and find out what is possible for your company.

BOOK NOW

Buy your game deck

Buy your game deck

Build your own gamified experiences with our game deck

Buy Game Deck

Must Buy Book: Tapping into the Crowd by An Coppens

Must Buy Book: Tapping into the Crowd by An Coppens

Buy Book

Featured Post

What is the impact for corporate sector initiatives when the games market valuation numbers soar to record heights?

UKIE, the UK interactive entertainment association published figures today to show that the consumer game market valuation has grown to over £7 … Read More about What is the impact for corporate sector initiatives when the games market valuation numbers soar to record heights?

Related Posts

default featured image

Feminine gamification viewpoint: Stack Overflow and ladies

Feminine gamification viewpoint: Stack Overflow and ladies Stack Overflow,...

default featured image

Feminine Gamification Viewpoint: social sales

Feminine Gamification Viewpoint: Social sales It seems appropriate on what...

default featured image

Feminine gamification viewpoint: sites appealing to both genders

Feminine gamification viewpoint: Websites appealing to both genders...

Footer

Our UK Office

Gamification Nation Ltd,
Kemp House,
152 City Road,
London, EC1V 2NX,
UK
Companies House Registration: 08145023
VAT number:
GB304326932
Tel: (+44) 0845 056 9828
Email: [email protected]

Our EU office

Gamification Nation Europe AB,
Ronnebyvagen 22
12152 Johanneshov
Stockholm
Sweden
Organisations number: 559300-2339
VAT number:

Are you ready to start your project?

GET IN TOUCH
© Copyright 2013 – 2021 Gamification Nation. All rights reserved.
  • Anti-spam Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Linking policy
  • Terms
This site uses cookies: Find out more.