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Home > Gamification > Metaverse > Designing the Metaverse: Community Engagement
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DESIGNING THE METAVERSE: COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Gamification
Posted by Joris Beerda
On February 8, 2022

Remember the promise of the internet? A promise that it foretold of a world
where people could effortlessly access infinite amounts of information? Where
people could forge deeper connections from anywhere at any time. And where
people could be totally free and unfettered in a decentralized space? What a
future the internet was to supposed to have!

Yet, people actually feel more socially isolated than ever before. No depeer
connections around meaningful interaction. Instead we mindlessly “like”,
“tweet”, “upvote”, “share” – but lack a sense of community and meaningful
engagement. Big Tech is using Big Data to own your digital identity and corner
you in their centralized platforms.

Enter The Metaverse, is it a new dawn where fully decentralized internet can
finally be realised? Where we will have engaging metaverse communities that
harbor individuals with meaningful social interaction? Or is it new wine in old
bottles? More of the same failed internet?


WHY HAVE SOME METAVERSES FAILED?

If you haven’t heard of Second Life, there’s no need to be embarrassed. Once a
pioneer of the metaverse community– where users could roam, building and buying
lands and brands – it wasn’t long until Second Life popularity dwindled. It was
a game without Gamification, without a user journey that empowered its users.
Quiet sad since applying game mechanics to enhance the Second Life user
experience would have meant the survival of Second Life as a business.

It’s worth nothing that game mechanics like points, badges, winners/losers,
etc., aren’t enough on their own. These bells and whistles have to be placed
within a meaningful context to make it human. So the lack of human focus was at
the center of the problem. People didn’t want to return to Second Life because
they didn’t really know what they were doing there in the first place.

One of the most natural ways people find meaning is through purpose (Core Drive
1) coupled with social influence and relatedness (Core Drive 5) and joyful
surprises (Core Drive 7). Without it, users pulled out, brands pulled out, and
Second Life was reduced to a boring, immersive ghost town.

What Second Life did get right was that it empowered users to be creative (Core
Drive 3) when building their own unique properties (which also leads to Core
Drive 4: Ownership and Possession). But it lacked an empowering journey and
importantly it was lacking community. After all, “creatives” thrive when there’s
a meaningful community in which people can share, inspire, and provide/receive
feedback.

Look at games like Minecraft and Fortnite. Do you know how much they shot up in
popularity when COVID first struck? People who didn’t even play before were
simply looking for meaningful social interactions. That’s also why community
engagement is super important – it can make or break your metaverse.

 


GAMIFICATION “PLAYS” INTO METAVERSE COMMUNITIES?

When it comes to the metaverse, the one of the main question that Octalysis
gamification asks is: “How do we go from a bunch of people who simply come
together in one digital platform, to empowering metaverse communities to come
back on a daily basis?”

With Second Life, nothing happened except for just “hanging out”. It was the
equivalent of liking a Facebook photo or commenting on a Twitter post. You get
that momentary adrenaline hit, but it always leaves you feeling empty – thus the
social isolation, anxiety, and depression that many social media users
experience.

So, to effectively build true community engagement, your user journey needs
these 6 main gamification ingredients:

 * Epic Meaning & Calling (Core Drive 1)
 * Development & Accomplishment (Core Drive 2)
 * Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback (Core Drive 3)
 * Ownership & Possession (Core Drive 4)
 * Social Influence and Relatedness (Core Drive 5)
 * Scarcity & Impatience (Core Drive 6)

This might seem like a lot to swallow. But it’s easier to digest when you place
them into the context of key metaverse features, like:

 * Social missions
 * Non-fungible tokens
 * Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)


SOCIAL MISSIONS

If life is a game, then what’s the main objective? A lot of people are searching
for meaning in their lives. That’s why many people embark on social missions to
create purpose for themselves (Core Drive 1 and 5 ). Social missions can include
anything from cleaning up the oceans and rainforests to eliminating poverty or
curbing corporate corruption. Just like people need a reason to wake up every
day, people need a reason to return to your metaverse every day.

Second Life had a rather weak social mission. It was all about building, buying,
and selling land. So how do you build a community around that? Most communities
are based on shared values and goals. But buying and selling land are quite
individualistic goals, and therefore, don’t lend themselves well to social
missions and community-building.

That said, it still plays upon the important motivator of ownership and
possession (Core Drive 4). But because ownership/possession is a left-brain core
drive, which mainly deals with extrinsic motivators, it’s not enough for
long-term user retention. The best way to keep them coming back for more is
through right-brain, White Hat gamification, which focuses on intrinsic
motivators. These motivators create the fun in the experience.


NON-FUNGIBLE TOKENS (NFTS)

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse go hand in hand. They store value,
but not in the same way that typical fiat or cryptocurrency does. Let’s say you
traded one bitcoin for another bitcoin. Then nothing gained, nothing lost. You’d
have the exact same thing, which is why they’re “fungible”. But NFTs are more
like trading cards. You might trade a Pokémon card like “Squirtle” for a Babe
Ruth baseball card (not likely, but you get the point).

Second Life had virtual assets in the form of land, business etc. Even though it
was not on the blockchain, the platform did extend users full ownership of their
work. NFTs on the blockchain do not need a central authority to transfer
ownership to the NFT holder.
Platforms like Facebook and Twitter fully own your digital identities. But in
the metaverse, everything you contribute remains uniquely yours. This is great
for long-term user retention, especially from a community-building perspective.
Not only is empowerment of creativity a right-brain Core Drive it’s also white
hat, meaning it makes us feel good.


DECENTRALIZED AUTONOMOUS ORGANIZATIONS (DAOS)

Speaking of ownership and creativity, a great tool for building sub-communities
in your metaverse is through creator marketplaces, where a variety of
decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) can come together and share their
works. This largely differs from the “Big Brother” style of corporate culture,
where everything is centralized, censored, and rigidly structured.

You can think of DAOs as player guilds that work towards a shared social
mission. Any value that they create in the process is shared amongst them. So,
in this way, DAOs allow people to have more ownership and control over whatever
they’re working on. It’s all about public ownership. With centralized
corporations, on the other hand, most of the control and decision-making is
concentrated in the hands of very few people. Therefore, it makes it harder to
feel a sense of ownership (Core Drive 4), let alone accomplishment (Core Drive
2), since you barely have a say nor gain recognition for your contributions.

However, the metaverse is open source and powered by blockchain, so it’s never
been easier to claim credit where credit is due – to the actual contributors of
the organization. In this way, you’re giving power to the community and the
people within them. Not to mention, people can feel seen more when their
contributions aren’t eclipsed by the big names at the top of the chain.

It’s the difference between owning a business versus working for a business.
Who’s more likely to be motivated? People who are simply trading their time and
talents for a paycheck? Or people who are working towards a common goal of their
choice, feel in control, and can take ownership of their contributions?

Put simply, people are more likely to quit a corporation, but they’re less
likely to give up on their own business because they crave the feeling of
control and ownership (Core Drive 4), creative freedom and autonomy (Core Drive
3), and the feeling of accomplishment they get from their unique and creative
contributions (Core Drive 2). DAOs allow people to come together and contribute
to a shared cause in a meaningful way, without taking anything away from anyone
else. With each member of the DAO feeling seen, heard, appreciated, and
autonomous, you’re bound to build strong, passionate, and highly motivated
communities.

 


LET US DESIGN METAVERSE COMMUNITIES FOR YOU

Building strong metaverse communities will keep users coming back for more.The
last thing you want users asking is “Why am I here?” But the best part is, you
don’t necessarily need to script a whole storyline for them. You simply need to
create space for metaverse users to carve out their own paths and find like
minded users to collaborate with.

That said, it’s easier said than done. To truly bolster user retention rates and
give meaning to the metaverse, you’ll need intimate knowledge of gamification
and the core drives of human behavior. So if you’re feeling lost, don’t pout…
give us a shout!

We have a long and proven track record of creating high ROI engagement designs.

Contact us for a free consultation.

Get In Touch

This article was written by

JORIS BEERDA

Joris Beerda is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of The Octalysis Group. As
a world-leading expert in Human-Focused Design and Octalysis Gamification,
Joris’ global career in creating engagement spans across 17 years, 15 countries
and 7 languages. He has designed Human-Focused experiences for dozens of Fortune
500s as well as medium sized companies. Joris is also a well known Keynote
Speaker on Gamification in many renowned conferences throughout Europe, Asia,
and Australia.


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