Motivation Traps in Gamification Campaigns

Most gamification campaigns typically employ loyalty programs, badges, progress bars, and prize rewards, which focus on Left Brain Core Drives. This is because it is much easier to add an extrinsic reward to a desired activity than to actually make the activity intrinsically fun or enjoyable.

However, there are many motivational traps which result from using too many Extrinsic Motivation techniques at the expense of Intrinsic Motivation²²⁷.

Let’s pretend for a moment that I love to draw and drew very often without any compensation. Research has shown that one of the best ways for you to make me stop drawing is to first pay me to do it and then stop paying me after a certain time period²²⁸.

In fact, from my own experience, I believe that a more effective way is for you to pay me successively less until you reached a very insulting amount - say $0.02 per drawing. At that point, I would feel insulted and no longer have any desire to...