How Gamification started in Torry Harris?

Although the term “gamification” was coined by Nick Pelling back in 2002, it didn’t gain popularity till about 2010. Businesses have been dismissing Gamification as a “fad”, and criticizing the use of game principles at the workplace. However, a deep dive thesis and some implementations and studies later, Gamification is seen to be producing very tangible results in areas of user engagement, customer retention, ROI, learning etc. and is no more considered a marketing gimmick. Gamification works - and we want you to know how, through this fun game we created back in 2008!

During a client visit to our Global delivery center in Bangalore, India, the agenda was for the stakeholders (from a large enterprise telecommunications provider) to meet the delivery teams on the ground, interact with them, discuss project status, challenges if any and bond with the team here. The teams (with members both in the UK and in Bangalore) were delivering a multi-million dollar program that was meant to enhance the customer’s billing systems.  We decided to gamify this whole event – and what an unforgettable experience that was!!

The game was similar to “Who wants to be a millionaire” – the British game show or “Kaun Banega Crorepati” – the Indian version. Two members from the client’s team were made Quiz Masters and were given golden robes to resemble Kings. The Quiz Masters had to ask questions related to the program – and the level of difficulty (read detail!) would increase as the participant progressed and gained points /money. Well, as they say, the rest is history!! The winner went home rich and happy! The clients were thrilled to see this level of knowledge on the program and got to meet each individual team member (architects, designers, developers, testers etc.), who were all participants in the game, sitting on the other chair answering questions. The game helped the client team to engage & interact with the THBS teams while having a lot of fun and to communicate the importance of the program. Gamifying this interaction actually made the entire process more interesting and rewarding to both parties.

This was the beginning! Watch out for more gamification stories and some cool stuff we've been doing in this space! Do share any interesting applications of Gamification principles in your environment!!

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