When you hear the word “gamification”, does your mind go to streaks, badges, or leaderboards? For many, these have become synonymous with gamification as a toolkit of mechanics designed to nudge users toward a desired action. However, years of experimentation and integration have shown us the limits of these features. They often spark initial engagement but struggle to sustain it, and in some cases, leave users feeling less motivated than before.
In 2021, we explored this inflection point in Gamification is Dead. Long Live Applied Game Mechanics!, introducing Applied Game Mechanics (AGM) as a more sophisticated evolution of gamification. Our thesis has been guided by the notion that embedding game design principles into the fabric of products will yield far better results in creating meaningful and lasting behavioral change than bolting game-like features onto existing products. Three years later, we believe that AGM continues to grow in relevance both in the market and also for our firm’s mandate–but its potential remains both underutilized and misunderstood.
This article builds on what we explored in 2021, offering a deeper analysis of AGM’s foundations, its spectrum of applications, and how it addresses more nuanced challenges around human behavior. In the coming months, we’ll continue to expand on this conversation by unpacking specific mechanics, psychological principles, and emerging technologies and businesses shaping the future of AGM.
Traditional gamification introduced a way to engage users by layering a set of game-like features onto everyday tasks. These mechanics break up longer journeys into smaller, more instantly rewarding endpoints that stem from extrinsic motivations. However, the reliance on extrinsic motivators to push people towards short-term actions has inherent limitations: once the extrinsic motivator is removed, user motivation diminishes and engagement drops, prompting the need for more techniques that embed more enduring value into the core of the activity itself. Oftentimes, these techniques don’t always address the deeper friction that makes certain behaviors difficult in the first place–rather they are an additional element unrelated to the desired behavior added to the experience to pull the users in.
Over the years, we’ve seen varying levels of adoption of gamification, with a few strong companies rising to the top. One of the most common pitfalls is the premature implementation of game design principles without fully understanding their purpose or the specific behaviors they’re intended to guide. This often leads to mismatches between user needs and the mechanics deployed, ultimately falling short of creating lasting engagement.
The winning strategy isn’t a copy-paste approach, nor is it trying to build the “next Duolingo”. Developers and designers need to go back to first principles to understand what they’re trying to achieve and how game mechanics can be applied from the ground up to provide context-driven support that genuinely resonates with users.
At its core, AGM is about answering two foundational questions:
- How do we help people do things they must do or want to do but find difficult?
- How do we ensure they continue to do these things over time?
The objective is to minimize the divide between what people need to do and what they are naturally inclined to do, while lowering the activation energy required to act. AGM operates at this intersection by embedding principles of behavioral psychology into the user journey, addressing both friction and motivation.
For example, it draws on cognitive biases like Loss Aversion (Prospect Theory) and the Endowment Effect, where people are more motivated to avoid losing something valuable than to gain something new. A fintech app like Acorns and GoHenry might show users how much they stand to lose in future savings by skipping contributions today, effectively framing financial literacy and planning as avoiding loss rather than chasing gains. AGM also leverages concepts from Self-Determination Theory, which emphasizes autonomy, competence, and relatedness as key drivers of intrinsic motivation. A project management tool like Trello or Asana could empower users by allowing them to organize tasks in their preferred, autonomous way, provide clear milestones to reinforce individual progress and competence, and facilitate collaboration with team members to build a sense of shared purpose.
But AGM doesn’t just help individuals overcome behavioral friction–it also has the potential to democratize access to opportunities that were previously out of reach. By making tasks more approachable and sustainable, AGM can lower the barriers related to availability and complexity, turning what was once a privilege into something broadly accessible. Whether it’s enabling people to gain financial literacy, contribute to lowering carbon emissions, or find time to achieve physical fitness in an intuitive, incremental way, AGM reframes how users approach challenges and opportunities.
This shift isn’t just about creating “fun” experiences–rather it’s about making meaningful outcomes more actionable for everyone and fundamentally shifting their perception of value and engagement. AGM ensures that the systems we design remain relevant and unlock long-term value.
AGM exists on a continuum and comes in many flavors, with mechanics ranging from subtly behavioral nudges to fully gamified experiences. On the far left are light-touch motivators like gentle reminders or visual progress bars commonly seen in accountability apps. These mechanics are almost invisible, blending seamlessly into the product’s design. On the far right are highly gamified approaches that lean into game-like experiences, like quests and challenges that simulate progression in an adventure game. In many ways, the traditional applications of gamification rest on the right end of the spectrum and can be seen as a subset of broader AGM.
No point on the spectrum is inherently better or worse, and having more game-like characteristics does not make an approach less effective or less valuable. Simply, the prevalence of game-heavy adaptations reflects the fact that the games industry has long been a rich petri dish for experimentation, where mechanics like progression, rewards, and engagement loops have been iterated, refined, and proven in diverse contexts. These learnings have provided an understanding of player motivation and behavior, but they represent just one part of AGM’s broader potential when applied across non-game domains.
Take, for example, a medtech company aiming to promote healthier trauma therapy participation versus a language-learning application focused on retention through daily engagement. Each requires a fundamentally different approach to keep their users in their ecosystem. In the case of therapy, incentivizing engagement with streaks or badges could trivialize the serious emotional work involved or create undue pressure, ultimately undermining the goal of achieving meaningful recovery. By contrast, a language-learning application benefits from mechanics like streaks, where repetition and frequency are directly tied to knowledge retention and language recall. This flexibility illustrates AGM’s adaptability to meet users where they are and ensure every design choice supports the intended outcomes.
AGM’s adaptability also extends across both consumer-facing (B2C) and enterprise (B2B) applications, where the mechanics can be tailored to the needs of individual users or entire teams and organizations. Weight-loss application, Noom, showcases this flexibility, tapping into gamified experiences for individual consumers to make long-term lifestyle changes, while also providing scalable solutions for enterprise wellness programs. For instance, Noom recently unveiled two enterprise-focused products aimed at helping employers manage healthcare costs and employee health outcomes.
Whether applied to a consumer application promoting personal productivity or an enterprise tool guiding employees through compliance training, AGM offers a dynamic framework that supports meaningful outcomes across industries and demographics.
AGM is still in its early days, with varying degrees of adoption in different sectors, but its trajectory is clear. The future lies in its ability to evolve alongside advancing technologies like AI and real-time personalization, enabling systems to dynamically adapt to individual needs with precision. Yet, its true potential isn’t just about a set of features–it’s about embracing AGM as a design philosophy rooted in behavioral psychology. We don’t see AGM as a rejection of gamification; it is its natural evolution.
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