Gamification for the homeless

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578’424 Homeless people in the USA (Jan 2014)

30.7% Unsheltered

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57’849 Homeless veterans in the USA (Jan 2013)

1 in 50 Children go homeless some nights in US

1 in 30 In 2013 (2.5 million)

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Our Goal To encourage more people to help the homeless by using gamification

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Our Solution Take a gamified approach to solving the issue of homeless

people with the support of a smartphone app

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How it works

- When using the app, participants receive challenges to help the homeless, with a progressive level of difficulty.

- Local charities and centres for the

homeless distribute a card to the homeless, which people helping will be allowed to scan when they help.

- By letting you scan his/her card,

the homeless person allows you to prove you responded to a given challenge.

Target audience Core: 25-35 years old, higher education, live in cities,

medium to high revenue, sensitive to social issues

Potential barriers to action

Lack of issue awareness

Lack of time

Not knowing how to help

Attraction

Solve the lack of awareness & knowing how to help

issues and attract people to participate

Onboarding

Progressively introduce the app’s interface, provide initial easy challenges &

signal what you can do next

Laddering

Provide increasingly difficult challenges,

immediate feedback & regular appointments

Loyalty

Profile expert players (fame), allow them to coach newbies & lead

groups

Attraction (integrated

communication campaign)

Campaign website &

SEO

Film introducing the story of a

homeless person & a call for

people to help

PR at national &

regional level

Online advertising campaign (AdWords, Facebook)

Mailing to charities &

existing volunteers

Social media with regular content

creation & community

management

Goals • Raise issue awareness • Show how one can help,

even with little spare time • Encourage app download

Mechanics Phase Core motivations

Player type focus

After registering in the app, first time participants receive a thank you letter from the campaign committee with a “A home for All – I’m helping” sticker (Stuff reward)

Onboarding Community Socialisers

Introduce the user-interface of the app progressively and provide some easy initial challenges with immediate XP rewards and positive encouraging feedback

Onboarding Autonomy All

The app “learns” participants’ preferences regarding usage schedule/frequency/duration and preferred challenge type in order to provide tailored recommendations, appointments & challenges

Onboarding n/a All

Provide participants with XP (experience points) after helping a homeless person (see “what can we do” slide) when they scan the person’s card to prove they solved a challenge (e.g. “buy a homeless person some breakfast”)

Onboarding, Laddering & Loyalty

Meaning, Autonomy & Mastery

Achievers

Suggesting new ways to help the homeless (in app or on campaign website)

All Meaning & Autonomy

Explorers

Provide a leaderboard (in app & on campaign website) with top participants & 5 participants above & below a given player. Also provides indications on how to progress and exhibits decay (encourages player loyalty)

All Mastery Achievers


Player type focus

Encourage participants to promote the app by sharing posts via social media & email. By doing so, players receive Karma points which reinforces their social standing in the community and also trophies for special efforts (Social status rewards)

All Community Socialisers

The app provides regular challenges the player can take on, with suggestions on how to solve the issue (but player can be creative). Their difficulty increases with the player’s level and the participant receives variable rewards for fulfilling each given mission (proof by scanning homeless person’s card)

All All Achievers & Explorers

Move to next level as person has managed all challenges at current level and reached a certain XP level (Access reward)

Laddering Mastery Achievers

Allow participants to share the location of homeless people using smartphone GPS & in-app map. Finding new locations is rewarded with Karma points (to reinforce community recognition, a Social Status reward)

Laddering Community Socialisers & Explorers

Give players a sense of choice (choice perception) by suggesting one of two possible challenges at a given time

Laddering Autonomy All

Limit the number of challenges a participant can respond to in a given day with an invitation to return the next day (creates a desire to pursue the action)

Laddering Mastery & Autonomy

Achievers


Player type focus

Provide challenges in the app for which the player can either commit to some action to solve them or donate some funds to help. Because of this anchored juxtaposition, people will often do both


Achievers

In app progress bar shows the distance in XP for the player to reach the next level and obtain access to new, more difficult challenges

Laddering Mastery Achievers

Provide special “high reward” challenges which players can take on to receive extra XP amounts. These are limited in time with expiry countdown timers (creates sense of urgency)


Achievers

Provide badges & trophies for solving specific challenges, for participation frequency & duration, for being the first to manage something or doing something specific frequently. Awarded without prior notice (unexpected)

Laddering & Loyalty

Mastery Achievers

Highlight the “players of the week” in the app and on the website, based on XP and Karma point progression

Laddering & Loyalty

Mastery & Community

Achievers & Socialisers

The app encourages ongoing participation by signalling new opportunities to help, setting appointments to ensure success by returning to the app, communicating to other players about a player’s status, sending reminders to the player

Laddering & Loyalty

Mastery & Community



Player type focus

Encourage participants to share content they create about “special moments” via the app when the help homeless people (photos, video…)

Laddering & Loyalty

Meaning & Community

Socialisers

Players at advanced levels can offer help to new players (coaching process) and receive Karma points for doing so (Social status reward)

Loyalty Mastery & Community


Allow participants to select a specific homeless person they want to follow & help over a given period of time. The app allows the player to define & track the homeless person’s needs with appointments (creates monitoring attachment)

Loyalty Mastery & Autonomy


Players at advanced levels in the campaign can create groups of participants (teams) within the app and become their action leader. Teams can choose to cooperate or compete in challenges provided by the app.

Loyalty Mastery & Community


Feature the most successful participants in app & on website (Status reward)

Loyalty Community Achievers & Socialisers

Gamification for the homeless

Government & Nonprofit

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