Raiders of the Lost Badges

I’m not just a fan of a certain adventure-seeking archaeologist, but also of RPGs. So I’m quite familiar with quests and I really like solving them.

With the new gamification badges, my treasure hunting mode was activated and I – much like in the RPGs – want to complete all missions to get all those shiny, cute little badges to show for it. Well, that’s probably not just my treasure hunting mode speaking, but also my ambition. 😀

But normally it’s about finding some scroll of parchment and delivering it to someone or reading an important old tome to get to the next step, but never about writing the thing myself.

Don’t get me wrong, I love writing. For work I write documentations and training materials or check-lists and I enjoy writing in my private time, too.  But here I’m like… okay, I want to write something (because I like to share and help), but about what?!

There are a lot of experienced specialists here in SCN, who all can explain the modules, procedures and what-not a lot better than me (and already have done that, too). I’m an allrounder  and have to be in my job (and I really like it this way), so I will never get that in-depth-knowledge to write about a particular application.

It’s a little frustrating really. There they are, those “I blogged!” and “I Shared Some Knowledge!”-badges dangling in front of me, just out of reach. I want them, but how can I get them AND contribute something to the community instead of writing some unimportant stuff, nobody needs? My ambition is demanding quality. I want to earn those badges, but am lost in the how. 

Let’s get sidetracked for a second…

In my experience in our field of work, appreciation and a “thank you” from users are rare. There are two sayings, that – for me – show the standing of IT:

• “You do your job right, when nobody knows you’re there.” (= everything is working perfectly)
• “No complaining is enough praise.”

Maybe that’s why I’m so focused on the badges here, because they are an appreciation of my work. They are the “good job!”s, “thank you for your help”s, that come so seldom in the work life.

So it got me thinking: We need more badges in our lifes! 

Not just here, but I want to transfer it to the non-digital world. I’m thinking about making some “real” badges (with magnets for our whiteboards) for our big projects here at work, so when they are done, every colleague of my department, who worked on it, gets one to show for it. 

Something like this:

It might sound silly, but I don’t care. ^^ I want to share my fun with badges with more people. Make them smile.

The gamification here sparked that idea in me, so I guess I have to thank the SCN-team for this.

THANK YOU! GREAT JOB! 🙂
But that brings me back to my “problem” with those badges here on SCN, that are out of my reach. Blogs and documents, that are needed and wanted and helpful and about something I have knowledge of. Hmm… nope, still no idea!

Well, I keep on digging in my mind, maybe someday those badges will blink and shine on my reputation wall. But until then I will make use of my love for arts
and crafts and colors and try to come up with some touchable badges for my departments projects to surprise my colleagues.

So what about you, guys?

• Are you motivated to try some blog-writing on SCN or create a document, because of the new gamification system?
• Has it sparked ideas for you to integrate in your daily working life? 
• Who wants to start making badges, too? ^^

Well, this is it, my first blog. How do you end these things? Let’s try this:

Thank you for reading this far. I hope, you had fun and my thoughts came across and were not to confusing or confused. 😀

Kind regards,
Steffi.