SCN Game ON Summary from SAP Inside Track NY…with the P word

Audrey Stevenson and Marilyn Pratt conducted this discussion on SCN Gamification at SAP Inside Track New York last month.  It was good to get an overview of what SCN gamification is and how far it has come in the few short months.  Plus a good discussion ensued.

Audrey said that SCN has 2 million unique visitors every month.  She said they were looking for new ways to pull lurkers in.  She reviewed the definition of gamification. She posted here slides Game On! Using Game Mechanics to Drive Engagement in the SAP Community

She said that gamification was not just hype.

Figure 1: Source: SAP

Figure 1 shows that the points system was introduced to increase activities and contributions on the site

In 2009 badges were introduced to show levels.

Last year SCN launched Member of the Month.

This year SCN will be celebrating its 10 year anniversary.

Figure 2: Source: SAP

Figure 2 shows how the SCN gamification experience is used to encourage good behavior

Figure 3: Source: SAP

With gamification, SCN has added badges, based on variety of missions such as feedback, content, engaging with others.

Before the new gamification launch the lowest level was 250 points was to get a badge and that is a high bar.

With the new gamfication, they lowered the bar and increase the number of levels so people can move up to get to next level

These elements are on the reputation tab.

Figure 4: Source: SAP

Figure 4 shows the different types of engagement missions, such as creating a status message

One of the missions as you look at the SCN rules of engagement.

You will get an Influencer badge if you have a lot of followers.

Figure 5: Source: SAP

It has been over 2 months since launch and the activity has increased as shown in Figure 5.

At this point I contributed to the conversation by adding that I’ve noticed an increase in plagiarism since the April launch.  I’ve seen several posts where SAP Help is copied, someone else’s work is copied, SAP press announcements are copied.  Audrey said that they would like to see the plagiarism statistics before and after the launch.

Afterwards one of the attendees approached me and said “I’m one of the plagiarizers” and we discussed how he should reference articles in SCN.

I want to thank Audrey and Marilyn for this session and especially Marilyn for moderating the discussion.

What are your thoughts on gamification and plagiarism?