71 THE JOB’S A GAME: HOW GAME DESIGN BUILDS BETTER TEAMS “build stronger social bonds and […] social networks.”37 Games, like good leaders, “enable others to act.”38 Kouzes and Posner encourage leaders to build player agency in their teams by “foster[ing] collaboration by building trust and facilitating relationships” and “strengthen[ing] others by increasing selfdetermination and developing competence.”39 Clear and consistent expectations (read: rules) are essential for building the trust Kouzes and Posner prescribe, but agency is equally important. Team members need to be empowered to take self-directed actions which move the team toward their shared goal, otherwise work becomes pointless drudgery. Like game designers constructing a cooperative gaming system, leaders must shape the culture of their organizations in a way that promotes and rewards teamwork, by “develop[ing] cooperative goals and roles,”40 “support[ing] norms of reciprocity,”41 and “structur[ing] projects to promote joint effort.”42 The field of play must be both definite and wide enough to provide team members with legitimate choices43 and with the necessary latitude to pursue creative solutions to the problems they face.44 Players need to possess measurable and meaningful influence over the success of their team, but they also need to see the effects of their influence, preferably in real time. Enter, therefore, McGonigal’s call for a feedback system. Consider crowdfunding, which is essentially a form of “gamified” fundraising. Kickstarters come with a goal (this exact amount of money will get you this exact product), a rulebook (you reach the goal by giving money and/or spreading awareness of the fundraiser), and player agency (every dollar moves us visibly closer to our goal). And of course, participation is completely voluntary, and backers are free to invest only in the products which they themselves want to see made. But where crowdfunding truly shines is the feedback system. Not only can backers watch the dollars pour in in real time, but most Kickstarters also come with “stretch goals,” which define dollar amounts beyond the initial threshold that add new features or enhancements to the original product. Additionally, backers are often given progressively impressive titles depending on the amount of money they give. Backers of the animated series The Legend of Vox Machina, for example, could earn levels of distinguished badges depending upon donation sums,
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