Saturday, September 15, 2012

Loyalty Programs

By taking this IST 400: Meaningful Gamerfication, I learn more and more about gamification without realizing it. It has been a great experience so far.

On Thursday night, some friends and I decided to play a game. The game was called Munchkin Fu. I never heard of this board game before.  I have never heard of the game before and did not know how to play. It’s a good thing that I’m a fast learner when it comes to card games.  My friend explained how to play the game but it was very vague. I had to wait a few rounds to actually get a better understanding on what to do.
To play the game you must roll a die to see what level you start off with.  This will helps you when you face a monster.  If the monster is stronger than you, you can ask the other players to help you that are strong enough to defeat you.  If they deaf the monster they may want to make a deal. The deal might be one or more treasure that is gain from defeating a monster or something else.  When the monster is destroyed, you gain another level. If you did not destroy the monster but another player assisted you, they also gain another level.  There are styles, classes, and accessory cards that help you become stronger as the game progress. If a player wants to become unmoral at any time during the game, a player can add accessories to the monster forcing them to lose or ask another player for assistance. The goal of the game is to reach level 10. Whoever reaches level 10 first is
the winner.

I haven’t played board games like this since I was a kid. The games I usually play are video games on the PlayStation 3 or some handheld device. I recently started playing Yugioh again this summer.
The game Munchkin Fu relates back to loyalty programs to some extent. Players can make deals to secure their safety in the game. However, this deal can be broken anytime during gameplay without a notification.  Fortunately, my deals did not change during the progression of the game.

Loyalty programs can also change if you think about it. I remember when my mom signed up for Best Buy reward card when I was younger. It was a reward system that helps you save whenever you bought items by collecting point. However, there was a catch. In order to collect a lot of points, you had to buy expensive items which no one had the money for.  The most money that you can save is probably $5-$10 on your purchase without buying anything expensive. You also had to spend money every year to renew your reward card. It was a game that no one really won because of high demands necessary to completing task. Now places are in proving on loyalty programs where you do not have to play for reward memberships and you are discounted for every purchase even if it is 10%. The new idea of loyalty programs is that a person spends more money when they know that each purchase they make is saving them money and they do not have to renew their membership fee each year.   

No comments:

Post a Comment