You actually have in your hands Business@G, want to use it to assess something, and don’t know how to do? Here are some answers.

Not so appropriate for my business

Probably the first thing you think when you will take the game will be: “Funny ideas, but modelization of business process isn’t working for me“.
This, obviously, can happen. The card and the game itself doesn’t want to be a Universal Gamification Driver. It’s in fact “universal” because it’s enough smooth to talk with most or the company, but when used on some very specific company it must be tailored. This is the reason why you can change meaning of any of the Link (colour) on the card (see Reassign), and why in the basic deck there will be a copy of any possible different card colours combination.
This will allow you to use the deck to assess 1-4 solutions before running out of cards.

But how to do so?

First of all, Business@G is based upon a strong framework idea: there is no choise you can’t do: in gamification, anything can be transformed in a game, and you can obtain any result. Anyway, you gain and loss at the same time. If your game is about virality, you can’t expect a good governance. If you obtain a good virality and governance, you will lose outsourcing possibilities, and so so.

Federico Danelli, (c) 2013

A good starting point is the Objective you have. Objective card like the one on the right are written for a generic purpose, and you should carefully write down a new Objective (using the Wildcard, like the one below) to better describe your customer needs. This is useful to structure the game itself toward a direction you’re interested it, or that your customer will find more appealing.

Federico Danelli, (c) 2013

You have to think about gamification as a new path to strike your target: it needs a starting point, a target, offers some lateral thinking possibilities but cannot be powerful in any field… probably it will cause you to risk missing something.

So, first of all, think very well about Links. In  Reassign there are a lot of hints about how considering it, but you need, at last, 4 different drive that are, more or less, involved in any activities (Business Process) your customer use.

Writing Business Process

After that, you can analyze with this filter how any Business Process can be described. Try to use the link as a suggestion for what kind of game you have to create. For example a strategic game can easily be used for creating governance, while an arcade game for creating virality.
This is important also because analyzing the business process from gamification point of view will allow to brainstorm and have useful ideas for implementing project.
More specific hints about this question fall under the “gamification” skills you have to act as a consultant, so there is nothing more to say about that.

Not so easy for everyone

At the end, remember that Business@G is a Challenge. Try yourself to find new use for the deck. For example, use it to prove how something can’t be done, and thereafter explain  your customer how you can do that!

Always remember that you are a gamification consultant: you control the game, isn’t the game to control you.