How Duolingo’s gamification hooked me!
In December 2019, I was working on a project with my client and he suggested me to check app Duolingo for its icons. Though I downloaded the app for its looks, meanwhile I thought why not try and learn German on it as I wished to do it when I was in school but failed in my attempt to pursue it.
Duolingo is a free language learning website and mobile app with bite-sized lessons.
Within 2 weeks of its use, I was hooked on the app just like I did earlier on Candy Crush. Whenever I get an idle moment even for 2–3 minutes, I crave to just open the app and continue my learnings. So what makes Duolingo so powerful than other apps that make learning a language not a luxury but a vital and necessary component of your life.
- Level-system: It has divided its lessons into different levels just like any other game. You can go to the next level only when you have finished the current lesson. Or to skip the level, you need to pass the test and directly jump to the next level. But to peak my curiosity, the app shows the next levels in disabled states which prompts me to complete my current level to move on to the next level. We are driven to conquer obstacles, even if just for the satisfaction of doing so. Pursuing a task to completion can influence people to continue all sorts of behaviors¹.
- Competency Level: Each level is such that it is neither too easy nor too difficult. They introduce 2–3 new words in each lesson to maintain my competency. The human brain loves a challenge, but only if it is within an optimal zone of difficulty. The Goldilocks Rule states that humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities. Not too hard. Not too easy. Just right².
- Reward: In Duolingo, once you complete a lesson, you get lingots as rewards. The more the user collects them, the more benefits they can avail of in the app. It is the anticipation of a reward — not the fulfillment of it — that gets us to take action².
- Badges: The more I am engaged in the app and complete my lessons, the more I receive different badges based on my skills. These badges are shown on my public profile, which is a boost to my esteem when any of my friends or relatives see it. One of the underlying motives of human nature is to achieve status and prestige due to which we desire to play games¹.
- Steak: Showing my steaks encourages me to use the app daily and rewards me for maintaining it every time. This ensures my continuous use of the app. Moreover, when I am about to lose my steak I get notifications through app or email which prompts me to take out at least 5 min to maintain my steak. Steak is a habit tracking tool which (a) creates a visual cue that can remind me to act, (b) is inherently motivating because I see the progress I am making and don’t want to lose it, and (3) feels satisfying whenever I record another successful instance of my habit².
- Motivational Messages: Whenever a lesson is being downloaded, it reduces my wait time by showing these messages. So while making me wait for the lessons being loaded in the front-end, they are also motivating me to continue my practice. Smart move!
- Reduced use of Social Media: Repeatedly seeing this message, subconsciously reduced my use of social media apps and encouraged me to use Duolingo. It subconsciously made me realize that I can use this app even for 15 minutes whenever I get free, instead of wasting my time on social media. It is called effective frequency in marketing where we have to read, see or hear a message several times before it sticks in our heads.
- Leader-board: Many times I try to complete more lessons only to be at the top of the leader-board. It makes me feel competitive and proud just to be at the top. The more effort we put into something, the more likely we are to value it. We are more likely to be consistent with our past behaviors¹.
With the judicious use of game mechanics like points, badges, levels, challenges, and rewards, Duolingo has made a difficult and tedious process of learning a language now more fun and challenging.
What do you think about Duolingo’s Gamification? Let me know in the comments!
Citations:
- Eyal, Nir. Hoover, Ryan. Hooked: How to build habit forming products. Penguin Publishing Group, 2014
- Clear, James. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. Penguin Publishing Group, 2018
Other useful articles for reference:
