1. As a supervisor, can you think of any negative aspects of gamification?

Terrific! Awesome! You win! Bells ring, lights flash, and the crowd goes wild! When you play a game, you are rewarded frequently. Play a few minutes of any videogame and look for the ways it keeps players engaged. For meeting an objective, players are rewarded with congratulations and electronic badges, and they advance to a new level. Cheers and whistles!
No wonder playing is more fun than working. No one cheers when the cashier checks out his 10th customer that hour or the technical support guru solves a customer’s software glitch. What if working was more fun, like a game, with rewards and levels?
Target wanted to find out if gamification could benefit its stores. It added game elements for cashiers, a key position that is very visible to its customers. In the past, cashiers received no feedback unless a supervisor needed to correct or review the cashier’s performance.
Now, cashiers see a red or green icon when they check out customers, indicating the time used to scan the customer’s items. If scans occurred quickly enough, the icon is green. If the cashier was slow to scan items, the icon is red. A score is displayed on the screen, providing immediate feedback. A slow cashier can see the need to improve checkout times and work faster without receiving negative feedback from a supervisor. It is a game where everybody wins, even those who are not playing! The cashier is happier because the supervisor does not need to issue any corrections or warnings. The supervisor is happier because the interaction with the cashiers is more positive. The customer is happier because the whole shopping experience is faster and more pleasant.