In March 2021, The National Heritage Board of Singapore (NHB) completed the revamp of roots.gov.sg, a website serving as a one-stop digital concierge for exploring Singapore’s culture and heritage, organising over 120,000 content items into different categories to facilitate better user experience. To promote visits to the website, NHB launched a virtual event, Heritage Hunter.
A couple of classic elements of gamification are present here. Firstly, the presence of virtual coins as part of a full set of collectibles appeals to the collector in all of us. Utilising a lucky draw also triggers a sense of unpredictability in outcomes that keeps people in suspense. Ultimately, these all serve the purpose of getting users to explore the smorgasbord of heritage information that Roots has to offer, from old residential neighborhoods to war memorials and traditional attire. the clues being more obscure and tougher game heightens the player’s sense of accomplishment as they find the right pages before anyone else does.
While gamification may sound like fun all the time, it is much deeper than that — browsing through a heritage website is not everyone’s idea of fun. Rather, gamification is the application of mechanics commonly found in games to drive human behaviour. By crafting experiences specifically to motivate behaviour, we can continue to inspire our customers, clients and staff.
