Mission: Irrational (Empire Avenue Mistakes to Avoid) http://su.pr/33AaY2 http://ow.ly/9uQBi
Empire Avenue “Missions” are a great thing.
They are nothing short of terrific and flexible in their configuration, and provide a very rapid collection of reactions for those who are crowd-sourcing. I love watching what happens with “Missions” in EA, and intend to run my own for sourcing suggestions on verbiage, user experience issues, and testing this and that with my web application projects.
I offered one Mission, which was a great success, and nearly every day I accept Missions for a number of reasons:
I need to earn eaves to invest. I have been using the ‘Ave for less than a month, and while I believe I invest wisely, my dividends are still low enough that I could use another 20,000 eaves/day to invest and continue to grow in EA.
They provide a plethora of examples of social media gaming in action. I love to see what people do well, and also poorly, in offering small virtual rewards for the actions they seek.
As I learn what people want from the public, I learn about the Empire Avenue community: what causes and business interests they seek to draw attention to, and also, what small actions (clicks, comments, votes, views, and shares, usually) they would most desire.
Every hour I spend on the Empire Avenue site increases my understanding of gamification and the power of a dynamic, uber-gamified user experience.
In my Facebook groups and EA communities, it is an everyday occurrence that someone bemoans the Empire Avenue player who takes their Mission eaves and runs, without following through on what they have agreed, by clicking the Mission button, to do. Respectfully, I can see that there are cheaters. On the other hand, there are many who offer Missions with little consideration of their Mission acceptors.
1. The Wild Goose Chase
You state clearly what you want us to do, but when we click on the Mission link, we get to a page with no clear button or link that in any way, shape, or form resembles what you referred to in your Mission requirements. Naturally, we do not know that we wont be able to complete the mission – until we click that link. Sure, we could click the “Mission URL,” to check out what you are asking for before accepting the Mission but, frankly, the onus is upon you, the Mission provider, to set it up right. You have the most to lose, and also the most to gain, with what you do or do not garner from your Mission campaign.
A. Some do not even state what they want done:
Mission Incomprehensible: What does he want?
B. Some do not provide a link to something that allows a click-through to receive the reward:
Mission Incompletable: I can accept the Mission, but can't get the reward, due to how it has been set up (to only play in Youtube, not via the Mission link.
For the case above, I see from comments on the Mission that my experience is not unique, nor does it have something to do with my settings:
Mission Oblivion: Do you check the comments you get on your Missions? They might just save you from repeating your mistakes. Read them, and you might save yourself and others disappointment.
2. Lack of Consideration
A. You offer 500e and ask that we watch and “like” a “really short video.” The thing is 27 minutes long – and you have taken pains to block us from fast-forwarding, so we must sit through the entire thing. For 500 eaves. I will remember you – so as to avoid accepting your missions in the future. You ask for too much. Please do not be surprised when people leave the thing running, open other browsers and get work done – and return at the end to “like” and be gone. We learned nothing that you intended to share, got us to do nothing you hoped we would do, and you deserve this.
B. I qualify for your Mission, since I belong to your Empire Avenue Community. When I click on the Mission link, which clearly asks for an answer to a question – I land on a Facebook page that will not allow me to comment until I am admitted to your group in Facebook. Please state that I must be in both the EA Community and also the Facebook Group to participate.
Mission Impossible: I am in the Mission-required community in EA, but not in the group in FB - no mention of the Facebook group in the Mission description, however.
I commented on the Mission page:
You didn’t list which group I have to be a member of, and since I could accept the mission with no special requirements, one would assume that I already was. Turns out that I can’t answer the question – until I am accepted into the Facebook group. Kindly consider this. Thanks for your understanding.
3. Mission Confliction
You clearly state what you are offering for the reward: good. You ask for something straightforward and easy, for the very smallest of rewards (500e): good. In the example below, you see what we get for clicking on the Mission link, which asks for a Twitter retweet. What we get is:
A. One hell of a nuisance: all of the last ten of your tweets are in French. I don’t tweet in my second language, Japanese, because it would put off the bulk of my followers; I sure am not going to retweet French. (How many EA members will, would you think?)
B. A profile that shows you do not follow most who follow you (following 9 – for 453 followers) and a timeline that shows you are all talk, zero interaction, and you do not support anything but your own cause; your timeline shows not a single retweet, it is all talk from you.
C. When asking for a Twitter retweet – or any type of share to our own following – offer something evergreen: something that most of us can support, rather than something that likely does not fit with our personal brands, agendas, or causes.
Mission Inconsideration: you ask for a retweet, say that any will do - but give us nothing "evergreen."
Finally, I want to introduce Gaye Crispin, who does some very smart things with EA Missions, rewards her Missionistas (an Empire Avenue Community led by Gaye) well – and quite wisely relative, eave amount-wise, to what she’s asking for. Here is a prefect example of one of her latest: 1500 eaves for three quick answers to some “evergreen” (anyone could answer) questions:
Mission Responsible: Gaye states the reward in the Mission title, and exactly what she wants us to do.
You may evaluate the Mission by the number of people who not only accepted it, but did not grab the eaves and run. See the number of comments on each of those questions (so far):
In the Mission title, Gaye states the reward and call to action. She provides a link that works, rewards with consideration of how much time and action she is requesting, and thus greatly reduces the percentage of Empire Avenue Mission "cheaters," who take the eaves without doing what they have agreed to do.
What problems with EA Missions have you encountered?
What simple fixes do you wish people would employ?
What was the nature of the smartest Mission you ever found?
