The ‘Gamification’ of Vocal

It’s been a while. Such a while, in fact, that it’s a little embarrassing. I open this story in this way because Vocal is the kind of writing platform that encourages community, friendship, and vulnerability among its creators. It’s not a place for strict informative writing or dull articles with cited sources and bland personalities. And it’s for precisely this reason that I’ve fallen in love with the platform and put out over 60 pieces of writing so far. But it’s not enough — I’m looking for a deep dive!

For a long time now I’ve had this idea to ‘gamify’ Vocal, in a way. To bring something a little extra to the community (and myself) and conjure up something to really sink our teeth into. We all love to write, and we all have a lot to say, so why not expand our reach out beyond our typical comfort zones and have some fun along the way?

Think daily bounties, weekly quests, and trophies for various tasks. Think 12 week long seasons with acquirable ranks and titles to reach for as you write — and yes, of course, there’ll even be some cool badges and graphics to celebrate your achievements and show them off to your friends and fans. I’ve even had the idea to design some kind of sleek and sexy ‘record book’ and offer them out to those of you in the community, like myself, that want to really submerse yourself in this experience.

It is my intention this year to get the ball rolling on all this via a structured series of Vocal stories, and offer an external community (probably hosted at Facebook) for those trophy-hunters among you to share your work and encourage others.

Yes, I’ve conceptualised the idea and so it is me that’ll shoulder the lion’s share of responsibility, but I’ll definitely be looking for a team of admin and moderators to help with the managing of the group and the formation of ideas and graphics etc. If you feel you’d like to contribute in any kind of way, drop me a comment below and we’ll have a chat! I’m passionate about this idea and can’t wait to see it start taking shape over the next couple of weeks.

The ‘Vocal Completionist’ Trophy

The birth point of this entire concept comes from a small idea, a gentle whisper at the edges of my consciousness one night, while others would be snoring, counting sheep, or frustratingly pulling all the covers off their respective loved ones while the other suffers in silence.

The Vocal Completionist achievement: sounds cool, doesn’t it? Alluring even. Something to strive toward, to keep me on track with my writing goals. A chance to dip my fingers in all the Vocal pies (gross) and expand my writing across multiple genres and topics. It goes like this:

“Publish 10 stories to every community on Vocal.”

And it’s oh, so, sexily simple! Once our official Trophy list for 2024 is published, this’ll most certainly be the Platinum, baby! What better way to find new friends, explore new topics, improve our writing and test ourselves, than this?

The concept is simple, the ‘grind’ achievable, and the potential growth… limitless. There’s no cap on how many times we can shoot for this one. It’s what the kids would call: Hella replayable! At least I think they would, if they actually spoke like that… which they might. (Note to self: ask my kids later.)

As excited as I am for the seasonal record books and their acquirable titles and badges, I am most committed to the completion of this milestone. It takes pride and precedence over all other trophies that I can conceptualise for the simple reason that its community impact and potential for personal growth are unlimited. It’s exciting. It’s achievable. It’s just challenging enough to feel like something you can be proud of and flex to your Vocal friends, but it’s simple enough in concept to keep track of without the task feeling gargantuan and outlandish.

Now… who wants an early rundown of Seasonal Record Books? oh… Go on then! I can’t resist.

Season of The Crystal Globe

Now the typical structure of a seasonal record book will involve a snazzy title to earn, around ten tasks by which to earn them, and a nicely designed circular badge that you can begin to display on your profiles or at the bottom of your posts (linking back to the official record book story) should you wish.

This winter season, for example, will finish on the 21st March, meaning that once the time’s up, while the potential to earn that badge and that title will still be open, you’ll have missed your chance to pick up the even snazzier ‘gilded’ titles that ask a couple extra things of you to achieve…

The tasks will include community involvement such as commenting on and reading the work of others, personal tasks such as publishing a certain number of stories or words, and themed challenges such as stories or poems centralised around a certain topic. The gilded titles and badges will add just a little extra to those committed hunters among you, and will be time-sensitive, such as earning a Top Story or publishing a certain amount by the close of the season.

This offers a greater achievement and a little exclusivity to those of you that want to really get stuck into the meat of it all and show off your spoils to your friends and family.

The Season of The Frosted Globe is now LIVE: Go check it out!

My 2024 Vocal Aspirations

I love Vocal and I love the community, which is exactly why I want to put a little extra effort in to creating something special. I want to get this community of Vocal Hunters going, establish a concrete list of standard trophies, and complete four seasonal record books throughout the year.

I personally want to achieve all four of these record books myself, earning all the respective ‘gilded’ titles and badges that come along with them, and complete the ‘Vocal Completionist’ achievement mentioned above.

It’s a lot of work. I have a very Vocal-oriented year ahead, but I have faith that the rewards will be worth the labour. The sense of community, of belonging, the opportunity to help expand the reach and platforms of those that come along with me on this journey, and all the amazing people that I’ll meet along the way. This year is the year for community. The year for writing and reading. The year for substantial growth and streamlined intention.

Now it’s over to you. What do you think about all this? Any ideas or suggestions, dreams or aspirations of your own to share? Hell, you want to help get this off the ground and become involved, let me know down below. Happy 2024 all, let’s make it our best year yet!