Where I live, connectivity can often be s-l-o-w when I am uploading, so while I know perfectly well I am uploading a Nannotrigona perilampoides observation (for example), I say the name aloud during those few seconds while the CV suggestions are loading to see if it will suggest the same. When it does, I feel satisfied that I have taken good photos and click it. This definitely feels gamelike. I do this so very often.
There are a lot of measurable and non-measurable ways to compete with ourselves or others on iNaturalist.
There are some people I see who it seems might be racing each other to be the first to confirm particular species identifications. (Sometimes one wins, sometimes the other.)
Some Observers have mentioned behaviors that are very Pokemon-like, with the āgotta catch 'em allā mentality with regards to species in their area or collecting colors of something or a specific species within a genus, etc.
Others have referenced their attention to the Leaderboards and their standings therein.
Some are very attentive to their statistics and ensuring that their ratios of Observations - Identifications are a certain way or that their ratio of Research Grade to Needs Identification are at a certain percentage.
I am curious if you find yourself doing any of these or even some other game-like behavior individually (I.e. not as part of one of the organized identification events or some such).
In true gamification, the motivation is EXternal: points, badges, leaderboards, etc.
But for most iNatters, IMO, their motivation is INternal. The āgamificationā elements are just fun ways to keep score. iNatters love learning, and they love contributing to something bigger than themselves.
So your question can be a bit nuanced, as it requires looking within yourself, and asking WHY you do what you do!
I am a competitive guy. If thereās no competition, I will have little motivation to continue.
As such I do have a certain degree of enjoyment seeing where I rank with identifications, and why I put very few identifications on another bee ID platform: that one doesnāt show my numbers compared to others.
For some bee species, I always find it humorous when I find I have more observations than anyone else does, and sometimes that does spur me to try to get more of that species, even if it isnāt a species that Iād normally be that interested in.
So Iād say I gamify it quite a bit. That type of thing motivates me.
That was basically the idea behind this thread. Itās about reaching personal goals and celebrating attaining them. Itās not about who in the thread has better numbers than other people in the thread. Although, nobody is stopping people from seeing it that way. It also kind of became a game of seeing if you can notice that you hit an even number before passing it.
This is a wonderful answer wherein you talk about your thoughts regarding everyone as a group, but I actually am looking for answers about your behavior as an individual.
i donāt, to my knowledge. i have noticed my name being included in the ātop identifiers ofā section of an observation, which feelsā¦ peculiar.
i am not concerned about my observations reaching RG, i mostly focus on arthropods and many canāt be IDed beyond genus from photos alone.
i browse casually, using the Explore tab rather than Identify. just about daily, i peruse the recent observations from my home state (sometimes then checking out a couple other locales in which i used to live & entomologize). i donāt usually add IDs for already-RG observations. lately i have been trying to make sure i add any annotations i can (even if that usually just means āorganismā)
Sometimes I see photos of something in my area that Iāve never seen before (and usually didnāt know existed) and try to find them so I can have my own obs of it. It would be nice to record every member of a genus but I donāt think Iāve ever set that as a goal.
If it wasnāt fun I wouldnāt use it.
Finding a species I rarely see or rarely encounter is exciting in itself, and being able to record it in my little archive adds an extra layer to it.
Yes, I gamify iNat! Partly because I have to feel like Iām doing something for a purpose, rather than ājust cause I enjoy itā. I also like collecting things but live in a smallish apartment, so I see my observations as a type of collection. And I have a Word document of my observations that includes things I wouldnāt post on here, like animals Iāve seen at the pet shop.
Oh, I do it a lot. I definitely am a kind of ācatchāem allā person :D And only today I uploaded my 1600th identified species. I try to challenge myself a lot, for example each year I have a base plan of making 1k observations, and I try to make them as interesting and diverse as possible. Since I moved to Germany two years ago I climbed to the top of local observers and I spend a lot of time searching for new, āundiscoveredā areas to make new observations there.
Long story short, I am kind of obsessed with iNaturalist :D To me, itās a perfect app: science! Photos! Maps! Stats! <3
I donāt gamify much. I do like sharing photos in response to forum posts, like lifers or cool seeds and numerous others. How else are you people going to randomly see those ?
I admit I get ratherā¦ācowedā by the intelligence level and dedication of other users. I am here for the pleasure, stick around for the fun.
One of my personal goals is to photo as many species as I can. Itās fun so I suppose it is a game. Iām also trying to learn as many species as I can retain in my old brain, especially for groups that Iām less familiar with. If the records contribute to an improved understanding of the organisms I photo, even better.
I get this. Having no formal education, I could never compete with others at all! You will never (and should never) find me atop a leaderboard. I am just not qualified!
But I gamify iNaturalist for myself a bit. One example is how I said above, in challenging myself to say the species (or common) name before the CV can suggest it.
Another thing I do I thought of regarding the āPokemonā example: There is a genus of flies here called, Condylostylus. They are lovely, long-legged things that pose prettily, and like beach glass they can be spotted in multiple colors, like turquoise, light green (the most common), yellow, blue and copper.
Competing against yourself, running an iNat marathon, always a fresh route or different destination - absolutely.
Since it is against myself, I can set the pace.
I love to set iNat goals for myself. For 2024, I set a goal of 10K observations by the end of the year. My yearly norm is 4-5K observations. Iāve been getting out everyday, seeking out new parks and natural areas to explore. I hit my 10K at the end of July and everything from here on out is gravy. Itās created a wonderful habit though and I feel like something is missing from my day if I donāt take some time to get outside and do observations.
Also, I didnāt realize that streaks were a thing until the end of 2019. I thought Iād try posting every day for a month starting on Jan 1, 2020. One month became two. Two became six and so forth. Here I am halfway through 2024 with that streak still going.
The City Nature Challenge is always a blast too. I usually take time off work so I can spend all four days getting all the observations and species I can. Itās fun to compete with other cities and also compete against my fellow locals for a top spot in observations and species.
I definitely do check from time to time if I still have the most orchid observations in my country. And I want to eventually get back to most species but my sister lives a lot closer to where orchids grow and posted a lot of rare hybrids which do count as āspeciesā so it will take a while to catch upā¦
I definitely also set some optional goals for myself ā like āachievementsā in some videogames ā so for me itās not simply about recording the species I run across but also about recording the biodiversity in a variety of places. To this end Iāve been trying to visit, and get at least one iNat observation in, every park in the county, even the ones I call āLATā (mainly ālawn and treesā), and ārecā (mainly recreational fields, like sports fields) parks, even though I can kinda predict what sorts of wildlife Iāll find (or not find) in such places. So this in turn created a secondary goal for me.
