A guide to Freshdesk Gamification Arcade and its modern AI alternative

So, you were looking into the "Freshdesk Gamification Arcade", probably thinking it could be the secret sauce to motivate your support team and make their work a bit more engaging. That’s a great goal. But here’s the thing: while the idea of gamification has its appeal, Freshdesk's native Arcade feature is being retired, a detail you can find in their own support articles.

But don’t worry, this isn’t a dead end. It’s actually a chance to rethink what truly motivates a team. The old-school approach of boosting morale with points and badges is giving way to something way more effective. This guide will walk you through what the "Freshdesk Gamification Arcade" was all about, why that style of gamification is becoming a thing of the past, and how modern AI tools offer a much better, more lasting way to improve how your agents work and feel.

What was the Freshdesk Gamification Arcade?

The "Freshdesk Gamification Arcade" was a feature baked into the platform that tried to bring a little fun to the daily grind of customer support. It used some basic game ideas, like points and trophies, to stir up some friendly competition and keep agents on their toes.

From what we can gather from Freshdesk’s own documentation, the system was built on a few key concepts:

• A points system: Agents earned points for hitting certain targets. Solving a ticket quickly, getting a great CSAT score, or nailing a first-contact resolution would boost their score. On the other hand, missing an SLA or getting negative feedback could cost them points.

• Trophies and leaderboards: To get the competitive juices flowing, Freshdesk had four main trophies up for grabs: Most Valuable Player, Customer 'Wow' Champion, Sharpshooter (for high first-call resolution), and Speed Racer (for lightning-fast responses). A leaderboard, which wiped clean every month, let everyone see how they stacked up.

• Quests and levels: Admins could cook up custom "quests," like closing a specific number of tickets in a week, to nudge agents toward certain company goals. As agents collected points, they would level up from "Beginner" all the way to "Guru."

The idea was solid. But the feature is being discontinued, which suggests that while the concept was promising, the day-to-day reality of running these systems has led platforms like Freshdesk to shift their energy elsewhere.

The goals and limitations of the Freshdesk Gamification Arcade

Let's be real, the logic behind gamification is spot on. A disengaged team can be a quiet drain on your company's resources. A well-known Gallup study found that checked-out employees cost businesses billions in lost productivity, so keeping teams motivated isn't just a "nice-to-have," it's essential.

Companies usually adopt gamification hoping for a few key wins:

• Better agent engagement: Turning repetitive tasks into a game can make the workday feel less monotonous.

• Higher productivity: A little friendly competition can push agents to handle their queues more efficiently.

• Lower agent turnover: When people feel more rewarded at work, they tend to be happier and are less likely to look for a new job.

• Smarter training: Using game mechanics during onboarding can help new hires get the hang of things faster.

Why Freshdesk Gamification Arcade points and badges aren't enough

If the goals are so good, why is a feature like the "Freshdesk Gamification Arcade" being put out to pasture? Because the approach itself has some pretty big flaws.

For one, these systems can accidentally reward the wrong behavior. Pushing for speed above all else might earn someone a "Speed Racer" trophy, but it can also lead to rushed, sloppy answers that leave customers frustrated. That trophy doesn't mean much if your customer satisfaction tanks.

The motivation it creates is also pretty shallow. The novelty of earning points and digital badges wears off, and it wears off fast. Real, lasting motivation comes from feeling like you're good at your job and have the tools to succeed, not from climbing a leaderboard for a month. This system also assumes everyone is driven by competition, which just isn't true. For agents who are more about collaboration or just want to master their craft, a competitive system can actually be a turn-off.

And finally, there's the management side of it. Digging through Freshdesk community forums, you’ll see that setting up quests, adjusting points, and just keeping the whole thing running takes real time and effort from managers. That’s a lot of work for a feature that might not give you much back, which is probably a big reason it's being deprecated.

Moving from the Freshdesk Gamification Arcade to performance with AI

So what's the alternative? It's pretty straightforward: instead of trying to make frustrating work fun, use AI to get rid of the frustrating work altogether. True motivation isn't about virtual trophies; it's about feeling competent and having the power to do your job well. AI assistants are a huge help here, and feeling effective is far more rewarding than any point system.

AI tools get to the heart of what gamification was trying to do, but in a much smarter way:

• Productivity: Forget a "Speed Racer" badge. AI copilots can draft excellent replies in seconds, cutting down handle times without cutting corners on quality.

• Quality: Instead of a "Customer Wow" badge, AI gives agents immediate access to your entire company's knowledge base. We're talking past tickets, help docs, and articles in Confluence, all in one place. This helps them give accurate, complete answers every single time.

• Engagement: AI takes care of the boring stuff. By handling repetitive tasks like tagging and routing tickets, it frees agents up to tackle the complex, interesting problems that actually need a human brain.

An infographic illustrating how eesel AI centralizes knowledge from various sources to empower support agents, moving beyond the simple Freshdesk Gamification Arcade.

This kind of empowerment is what tools like "eesel AI" are built for. It plugs directly into helpdesks like "Freshdesk" to act as a support layer for your team. The best part is how simple it is to get started. You can connect your helpdesk with a single click and be up and running in minutes, not months.

It also pulls all your knowledge together, learning not just from your help center but also from past tickets, "Google Docs", and other sources. The focus is on making an agent's job easier and more impactful, which is the best motivation there is.

A quick look at Freshdesk pricing after the Freshdesk Gamification Arcade

While the "Freshdesk Gamification Arcade" is no longer part of the package, Freshdesk itself is still a widely used helpdesk. To give you the full context, here’s a quick rundown of its current pricing plans.

It's worth noting that Freddy AI, Freshdesk's own AI product, is a separate offering and isn't related to the old Arcade feature.

Plan	Price (Billed Annually)	Key AI Features
Growth	$15/agent/month	Ticketing, customer portal
Pro	$49/agent/month	Includes 500 Freddy AI Agent sessions
Pro + AI Copilot	$78/agent/month	Pro plan + Freddy AI Copilot
Enterprise	$79/agent/month	Everything in Pro + advanced security

Pricing is based on information from Freshdesk's website as of late 2024.

How to build a modern motivation system in Freshdesk without the Freshdesk Gamification Arcade

If you were counting on the "Freshdesk Gamification Arcade" to fix your team's motivation, you're in luck. You can build something much better by using AI to achieve the goals of gamification, not just copy its mechanics. Here’s a simple way to think about it.

Step 1: Automate the boring stuff with an AI Agent.

Start by using a tool like "eesel AI" to handle your most repetitive, simple tickets on its own. This instantly frees up your team to work on more interesting stuff, which is a massive morale boost right there. eesel AI Agent works great for this because you can train it on your past tickets to match your brand voice and learn your common solutions. Plus, you can run it in a simulation mode to see how it would have performed on old tickets, so you can launch it with confidence.

A screenshot showing the eesel AI simulation mode, a modern alternative to the Freshdesk Gamification Arcade for performance testing.

Step 2: Give agents a hand with an AI Copilot.

Next, bring in an agent-assist tool that drafts replies based on your team's best conversations. This takes a huge mental load off your agents, helps them solve issues faster, and gets new hires contributing confidently in no time. Unlike basic templates, eesel AI's Copilot learns from thousands of past tickets to offer suggestions that are actually relevant and personalized.

A screenshot of the eesel AI Copilot drafting a reply, showcasing a practical tool that replaces the outdated Freshdesk Gamification Arcade.

Step 3: Put all your knowledge in one place.

Finally, connect all your knowledge sources, like "Confluence", "Google Docs", Notion, or SharePoint, to a single AI platform. When agents can find any answer in seconds without having to switch tabs or ping a coworker, their daily frustration drops and their feeling of being effective goes way up.

A view of the eesel AI platform connecting multiple knowledge sources, a key strategy for motivation after the Freshdesk Gamification Arcade was retired.

It's time to look beyond the Freshdesk Gamification Arcade

The "Freshdesk Gamification Arcade" was a neat idea, but its retirement signals a larger shift in how we should think about keeping support teams motivated. The future isn't about chasing points or climbing leaderboards; it’s about empowerment, efficiency, and removing the friction that makes support work a drag.

AI tools are the way to build this new system. By making agents better at their jobs and their day-to-day more rewarding, you can get all the benefits gamification promised, but in a way that’s far more meaningful and lasts for the long haul.

Ready to move past outdated games and actually empower your Freshdesk team? Try eesel AI for free and see how an AI Agent and Copilot can transform your support workflow in just a few minutes.