Design of a Gameplay System for User Engagement on Xianyu

Background: Xianyu, China’s largest second‑hand marketplace, wanted to boost user growth beyond passive browsing. The solution was to embed a "gameplay" system that combines business and interactive tasks to increase participation and attract new users.

Idea: Gameplay is treated as a capability rather than a business type. Similar to game leveling, product defines rules, users complete tasks to earn instant rewards, enhancing stickiness.

Key functional requirements include: supporting different strategies for different user groups, bucket‑based AB testing, customizable task sequencing, real‑time task reporting and progress updates, points‑for‑rewards redemption, and data feedback.

System design: A gameplay consists of a series of tasks that can be ordered or unordered. For example, a user may sign in, post a thread, receive a treasure chest, earn points, and exchange them for goods. The system allows flexible task composition.

Empowering operations: Product defines the rules, while operations act as the bridge to users. The workflow involves user‑group selection, bucket AB testing to find optimal factor combinations, and timely data feedback for rapid iteration. Images illustrate the process.

Effect: The framework now powers multiple Xianyu scenarios such as "Earn While Browsing", "Traffic Treasure Card", and "Hundred‑Coin Treasure Hunt", achieving over 70% participation and a 30% increase in user activity.

Future work: Expand the gameplay to cover the entire app and external platforms, improve data tooling and visualization, and apply the system to other business lines like free‑gift, recycling, and rentals.