Gamification has become an extremely popular technique of turning some laborious tasks and turning into a fun game that gets better results. With the ever-increasing popularity of video games in our daily lives, the techniques used in these games to keep players interested and productive are now being considered more and more in the workplace.
Not that gamification isn’t anything new; many workplaces have implemented rewards and achievements to their workforce long before they became a staple in modern video games. In fact, you could argue that video games got these ideas from the workplace in the first place.
There are many game design elements that you’re probably familiar with that can be introduced to make a task feel more like a game.
- Point system for completing tasks, giving rewards when you hit various targets
- Ranking System for top performers
- Achievements for performing certain tasks over a period of time
- Ability to show off awards to others
- Progress Tracking
Gamification is usually targetted at adults who enjoy video games and want to try to add those virtual rewards to real-life scenarios.
Some great examples are learning languages; there have been lots of great interactive sites that help people learn a new language but often these users get distracted/discouraged as they progress. Often described as eLearning, the popularity of these sites that employ the gamification techniques have been very successful in producing business.
One site [name] has implemented a level-up type system that rewards users with points as they progress through learning the language. Users can compete with friends too and even taken on languages-based challenges that remind you of quests found in video games.
Gamification has been in our lives for decades and it is also one of the ways it introduces young adults into adult concepts. Monopoly, which simulates real estate purchasing and dealing with banks. Whilst of course it is a dumbed-down version of the incredible complexities of purchasing real estate, it still allows for an introduction into something that can seem very complicated to young people.
You’ll also see a lot of Gamification in marketing, as it can help transcend media across multiple demographics for the biggest reach of the target audience. Examples include releasing video games related to movies that are just about to be released. This trend has more-so reversed with the rising costs of film making and rather than release video games with movies, it usually waits for a popular video game to make a movie about, such as the case of World Of Warcraft.
Traditional advertising methods such as placing an advert inside a game’s viewpoint have always been a popular way to increase revenue. Product placement in T.V shows and movies are very similar, in that even though you may not be directly advertised a product, you are being exposed to the brand and may remember it at a later date.
Overall Gamification is very popular and is increasing in our day-to-day lives. There will come a time when everything we do will have a high-score chart and offer some kind of reward for fulfilling a task. Until then though, enjoy your freedom!
