Thursday, November 7, 2013

Definition: Gamification

gam·i·fi·ca·tion
ˌɡāmifəˈkāSHən/
noun: gamification
  1. the application of typical elements of game playing (e.g., point scoring, competition with others, rules of play) to other areas of activity, typically as an online marketing technique to encourage engagement with a product or service.
    "gamification is exciting because it promises to make the hard stuff in life fun"
     
     
     
    I heard this word the other day, and though I may have heard it before, I didn't really understand what it was until now. It's actually a pretty clever idea, especially in today's society when young people spend a lot of their time playing video games on Xbox, Candy Crush on their smart phones, and Farmville on Facebook. This is how people like to spend their time. So how can we get young people to do something useful with their time? By tricking them into thinking it's a game! Many companies are starting to reward customers with "badges" and the like to encourage them to buy certain items, or take a certain action, etc. I just think this is a very interesting way for businesses to engage with our technology-inundated society. 

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