Gamification of Everything

Gamification is the process of adding game mechanics to things that are not games.

There are really two motivations for the use of gamification.  The first is that people who develop games have learned a lot about what makes a game engaging, fun and addictive and we can take what they’ve learned and apply it somewhere else.  The second thing is that as a society we increasingly seek out things that give us positive and continual feedback.  Once the expectation of rewards for your actions has been created, it’s difficult to remove those rewards.  As gamification spreads over more industries those businesses without gamified experiences will potentially suffer.

Humans are quickly transitioning to a gaming culture.  I grew up in the age of Mario Bros. and the current kids will grow up with a near infinite selection of games on their phone and at home on their big screen.  We are becoming accustomed to the way points systems, leader boards and badges work so that when we see them you don’t need to explain these concepts.  People just get it.

Games provide a very interesting and addictive feedback mechanism that triggers all the right spots in your brain to keep you engaged and make you feel good.  Bringing that level of engagement to non-games has a lot of potential to get your users more loyal to your product or service.

I’m finding these ideas intriguing enough to start thinking about how to apply some of these ideas to the things I work on.

For more information check out this Google Tech Talk: