Gamification; [geym-uh-fi-key-shuh-n] noun, verb gamify/gamifying
Using games to make life a little more enjoyable and slightly less
depressing
Usage:
“Hey, let’s gamify our otherwise sucky lives!”
“Gamification is a totally fun word to say”
In case the definition of gamification still
eludes you, despite the exhaustive explanation above, then it can be summed up
as: using gaming techniques in everyday life. (Disclaimer: that is not to say
you should start jumping down huge green pipes you come across in real life,
you will NOT find a princess.) At last, the hours you’ve plugged away playing
The Legend of Zelda and Donkey Kong are actually going to pay off and mean
something to someone other than your incredibly abused N64 controller.
Gamification is being used more and more in
the work environment, and even increasingly in education, however it’s the
gamification of brands that I’m thinking about. If you’re a living, breathing
human who is at least marginally in touch with the modern world, you have
probably encountered gamification in one form or another. Whenever you check in
on FourSquare you are not only letting your friends (and complete strangers)
know that you have a concerning fast food addiction, but you are also
gamifying. For example, within the FourSquare platform there are ‘specials’
which essentially give you an incentive to check in; be it a free beer with
your first check-in at a certain bar, or a discounted bill at your local. But
it’s more than just progress bars and badges, otherwise I would have been put
off at the first check in – competition? Badges? Sounds a bit too much like
Girl Guides for my liking, and God knows I never made it past the cut-throat
world of Brownies.
We live in an age where we seem to have an
incredibly short attention span, and we need to be constantly entertained –
much like children. So why not capitalise on our childish tendencies by
reverting us back to our youth, where we would try and sneak in a game of space
invaders before mum called us for dinner? Except this time ‘Space Invaders’ is
a health app or an online shopping experience. The concept is actually
incredibly clever, rewarding people for things that they would probably do just
for kicks anyway. For example, the Nike+ FuelBand: it essentially tracks your
fitness progress, and if you are so inclined, you would probably download the
app anyway, because really, what else would you be doing… running? But then it
comes with the added bonus of gaining NikeFuel points when you do fitness
activities, and you can compare yourself with an entire community of
like-minded sports freaks, and even engage in competitions with them.
Despite its benefits, I’ve was always been a
bit sceptical about gamification, I saw it as brands trying to motivate me to
become a better, more well-rounded and competitive person. You don’t know me,
brand, you don’t know what I’ve been through! It is not my cup of tea, I’m not
one to embrace competition (throughout childhood I would happily sit back and
watch my brother trounce me in game after game of monopoly with no qualms), and
I would rather get discounts and perks without having to prove my loyalty
through an app.
