What is gamification
‘Gamification’, an upcoming concept. Have you heard of it? Or do you know what it means? If you do that is perfect and if you don’t, there is no need to worry. This blog will explain everything you need to know about gamification. After reading this blog you will be an expert in gamification. The first topic explains the term gamification, secondly you will see why you should use it and lastly how you would use it.
In gamification different elements of game playing are used. These elements are connected to other offline activities. In other words, the online and offline world are merged.
Gamification can be applied to different work fields, such as marketing, education, life coaching and corporations.
It is a fun way of providing information and gaining knowledge or it is used to simplify difficult tasks. This way you will experience something in a completely different way.
For example, you want your company to become ‘greener’. Instead of giving your employees a boring presentation about Corporate Social Responsibility, you can integrate them by turning the information into a game. The game consists of questions, riddles, puzzles, and fun assignments. Sounds interesting right? No more boring presentations or trainings.
Now you know what gamification is, let’s have a look at why you should use it.
Why should you use it?
The use of gamification has several benefits:
- It boosts productivity and provides a high level of engagement.
Employees are more motivated when they have goals to work towards. Gamified systems often provide instant feedback, which helps employees learn from mistakes and improve their performance. In addition, the high level of engagement is an easy way to get your employees connected to the company, the product, and the team itself.
- It improves the learning experience.
The use of gamification gives students or other people the ability to make their learning their ‘own’. In other words, learning becomes more self-directed.
- It is more likely that the given information will be remembered.
Gamification triggers emotions and makes you experience something different. It creates an excitement that lasts and therefor the given information is easier to remember.
- Finally, it is fun.
No explanation needed!
How do you effectively implement and use gamification?
First, it is important to identify and understand the problem that you are trying to solve. What are the reasons for the problem? What would improve this situation? Do you have this clear? Then you can move on to the next phase; what behaviour are you trying to promote and what are you trying to achieve? These are questions you need to ask yourself to get the best out of it. Do these questions scare you? Don’t panic! We are here to help you with this.
Gamification is mainly used to enrich a process or activity in a fun and effective way. Therefore, motivational challenges or repetitive challenges which are linked to human behaviour, are especially suited to gamify. Also learning or training activities can be elevated by fun and competitive components. Finally, improving user engagement or customer loyalty are also well-suited areas for gamification.
By carefully matching your challenge to the strengths of the specific game-design elements, we can develop a well-designed game together.
Now you are the expert!
But for the ones who already forgot what they have read in this blog; gamification is the incorporation of game elements to tasks to encourage engagement and boost productivity. And don’t forget; it’s educational and fun!
Interested? Please contact us.
Players win games, teams win championships
Bill Taylor