Gamification
What is Gamification, Wikipedia terms it as “The use of game thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts to engage users in solving problems.” This essentially means trying to make work fun. Today it is a very controversial technique, one that has had many opponents and individuals seeking to discredit the idea. These detractors are bringing up the point that Gamification distracts from the primary objective and often times creates unnecessary competition. Advocates of the technique claim that it promotes team building, creative thinking, and an increase in overall productivity.
Gamification has been widely applied to marketing departments in many industries. From simple reward based programs to highly advanced techniques involving computer games and point based rewards systems. It has many applications from learning about new products, to creating cohesion within a sales team, increasing direct sales and facilitating user engagement. This makes sense, people will be more willing to participate in something or to do something if it is not perceived as work. In addition most of us (especially sales people) are competitive by nature and the technique of Gamification encourages friendly competition, as a result personal performances and actual ROI are substantially increased.
Those that claim to not see the benefits of Gamification see it as a distraction. They say also that those of us who do not thrive on competition will experience negative results when placed head to head with their peers and co-workers. Certain industries will not see any positive results from the implementation of Gamificiation, as those industries should be keeping their products and methods pure (examples are the medical and banking fields).
Both sides of the controversy have their points but the data is clearly siding with those in favor of Gamification. Industries have reported tremendous results by implementing these techniques and ultimately it just makes sense, at least for most. I believe we will see a continued trend towards the use of Gamification in many fields and businesses as making work fun sounds like a no brainer to me.
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by Jarrad Kulick