Gamification in 2017 – so what now?

Coined first in 2002 and then popularized in 2010, ‘gamification’ has been steadily on the rise ever since. Used to define the way developers were incorporating social and reward techniques from gaming into other types of software, it caught the eye of venture capitalists the world over and was reportedly mentioned in half of presentations by software application companies seeking funding.

So, nearly a decade on, where are we now? Where has gamification taken us, and where will it go next?

A short past

One of the organizers of the first conference on gamification, Gabe Zichermann, predicted:

‘in a gamified future, I don’t think many companies, including the government, will be able to avoid becoming part of this trend. I think consumers will increasingly expect and demand that experiences become more fun and engaging. We can never ever go backward. People’s expectations have been reset. This will be the new normal.’

Gamification as a conscious technique has been applied everywhere from healthcare and education, to marketing and technology design – anywhere an organization wants to leverage our natural desires to socialize, learn, master, compete, achieve, behave altruistically, self-express, or gain status. Popular techniques include rewards through points, badges, levels and progress bars; leaderboards to encourage competition and self-comparison; incorporating meaningful choice; tutorials; challenges that ramp up; and game-like narratives.

Because gaming is so engaging – there are 1.8 billion gamers worldwide – it seemed inevitable that the same techniques would be applied to achieve commercial and social goals. In a 2013 Forbes survey, over 70% of companies said they were planning to use gamification as part of their marketing and customer retention strategies. There are plenty of obvious examples, including Starbucks’ loyalty card scheme where your progress can be tracked online via a progress bar. The more drinks you buy, the closer you get to a reward or new level; collect them all and you get a ‘gold card’.

A variety of insurers and health providers also use gamification to incentivize healthier behavior, such as discount rewards for completed workouts and achievement badges for fitness milestones. Then there’s HR and employee management. Gamification has been used to improve productivity, reduce personnel issues, boost financial wellbeing and drive commitment to organizational values. Microsoft gamified its customer call center performance management systems in 2015 to improve overall engagement.

So, what’s next?

With commercial growth comes research funding. A number of organizations have published statistical studies, gathering together the models, rules and technologies that can be used across industries. This in turn is leading to further growth as gamification becomes even more ‘mainstream’. It’s therefore looking likely that gamificationwill continue to grow in appeal.

We believe that game-based learning holds the key to making tasks more engaging – and making users more confident in their abilities. Its educational potential seems boundless. Together with simulation techniques, we’re using gamification to transform education for professionals, students and salespeople across the field of IT. Simulcation Datacenter fuses gaming mechanics – leaderboards, virtual currency, tutorials, and missions – with simulating real-world infrastructure and common challenges faced in datacenters. Gone are the days of classroom learning and weighty product manuals: today’s students will be learning through experience.

Find out more about our innovative approach and preregister for an account.