Trends in Technology

How Gamification is Changing the World

September 1, 2018 by Bobby J Davidson
Read similar articles in: Uncategorized

Gamification Life is like a game. Whether you like it or not, there will always be someone keeping score and measuring your success. A concept based on this very concept is gamification—a technique that everyone needs to be familiar with. Here is more on gamification and how it is driving change in today’s connected world.

Things are not always what they seem. The next time you’re on a subway train, or in a conference room at work, notice the people around you. You may find them deeply engrossed in their smart phones. At this juncture, the first thought you would probably have is that these people you see on the train or in the conference room are focusing hard on their work or something seriously important but you couldn’t be more wrong! Welcome to the new world—the world of gamification.

What is Gamification?

In the last few years, gamification has taken the world by storm and this is not an exaggeration. So, what is gamification and why has it become so popular? It is the use of game thinking, game design techniques, game mechanics and analytics to enhance a business context and influence change in the behavior of employees and/or customers.

Contrary to what the name suggests, gamification is not all about games—if at all. Instead, its focus is on measuring, identifying behavior, and influencing structure change. Though it is an integral part of the concept, gamification is much more than just using the scoring elements in a business or educational context. Provided it is implemented effectively, gamification can help to achieve goals and address specific business objectives. Gamification changes the business interface from a simple human-computer interface into a broader, behavior- based feedback loop.

While gamification may be a relatively new concept, some of the techniques that make up gamification have been around since the time the very first salesman was hired. An example of this is the measurement and rewards methods used to improve sales performance that sales reps are already familiar with.

Some of the standard techniques of gamification include the use of leaderboards, sales incentives, and peer pressure to increase performance. A basic example of gamification are the sales bonus plans used in most organizations today. Recent strategic techniques such as balanced score include activities that gamification embraces. These include information gathering and informed decision making.

Gamification is Reshaping the Future of Education

The benefits of gamification are not limited to business; gamification is also helping reshape the future of education. Games put context into why people do things and help us become more engaged with what we do, unlike a theocratical class which can initially show no purpose. If you play board games such as Monopoly or Cluedo, you will always walk away with new skills. Monopoly is a good example because it combines learning how to strategize taking over land, investments and payoffs, money managing, negotiating and networking with other players, and helps players consider probability lessons. Today, it’s not about what theories you have been taught in school, but it is about the skills that you can apply to real world tasks even if the skills came from a simple board game.

What Makes Gamification So Useful?

By time the time they are 21, most people have spent thousands of hours on online gaming. The good news is that there are many positive to take from this. According to Wikipedia, “Gamification techniques strive to leverage people’s natural desires for socializing, learning, mastery, competition, achievement, status, self-expression, altruism, or closure.” Not the best source to quote but still you get the idea that gamification can be incredibly useful in leveraging the desires of people to achieve the objectives of your business or community.

People love to play and they enjoy the challenge, the distraction, the escape and the gratification of achievement that gamification provides them with. By applying this positive impact of gamification to learning and/or other areas, you can unlock the door to a whole new level of leaning and business benefits. Following are some of reasons making gamification an incredibly useful concept/strategy:

It is a ‘Universal’ Tool

Gamification is a universal tool, which means that it can be used to fulfill many needs, including enabling core skills, induction and onboarding, product sales, customer support, creating awareness, and compliance. It would be hard to find anyone who wouldn’t benefit from some level of gamification.

It Ensures a Better Learning Environment

In a corporate environment, gamification can increase the effectiveness of the learning environment to ensure the learning ‘sticks’ in the memory and consciousness. Gamification enables a learning environment in the workplace where employees practice real-life situations and challenges, which leads to a more engaged learning experience, and facilitates better retention of knowledge.

It Makes Corporate Learning Fun

Perhaps, the greatest advantage of gamification to an organization is that it makes corporate learning fun. The fun element of gamification increases the level of engagement in learning. The higher the level of engagement, the higher the impact of gamification. Employees can experience the ‘fun’ during the game elements of the training while still learning.  What’s the benefit of all this? a good gamification strategy with high levels of engagement will help increase recall and retention.

It Can Have an Unforgettable Impact

Yes, this is true! Research proves that the more interactive a training technique is, the more memorable it will be.  It is seen that audio/video learning is far more effective than training through reading, mainly because the level of interactivity. However, gamification trumps all thanks in this area due to the interactivity it offers learners.

As seen above, gamification is changing how we learn and ultimately live our lives. To find out more about gamification or the technology helping it grow, get in touch with us today!

Contact Us

Percento is a Professional IT Consulting, Implementation and Management firm.  To find out how we can help your organization, please contact one of our friendly sales representatives for a review of your system and a comprehensive (No Obligation) proposal of services. Call today toll-free at 800.614-7886 [Austin | Dallas | Houston | League City | Sugar Land | The Woodlands  | San Antonio] or email us at sales@percentotech.com.