How to make gamification a powerful tool? #1
How to make gamification a powerful tool? #1
Applying game elements in any field of life can make things and processes even more exciting and engaging.
Our team has recently been assigned with a couple of gamification projects, thus we have made a lot of - both primary and secondary - preliminary research on the topic and after going through the development process we have come to our own conclusions, too. Find out more about gamification facts & our hints.
Homo Ludens: Humans are intrinsically gamers
Being a gamer is an inseparable part of human nature. Games are important means of learning, future habits and behaviours are tried and trained through them. While children can enthuse over games without constraints, by the time they become grownups, games cease to be integral part of their lives – however this does not mean that passion for playing has disappeared.
28 million people harvest their crops on FarmVille every day
Over 5 million people play an average of 45 hours a week of games
Humans spend 3 billion hours a week playing video and computer games
Why are we playing?
Games…
- are fun
- capture our attention
- are full of challenges
- motivate us
- build community
- affect our emotions
+ let us fail and drive us to the goal by learning from our mistakes
Why is playing more engaging than learning?
 | Ideal level of difficulty Player is in balance with tasks and challenges encountered during the game |
 | Ideal synthesis Goal system is ideally established (final goal, short term goals, big story) |
 | Ideal reward system Efforts are immediately rewarded; failures do not lead to real punishment |
What is gamification?
Gamification is one of today’s most prominent buzzwords; applying game elements in any field of life can make things and processes even more exciting and engaging. The aim of the method is to make learning processes more efficient and more engaging due to the adaptation of playful thinking in originally non-playful contexts. Gamification appears to be successful both in schools and in corporate environment.
Thanks to gamification learning process convert from extrinsically to intrinsically motivated.
How does it work?
Beyond making learning processes faster, gamification creates an inspiring yet safe setting where making mistakes is allowed. Gamifying learning processes is the most efficient when players can directly experience consequences of their own decisions.
People participating in gamified education or work environment perceive everyday fields of life as game and fun, too.
„Learning does not feel like learning”
„Working does not feel like working”
„Problems do not feel like problems”
Want to learn more? Read gamification findings #2 in our blog.
References:
Klopfer, E., Osterweil, S., & Salen, K.: Moving learning games forward (2009)
gamification.org