So, why should we study gamification?
Maybe I should ask you that, after all of you signed up
for this course, but it's worth pausing for a minute and asking the
question of why this is worth the kind of extended analysis that
we're going to do in this class, because its, its just games, right?
Well, there are four reasons I think
the systematic study of gamification is fruitful.
And we're going to see more and more gamification being a regular
subject that's taught about, both in,
training context and in, university educational context.
The first of these is that gamification is a significant emerging business practice.
We're seeing lots and lots of examples come up from many different kinds
of companies as well as in
non-business context where gamification is being applied.
So here's just a couple examples from, the recent press.
An article from Fortune magazine from October 2011.
Talking about gamification as the hot new business concept, and
while I certainly wouldn't say just follow something because it's a
hyped trend the important thing is many of them world's
most admired companies are starting to get on board with this.
It's not just something that's happening among kooky startups.
It's something that's being adopted by very large, established companies.
The second article here from the Wall Street Journal talking about how a
growing number of firms are incorporating elements
of video games into the work place.
So video games, as I'll talk about in
more detail, have become a huge and influential industry.
But what we're starting to see is more
and more examples of video games being the foundation,
not just for selling games, but for the
foundation of doing things at and around the workplace.
So gamification is something that is happening,
and as I said, it's happening very widely.
So here is a list of a few of
the companies that are applying gamification in substantial ways.
And as you'll see, they range from small very technology focused
startups, to big very consumer products
focused, established, bricks and mortar companies.
And some of these are companies that went out consciously and tried to
implement gamification around one of their business practices, and some of them are
companies that just developed something, that in hindsight was game like, and they
just, thought it was a good way to attack a particular problem they had.
But in both cases when we look at
what's happening out there, there's a growing recognition that
this set of techniques has value, and it has
value in a, a very broad set of circumstances.
The second reason to think that gamification is
worth, greater scrutiny is that games are powerful things.
We've probably all had the experience of saying wow, I
was really addicted to that game or, you know, time just seemed to fly by.
And maybe it's a video game, maybe you had
that experience with a, a board or a card game.
Maybe you had that experience playing sports.
But games have a real pull on us.
There's something that is extremely powerful when we think about it, given
that we think of them as experiences that are done just for enjoyment.
So what is it that makes games engaging?
What is it that allows games to support
sophisticated kinds of thinking and learning, as we'll see?