Every second week a new buzzword encapsulating the latest technological fad hits the internet and jams up blog posts and Twitter feeds, until it fades into oblivion. Once in a blue moon we come across an idea that we reckon does have merit, and is pretty darn cool.

This time around it’s the concept of “gamification”, the use of gaming elements to engage audiences and reinforce desired behaviours. It’s something that has already been subtly happening at many levels for a very long time, but it’s only recently whipped the interweb into a frenzy.

Explaining gamification is tricky so we’ll use some examples to show you how it can be used.

A classic example that’s been around for a few decades is the typing tutor game. These often feature letters or words falling from the sky, with the user having to type the letters before they hit the ground. Which is kind of how Space Invaders works – except this approach also teaches you to type really fast.

Move on to modern times and websites like Stackexchange ( http://stackexchange.com ) reward users with points and badges for being helpful. Stackexchange is a question and answer website and the more helpful users are the more virtual awards and kudos they receive.

Taking things a step further Onefeat ( http://onefeat.com ) rewards users with points and kudos for submitting photos of themselves based around challenges such as 'getting bored on a roller coaster' or 'making cupcakes'. The real world meets online gaming – or is that vice versa?

It’s easy for people to be cynical and dimissive about the concept of gamification, that simply giving virtual rewards for actions is shallow, inconsequential, and not going to “engage” anyone. Yet it has been shown to work in many applications.

Humans are social creatures and hard wired to seek praise, reward and affirmation. If we can tickle their pleasure centres as they learn to type, are helpful to fellow human beings, or seek out new experiences in the real world is that really a bad thing?

At Dry Crust we’re excited by the possibilities around gamification and already have a major project underway to bring online motivation to real world activities. Stay tuned and prepared to be motivated!

16 Sep 2011