Introduction
Games – much more than mere entertainment. What if we told you that games had the potential to change the way we work, study, and even shop? When we delve beneath the surface, we may see that games offer much more than just entertainment. What offers you more joy when playing your favorite game: the thrill of a challenge, the sense of success and pride after winning, the competitive spirit when playing with others, or the feedback (scores and statistics) at the end of a level? Welcome to the world of gamification, where games become a key component of our daily lives. Rather than attempting to persuade you to stay to the conclusion, allow us to take you on this amazing journey that offers much more than simply gameplay.
What Is Gamification, Anyway?
To fully understand it, we must begin from the beginning. Gamification is a concept that may be found all around us, even if we aren’t consciously aware of it. In its most basic form, it is the practice of adding game-like features into numerous parts of life, business, and education. This includes things like rewards, points, challenges, and competitions.
It can be found in a variety of applications, such as customer loyalty programs where collecting points leads to advantages or prizes, or even in a fitness software that awards points for every kilometer run. Consider your favorite restaurant’s loyalty program, which offers free meals after a specific number of visits. This is only one instance of gamification. Personalized product ordering systems with interactive and user-friendly interfaces are used on several e-commerce websites. Gamification might even be applied to the process of collecting traffic violation points. It is, without a doubt, all around us.
Gamification has quietly infiltrated various aspects and levels of various companies, systems, banks, and more, from the initial idea of a gaming system where we can see and visualize more than the real world to carefully selected and dissected game elements that can be implemented in business to solve problems or motivate an audience. They have noticed the beneficial impacts it has on those who use it, making its use more popular.
There has been a long-standing belief that work and entertainment have nothing to do with each other, that they are opposites. However, as Brian Sutton-Smith puts it, “The opposite of play is not work, it is depression.”
Can Gamification be Implemented in Business?
People enjoy both working and playing games, and gamification allows us to integrate the two. The idea that work and play are diametrically opposed dates back to the industrial revolution, when workers arrived at work with specific instructions on what and how they should accomplish their jobs, and superiors expected them to do so. Afterward, they would engage in something fun.
Once, work and fun were considered opposites, but times have changed. Employees are expected to be more than task executors in today’s corporate world; they must be creative, driven, and focused on attaining the organization’s goals. However, Gallup’s 2022 research found that just 21% of employees are actually engaged, while the remaining 79% are not. Gamification emerges as a technique that can assist firms in motivating their staff in this scenario.
Unengaged employees can be encouraged to be more productive, while motivated staff can be motivated even more. Techniques such as scoring and rewards allow for the recognition of effort and progress. However, it’s important to remember that, while gamification offers numerous benefits, it also has the potential for negative side effects, such as prioritizing quantity over quality.
Examples in Business
Gamification is used successfully in a variety of corporate sectors, including:
- Time management
Todoist is a great example of gamification in the world of mobile apps.
Zorkina, Y. (2018, December 4.): App Store Optimization: How to Write App Descriptions That Sell Your Product | Blog https://s-pro.io/blog/how-to-write-app-store-description-that-markets-itself - Marketing
Example in marketing
Carlsen, T. (2022, April 27): What is gamification in marketing? | Blog https://blog.dot.vu/gamification-in-marketing/?dotembed=1 - Customer satisfaction surveys
Examining customer satisfaction through gamification
Jennifer, (2022, June 22): 8 Best Gamification Marketing Ideas to Boost Your Conversions | Blog| https://optinmonster.com/best-gamification-marketing-ideas/ - Sales
Sales and gamification
Kipfolio: Sales Leaderboard Dashboard | https://www.klipfolio.com/resources/dashboard-examples/sales/sales-leaderboard - Human resources
Example of gamification in HR
Alistar (2022, March 1.): Gamification in HR: Use Cases and Examples in Action | Blog | https://peekandpoke.com/blog/gamification-in-hr/ - Education
Example in education
Daily, J. (2020, December 17): The best gamification apps and techniques for in your classroom | Blog| https://www.bookwidgets.com/blog/2019/09/the-best-gamification-apps-and-techniques-for-in-your-classroom - Management/decision-making
Gamification in management
BasuMallick, C. (2022, August 26): What is Gamification? Definition, Software, Examples, and Best Practices 2022 | Blog https://www.spiceworks.com/tech/devops/articles/what-is-gamification/
Each of these applications is tailored to the needs and goals of organizations or individuals.
All of these are examples of how businesses use gaming aspects to increase consumer and user engagement. However, comparable methods are employed to motivate staff. The primary benefits of gamification are that it makes chores and work more interesting, boosts motivation to complete missions, and leads to achievements that can result in promotions, incentives, and other benefits. The disadvantages, on the other hand, include fast feedback and job completion results, which may drive users to complete as many tasks as possible, potentially sacrificing quality for quantity. Furthermore, a worker may get overly focused on the task at hand, losing sight of the larger aim.
Finally, should you embrace it?
Gamification is a strong tool that can improve engagement, motivation, and help you reach your goals more effectively. It has the ability to change the work environment or specific processes. However, it is critical for corporate leaders, educators, and individuals to carefully examine how to apply it. Each environment is different, and gamification should be a well-planned and tailored approach for each business segment, frequently requiring experts, psychologists, and testing phases to obtain the intended effect. While some systems are expensive, this does not exclude simpler models from being deployed and incorporated into your community or organization. You can considerably support yourself, your business, staff, and consumers in everyday activities, motivation, sales, and, eventually, product purchases by using components of this plan.
In the end, you know best how to apply it if this topic intrigues you, be prepared to explore and experiment, as gamification offers numerous opportunities to transform our daily activities.