Playing games is ubiquitous across all cultures and time periods – mainly because most people like playing games.
Games involve rules, points, systems, as well as a theme or storyline and can be massively fun and engaging. And there is an increasing body of research that shows “gamification” – where other activities are designed to be like a game – can be successful in encouraging positive changes in behaviour.
I thought we all agreed gamification was deeply uncool and never to be mentioned again? That hasn't stopped Classcraft's RPG-based program for schools spreading to 25 countries and planning to go freemium.
I'm guessing that you've played a lot of video games using your hands. Well, how many have you played with your mouth? Probably fewer. Maybe none?
Over the past couple of years, gaming accessory maker Razer has made big splashes at CES with ambitious projects aimed at changing the the way we game. The Nabu smartband is out to change the way we live.
If I drank coffee, I would probably be spitting it out right now. There is a World Championships for gamification. What is this strange planet we live on?
If you went up to the average student and asked them if they wished school was more like a video game you would almost certainly get a passionate "YES!" I'm sure if you asked most adults they'd also put their vote in favour of making their tedious work day more fun and exciting. Gamification is in no way a new idea, but it's one that is still evolving at a rapid pace.
In July 2011, after a somewhat clueless Al Gore keynoted the Games for Change conference in New York, Kotaku wrote that the former vice president should try playing a video game. In March 2013, Gore announced that he had done one better and created a video game instead. And guess what it's about?
Going to the gym for an hour is two red points. Calling my mum is one blue point while calling Aunt Deborah is five blue points, because, honestly, Aunt Deb is sort of a pain to talk to and sometimes she says crazy things. Cleaning the bathroom is 15 red points, otherwise I would never do it. This is the plan to gamify my life, to relate everything I do to a point-based game.
Last year, I profiled Fitocracy, which isn't a video game per se but a gamified fitness regimen that draws from concepts familiar to role-playing video games. One MMO analogue it lacked, however, was the idea of player-vs-player combat.
If you ever complained about homework increasing as the days got longer and the weather warmer, well, the tables have been turned. Ben Bertoli is up late doing a lot of it himself as the school year ends.
Tomb-sweeping is usually a very sombre affair. Now in a surge to promote eco-friendly "burials" and body disposals, China has gamified the tradition.
I am 20 years old and I hate my job.
Gamification — is there anything it can't do? Developer Esteve Aguilera has created a new app designed to use gamification style techniques to help people stop smoking. Any chance of making one to help me quit Pepsi Max?
Editor's Note: Ben Bertoli is a long-time Kotaku reader and commenter, a lifetime, dedicated video gamer and a sixth-grade teacher in Indiana. He reached out to Kotaku this past week to share the story of how he turned his class into a role-playing game. The enthusiasm and motivation of the children in Bertoli's class evoke the success stories seen in gamified experiences such as Fitocracy. Here, Bertoli explains his creation, ClassRealm, how it works and what motivated him to develop it.
On the subject of gamification - turning things/activities that aren't games into games - Greg Costikyan gets it 100% right.
The things that make us reconsider who we are and what we believe in are often bizarre, random, coincidental; sometimes completely unremarkable save for the sudden realisation that concusses you. Lately, things I've been reading and playing have coalesced into a divine cognisance for me. I've been reconsidering my faith.
Playing video games and doing laundry are two activities that don't go well together at all, unless you're Kingston University design student Lee Wei Chen, who has used his magical powers to combine to join the two tasks in unholy matrimony.
