Name: The Gamification Revolution
Rating: 4.2 (20 reviews)
Author: Gabe Zichermann and Joselin Linder

What’s in it for me? Learn why games are a MUST for your organization or company.

What does the word “game” conjure up in your mind? Chess, football, maybe tag, and playing cards? A set of rules, points to be scored and opponents to challenge? Structure and mental and emotional engagement? Couldn’t you use those qualities for more than a family Monopoly session?

Gamification takes winning to another level. Companies use game designs to increase customer loyalty or staff engagement, engineering game play to transform the way they do business.

The Gamification Revolution explains many different kinds of games, and how they can be used not just to engage with customers, but also to invigorate new employees or strategy meetings inside your organization.

After reading these blinks, you’ll know

why the architecture industry is so obsessed with games;
how Nike uses games to train new employees; and
how to introduce gamification into your company or organization.

Games are more important than you think.

What’s your favorite game? Is it a board game or a computer game? Have you ever stopped to think about how many games there are, and how often we play them?

You’re probably familiar with games like chess or Angry Birds, but what about gamification games?

Gamification means using games to get people together or solve problems. It’s widespread, and it can be very useful.

The annual McDonald's Monopoly game is an example of gamification. Customers are rewarded with Monopoly pieces every time they buy food or drinks. To get more obscure pieces and complete a set, they have to order bigger meals or visit more branches.

Gamification works by leveraging behavioral economics and design. Just think about all the situations where we collect points, where badges represent achievements, levels give us a rank, and leaderboards and scoreboards show how we compare with others.

Then there are grand challenges, which aim to solve specific problems. They’re usually highly publicized and offer prizes to the winners. Sometimes they can lead to great discoveries or inventions. In fact, a grand challenge led to the establishment of our system of longitude in 1714.

Gamification provides great opportunities for businesses and other organizations. It can even be critical for them.

Games can help you invigorate your brand, engage with customers and raise profits – just like the McDonald’s Monopoly. They can also inspire innovation and creativity within your company.

The main thing that makes games essential, however, is their ubiquity. A study by TNS Global found that over 60 percent of people in the Western world regularly play computer or video games. This is even more true for young people: about 70 percent of toddlers and young kids play them!

So if you want to connect with people in our modern world, you’ve got to do it through means that you know will hook them in: games.

Gamification lets you reach customers in new ways.

Gamification isn’t just about designing fun games. It’s also about relating to your customers in new ways, and ensuring they use whatever you’re putting out there.

This is the biggest advantage of gamification: it engages people. So what does that mean for a company?

Use games to motivate your staff.

Games come in many different shapes and sizes, and we’ve seen how they help people work. If you gamify your employees’ experiences, you can motivate them and improve their performance.

Even dull or dreary tasks can be spiced up with games. Nike tech reps, for example, go through a nine day camp where they live the history of Nike. It’s called “Ekin,” which is “Nike” backward.

Games can improve recruitment and training.

Games can help save money and time even in the nitty gritty aspects of corporate life, like recruitment and training.

Gamified recruitment saves money and attracts ideal candidates. Google did this when they put a billboard in Silicon Valley that read, “{first 10-digit prime found in consecutive digits of e}.com.” The ad didn’t even mention Google.

In the age of social media, gamification offers a bridge between companies and customers.

Social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook have massively impacted our society, and they provide great opportunities for businesses to engage with customers – especially through games. Games can separate you from your competitors, and help promote your brand.

Games encourage customers to share their experiences with your product. This made the difference between Foursquare and another location check-in company that preceded it, Dodgeball. Dodgeball allowed you to check in at places and show your friends. Foursquare, however, lets its users play games with their check-ins.

Key ideas in The Gamification Revolution