All About Gamification Caroline Fernandez
Gamification: A Growing Phenomenon Seton Hall University’s Housing and Residence Life has a system in which students get to choose where they live based on how many Priority Points they have. These are earned by maintaining a high GPA, participating in on-campus clubs, athletics, and activities, and being in good judicial standing. The students with the highest amount of points get first pick of where they want to live for the next academic year. By giving students a substantial reward to work for, the school encourages them to get more involved in campus life and perform better in class. The students probably do not know it, but what they are taking part in is a type of gamification.
But what exactly is gamification? The term is used to describe the use of gameplay in a non-game context so that users will be more engaged and solve problems. By making a game out of tasks, the user is more motivated to perform them and more likely to get something out of it. This concept was originally created by Charles Coonradt, who wrote a book called Game of Work in 1984. However, the term “gamification” was first used in 2002 by computer programmer Nick Pelling and did not gain popularity until recently, as the concept began to become more commonly used.
Inside this issue: Healthy Competition
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Gamification in Education
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A Fun and Engaging Way to 2 Learn
Corey Eridon compared gamification to “turning a baby's spoon into a rocket ship so the baby has fun trying to catch it, and you get your baby to eat the smashed peas. Everybody wins, and the baby has a good time to boot”. The user plays the game in order to win something, and you get something that you want in return.
Social Engagement
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Many Kinds of Games
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Beyond Technology
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What’s Next for
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Gamification?
Playing in the Business World Gamification was first used in the business and marketing world. The most common example is rewards programs. For example, when a customer gets a special card from a store, they get points on the card every time they make a purchase. Once the card is filled, they will get
some kind of reward– and another card to fill. This utilizes game-thinking because the customer is working toward a reward and seeing their progress, which can encourage them to buy more often from the store, Meanwhile, the store profits by getting more business.
An example of a rewards card
Companies also use gamification through their websites. For example, customers can earn virtual badges for doing activities on the company’s web page like providing feedback and signing up for a newsletter. Customers have a fun way to learn about the company and give feedback, while the company gains more business, webpage traffic, and effective customer satisfaction.
All About Gamification
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Healthy Competition Competition can also play a role in gamification. An example of this would be a company called Recyclebank, which hosted a contest on its webpage in which households competed to see who can reduce their energy use the most; the winner of the contest gets a cash prize. This method uses people’s natural desire to compete and win in order to achieve the greater goal of helping the environment, and it was a success: as a result of the contest, Philadelphia’s recycling rate went up by 16%, going over 20% for the first time in history. With the advancements in and increased emphasis on technology over the years, gamification has reached a new level in marketing and business. Right: Recyclebank’s reward system satisfies customers, the company, and the environment.
Gamification in Education Gamification has expanded to a place where it has a huge amount of potential: education. For starters, school is already like a game- students perform well and earn points, which leads to good grades (“achievements”). If they don’t, they get bad grades and lose points. If they have enough “achievements”, they advance to the next grade (“level up”) at the end of the year. However, despite its similarity to game mechanics, the regular school system alone can’t engage students like games can- this is where gamification comes in. “It gives students clear, actionable tasks and promises them immediate
rewards instead of vague long-term benefits.” Many people love video games- as a planet, we spend 3 billion hours a week playing them! While these games may seem like an idle pastime, they are in fact helping kids develop the skills they need to succeed in school. The Education Arcade at MIT says that “game players regularly exhibit persistence, risk-taking, attention to detail, and problem solving; all behaviors that ideally would be regularly demonstrated in school”. Players learn important skills while having fun doing it- this is the key to successful gamification. Electronic or not, educational
“A good game can provide the rich characterization and detail of a good novel and the visual punch of a movie, while providing a deeper sense of immersion then either form of media” - Matthew Blair games are successful because they make fun as important a priority as learning. They incorporate all the elements of regular games while also teaching students different skills.
A Fun and Engaging Way to Learn The games engage students emotionally because students can experience various feelings as they play- curiosity at how to solve the problem and at what’s coming next, frustration when their methods don’t work, pride when they succeed, and so on. This is especially important to the concept of failure; when playing a game, students are free to fail repeatedly until they solve the
Educational games engage students on multiple levels. Students are engaged on a cognitive level because they are free to experiment and try different things until they solve the problem. The challenges gradually get harder as the student masters the skill, and there are often multiple ways to solve the problem, keeping the game interesting. Educational games are a fun way to learn
problem, with quick feedback and little at stake. However, in the regular school environment, the stakes are much higher (repeated failure means bad grades, which can lead to summer school or even repeating a grade) and feedback is much slower. Gamification provides a “safe” environment where students do not need to be afraid to fail.
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Social Engagement Gamification engages students socially as well. Games can have leaderboards where students’ scores are posted, and they can compete with each other and see how well everyone is doing. Some games require multiple players to cooperate and solve the problem together, which builds teamwork as well as the skill being focused on. Even when playing alone, players still interact with other characters in the game, which builds social skills.
Also, through games, students can become different characters, which can make learning more fun and achievable. For example, a student may normally find geography boring and feel incapable of mastering it. But when they play Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and take on the role of a secret agent traveling the globe to hunt down a villain, they may feel more excited to learn the skill while also having more fun than if they were just memorizing locations from a textbook.
“Through games, students can become different characters, which can make learning more fun and achievable.”
Gamification engages students on many different levels and provides them with not only in-game rewards and a fun time, but long-term, real world rewards like academic and social skills, and a more positive attitude about learning.
Many Kinds of Games There are a wide variety of games that teach many different skills. For example, the ‘90s computer game Math Rabbit is set at a carnival. Kids solve math problems in the form of carnival games, and as they complete the activities, they get tickets that are used to redeem virtual prizes. A more modern example is a new app called Superfunner, which can be added to classroom curriculum. It contains games that students can play to practice the A balloon-popping game in Math Rabbit material learned in class, while also
gaining experience points, leveling up, and earning badges. The activities can also be done on paper in class, since many classrooms don’t allow tablets and mobile devices. This method provides a fun supplement to classroom lessons in a medium that most students today are very comfortable with. It is also voluntary, but almost all of the students in the test environments wanted to play, which shows how powerful and effective this type of gamification can be.
Beyond Technology Gamification does not always have to be technological. Teachers can utilize many types of non-digital games in the classroom to provide an interesting and fun learning experience for their students. Jeopardy can be used to test students’ knowledge of history and other facts, and hangman can help students with spelling and vocabulary. Students can play bingo with a variety of different subjects- “math bingo” can have the teacher call out a math problem and the
students see if they have the solution on their card, and “Spanish bingo” can have the teacher call out a word in Spanish and the students see if they have its English translation. There can be prizes for winning these games, such as extra credit or a piece of candy, or the prize can just be bragging rights; whatever the incentive is, students are learning and practicing skills while having fun doing it. Left: A Spanish bingo card
Caroline Fernandez
Scan the QR Code below to watch a video explaining more about how our world is becoming more “gamified”.
What’s Next for Gamification? With the advances in technology and society’s increased use of it, gamification has exploded in popularity in recent years, not only in business and marketing, but in the education world as well. More and more classrooms are utilizing educational video games to supplement the curriculum and engage students, providing them with the opportunity to learn in a new and fun way. Gamification has become so popular that for the first time, there will be a conference for it in San Francisco this year called GSummit 2013, where game developers and designers will gather together to collaborate and share ideas in order to improve and expand gamification.
As technology becomes more and more integrated into our lives, video games will continue to expand from the entertainment industry to other areas such as marketing, philanthropy, and of course, education. Although teachers cannot depend solely on gamification to teach their students, it is still an interesting and effective supplement to classroom curriculum, and a way to show students that learning can be fun.