Definition of gamification
Gamification is done by applying game-design elements in non-game contexts. The term refers to the strategic attempt to enhance systems, services, organizations and tasks by providing the same experiences as playing a video game.
In this article, we review the main business applications of gamification.
What are gamification techniques?
Gamification leverages our desire for status, achievement, competition and be part of a social community.
For instance, individuals can be rewarded for doing a given goal and then used as an organizational leaderboard to continue to improve.
A gamification strategy can also include game elements like points, social competition, levels, mission, badges, progress bar, virtual currency, or instant performance feedback.
What is the objective of gamification strategies?
Game designs can improve the behavior, customer retention and the engagement of users to accomplish desired tasks.
Its value is to make attractive initially boring tasks more attractive and even fun such as learning more about the mechanisms of financial products or filling out financial suitability assessment questionnaires.
When applied to the workplace, it can mean to drive engagement, improve business outcomes and get employees to commit to their own goals.
Examples of gamification applied to business
Education
Game principles have been largely and successfully used for education to encourage engagement of students.
The company Minecraft, for instance, game-based learning application to teach students how to code and to engage learners through gamification.
Archy is learning gamification application which helps create course content and gamify a classroom with interactive quizzes, games and videos.
Finally, Duolingo uses effective game techniques to learn languages quickly. To increase engagement, high scores in learning games give you access faster to certain lessons. Social interaction is promoted with the option to compete with other Duolingo users worldwide.
Health and fitness
Pokemon go! is a reality augmented application where users can find and fight against Pokeman characters when running or walking. This is an example of using gameplay mechanics to the fitness market. It was one of the most used and profitable mobile apps in 2016, having been downloaded more than 500 million times worldwide.
The Nike Run Plus app is another example of application of game techniques to fitness. The application gives you the opportunity to receive points and live feedback while doing a running test on your fitness levels and motivate you to train more by adding gamification elements.
For meditation, Headspace app improves completion and mastery of customers in a meditation level before moving up to an advanced section to boost user engagement.
Workplace
Gamification is also widely applied to improve employee engagement.
FreshDesk is an example of gamification at the workplace. This online cloud-based customer support software provides help desk support for employees with all smart automations to get things done faster in a funny way thanks to game mechanics.
Goshaba makes recruiting more accurate and enjoyable by assessing the skills and culture of candidates through games based on cognitive science to be sure they have the right profile for the job.
Finally, many companies are now using game mechanisms for corporate training.
Finance
EduProfiler developped by Neuroprofiler helps retail investors better understand the mechanisms of financial products such as bonds, shares or derivatives.
Its gamified user interface makes it simple for everyone to learn about these sometimes complex mechanisms. Neuroprofiler also offers InvestProfiler to help financial institutions assess the investment profiles of their clients in an interactive and accurate way thanks to game elements, game theory and behavioral finance.