Finding Fun in the Things We Have to Do

Many people are intensely competitive in games, trying to outpace and outsmart their way to the top. Face it, we have been playing games since the days of the cavemen, and it is human nature to compare ourselves to others to see how we measure up. 

Add technology to the mix, and today gaming has become a hugely popular and tremendously profitable industry, to the order of over $100 billion dollars globally this year. 

The reality is: 

• People enjoy playing games
• Popular games inspire extreme loyalty
• People are motivated by gaming reward and achievement systems
• Therefore, if non-games are made more game-like, we’ll be more likely to ‘play’ them 

The success of social networks and social gaming has demonstrated how behavioral psychology plays a factor in a successful user experience. Games have proven that people crave personal progress in building social connections and completing goals, especially in light of the fact that millions of people engage with these services without getting a dime in return.

  
Given this broad acceptance of gaming and the wide use of the internet, people have become more open to game mechanics in other parts of their lives. As a result, Gamification is becoming a powerful tool through which organizations teach, persuade, and motivate people.  

At its core, Gamification is about finding the fun in the things that we have to do, in three major areas: internal (employee facing), external (customer facing), and social or community behavior change.

• Internal Gamification means that companies can use Gamification to improve productivity within the organization in order to encourage innovation, enhance teamwork, or otherwise obtain positive business results through their own employees. The motivational dynamics of Gamification must interact with the firm’s existing management and reward structures.
• External Gamification involves your customers or prospective clients, members, or donors. These applications are generally driven by marketing objectives. Gamification here is a way to improve the relationships between businesses and customers, producing increased engagement, identification with the product, stronger loyalty, and ultimately higher revenues.
• Social or Community Behavior-change Gamification seeks to form beneficial new habits among a population. It can involve anything from encouraging people to make better health choices (such as eating healthier or exercising more), to redesigning the classroom to make kids learn more while actually enjoying school. Generally, these new habits produce desirable community outcomes: less obesity, lower medical costs, or a more effective educational system

The challenge of Gamification, therefore, is to take the elements that normally operate within a game space and apply them effectively in the real world. 

This is our driving theme and passion at Sententia - to make business processes more compelling by making them more fun! 

More articles on using gamification to find fun in the things we have to do:

• Gamification… It’s More Than Hot Fudge
• Gamification Design: Start with the Story
• What Can we Learn from the Walking Dead

For more ideas on the power of gamification and finding fun, get started with a Sententia Level 1 Gamification Certification - enroll now for online certification.

About the Author:  Monica Cornetti
Founder and CEO, Sententia
ww.SententiaGames.com
www.monicacornetti.com

A gamification speaker and designer, Monica Cornetti is rated as a #1 Gamification Guru in the World by UK-Based Leaderboarded. She is the author of the book Totally Awesome Training Activity Guide: Put Gamification to Work for You, writes The Gamification Report blog, and hosts the weekly Gamification Talk Radio program.