Gamification

By Sven Koppens on 9 November 2011

Games are hot. It’s undeniable. In the past people looked at gamers as nerds,
antisocial people who lock themselves in their basement for days on end. But this time has long since passed. Nowadays everyone plays games. The concept of gaming is implemented in everyday life.

Games are becoming more social. World of Warcraft is a good example. With more than 12 million monthly subscribers this can be considered a huge success.
And where there’s success, there is money to obtain. Company’s saw that a wider audience started to enjoy games and used that knowledge to combine work and games together. These games are called serious games.
A serious game is a game designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. Although serious games can be entertaining, their main purpose is to train, investigate, or advertise.

More and more activities are becoming games these days.
This shift gave birth to Gamification. Gamification works by making technology more engaging by encouraging users to engage in desired behaviours, by showing a path to mastery and autonomy, and by taking advantage of human’s psychological predisposition to engage in gaming. It tries to make-work more fun and less of a chore.

But what makes a game fun? And perhaps more importantly how do you seduce people to play your game and keep people interested to keep playing your game?

I have researched the Dutch serious game industry and have come to the conclusion that
the creators almost never use the research that is done in this field.

The development of a serious game costs a lot of money. An example of this was a game developed for a Dutch bank in which the player had to answer questions in order for a game character to run farther in a race. The game took four years to develop and the development costs where over one million euro. After witnessing the presentation, I asked the game developer who seemed really convinced that this game was enjoyable the question:

“What type of research did you do before you started creating this game?”

I didn’t get a clear answer. The story of the developer was.
The bank approached them to create a serious game.
They came up with a new game idea, and where convinced that people would enjoy it.
Next they pitch the idea to the bank convincing them that their game would be the new hit. The bank liked the idea and the game was created.

The creators automatically assumed that people would enjoy playing the game because it’s a game. This strategy might have worked in the past when the offer was low, but now that there are so many serious games available people want more quality. They don’t just play everything they see.

Why don’t developers look at the key factors of great game franchises so they can learn from it?
Or maybe more importantly why don’t they try to predict the behaviour of people who play the game and use this knowledge tot their advantage? 

Allot of times the research is already done.
So let’s start using it!

tagged with: serious games, gamification

Comments

oakley sunglasses discount on 18 April 2012 at 18:05

cheap oakley sunglasses are sold here for all age groups and come in a complete array of shades, models and styles.At our oakley sunglasses cheap, you can buy oakley sunglasses discount with high quality, save up to 80%,our oakley sunglasses on sale online store 100% Quality Guarantee,Low Price,Fast Shipping & No Sales Tax,Fast Service,Safe Transaction,Good Reputation!Top reasons to buy from http://www.cheapoakleysunglassesonsale.net

cheap oakley sunglasses on 18 April 2012 at 18:06

Welcome to our designer sunglasses Online Store. Cheap oakley sunglasses are available for you. There are various mens and womens oakley sunglasses. You can choose discount black sunglasses or white sunglasses whatever you like.Oakley sunglasses sale store, Cheap oakley sunglasses outlet sale discount oakley sunglasses, all oakley sunglasses discount with very low price.up to 70% from oakley outlet.
http://www.oakleysunglasseses.com

Coach outlet on 20 April 2012 at 14:22

Welcome to Coach outlet store online.In here you can buy the newest 2012
Authentic coach outlet handbags,enjoy more than 70% discount Coach outlet product.All Coach outlet products are highest quality and depend on the quality of durable, exquisite craftsmanship, they establish solid reputation on the consumers worldwide. Discount Coach Bags and Purses Clearance latest style hot sale at
Coach outlet store,
Coach outlet online,
Coach outlet and
Coach outlet 2012.Coach outlet online price up to 70% Off! Competitive prices on our website will save you much and you’ll get full refund when the item is not available in stock.

Herve Leger Bandage Dresses on 21 April 2012 at 05:42

Your blog is very informative.This is obviously one great post.i keep on reading articles from here.thanks for sharing..
Herve Leger Bandage Dresses
Black one shoulder dress
oakley sunglasses uk
discount Oakley

Cheap jeremy scott on 27 April 2012 at 08:13

New Cheap jeremy scott,Adidas wings 2.0,Adidas wings,Adidas originals hardland,Jeremy scott white black,Adidas wings silver,Obyo jeremy scott hoodie,Jeremy scott ballerina for sale on adidaswingsjeremyscott.com ,with lowest price and fast shipping worldwide.

nike air max on 5 May 2012 at 03:28

Last week Woodland looked lost at the Plantation course, finishing three under, 20 strokes behind winner Steve Stricker. Woodland blamed a scratchy opening 73 on being overly eager to “put all this other Taylormade R11 S TP Driver behind me.
Hermes Handbags I was a little too pumped up, a little too anxious.“He didn’t hide his unease about being without a coach. “I don’t really understand what I do,” Woodland said with typical candor. “Until I get to that point I’m going to need someone to tell me what to do.” After playing coy all week, Woodland revealed after Monday’s final round that he would begin working with Butch Harmon. He left Maui
Hermes Birkin bag 30 Saffron Ostrich leather Silver hardware and proceeded directly to Las Vegas, to get to work at Harmon’s golf school.Even as Woodland struggled on the wideopen Plantation course, his legend grew; during the first round, on the severely downhill 663yard, par5 18th hole, he mauled a drive that traveled 450 yards, leaving only a baby eightTaylormade R11 S TP Driver in. It is this mindblowing power that makes Woodland such a tantalizing prospect. At the Chevron World Challenge last month,
Hermes Picotin PM Clemens Blue Gene Silver Hardware as Woodland and Steinberg were just beginning their discussions, Woods anointed his soontobe stablemate in a rare bit of public gushing.“I always thought that I could hit it a ways when I was younger and I had another gear,” Tiger said. “That’s what Gary has, which is fun to watch because he’ll simply hit it, hit it, hit it, hit it and then he’ll step on one and it’s like, Whoa. He has another gear that the other guys don’t have. I’ve talked to Dustin [Johnson] about it; I’ve talked to Bubba [Watson] about it. They don’t have that extra little gear that he has.“Approached last week, Watson didn’t exactly concur with Woods’s paraphrasing. “There are five or 10 tour pros around the world who could be the
Hermes Bean Beant Beruanisu Lizard Silver Hardware longest hitter, depending on the conditions and how they’re swinging and feeling at any Taylormade R11 S TP Driver . Some days it might be J.B
Hermes Classic Beant Natural Epson Silver Hardware. Holmes or Dustin Johnson or Robert Garrigus or me, or maybe that guy in Europe, [Alvaro] Quiros. But some days it probably is Gary Woodland. It just depends.“Whereas Watson generates his power with the unusual angles and levers in his homemade swing, and the longlimbed, supple, 6’3” Johnson has a massive arc, Woodland’s action is built on blunt force. At times it appears as if he’s swinging a hammer. “He is freakishly strong,” says Bill Haas. “Basketball
Hermes Picotin PM Orange Silver Metal Etoupu Sheburu strong. I’m pretty sure his workouts growing up were more intense than mine.“Yet what Watson admires most about Woodland is not his pop. “It’s his mind,” says Bubba. “He’s very patient, very
Hermes Bags focused. He looks very calm on the golf course. He never looks worried about anything.“Woodland has the self belief of a jock who grew up dominating team sports in his native Topeka, Kans. He was a standout shortstop who at 16 led his team to the NBC World Series title, hitting a grand slam in the semifinals to key
Hermes Birkin bag 25 Beige grey Lizard skin Silver hardware a 54Taylormade R11 S TP Driver. In high school hoops Woodland was an allstate shooting guard who carried his squad to two state championships. Kansas offered him a golf scholarship, but Woodland chose to play basketball at Topeka’s Division II Washburn University. As a freshman he had his best game against Northwest Missouri State, scoring 21 secondhalf points in a barrage that included Hermes Outlet five straight threepointers. Later that year, in the national tournament, Woodland made the winning free throws with eight seconds left to defeat West Texas A&M. For the season he shot 32% from threepoint range and 87% from the line, but he was realistic enough to accept that basketball was not a viable career option. So in 2003, at the end of his freshman year, he transferred to Kansas and made golf his priority for the first time. He won four tournaments as a Jayhawk, then apprenticed on the Hooters and Nationwide tours.More information welcome to enjoymygolf

oakley sunglasses on sale on 17 May 2012 at 05:48

cheap oakley sunglasses are sold here for all age groups and come in a complete array of shades, models and styles.At our oakley sunglasses cheap, you can buy oakley sunglasses discount with high quality, save up to 80%,our oakley sunglasses on sale online store 100% Quality Guarantee,Low Price,Fast Shipping & No Sales Tax,Fast Service,Safe Transaction,Good Reputation!Top reasons to buy from http://www.cheapoakleysunglassesonsale.net

oakley sunglasses outlet on 17 May 2012 at 05:50

oakley sunglasses outlet offer Cheap Oakley Sunglasses online, Our company is professional Sale discount oakley sunglasses at up to 850% off,with the lowest price and fast free shipping,We have many different series of oakley sunglasses sale now. Welcome to pick up Oakley Sunglasses Discount what you love and what you need.
http://www.discount-oakleysunglassesoutlet.com

Cheap Jordans Shoes on 18 May 2012 at 08:51

The 2012 NBA Playoffs is the postseason for the National Basketball Association’s 2011–12 season. The playoffs began on April 28, 2012.With the exception of the Los Angeles Clippers and the Utah Jazz, the playoffs will feature virtually the same cast of teams from last year’s playoffs; all eight teams from the Eastern Conference in particular were the same as last year. All eight teams in the East also had records of better retro jordan 11 than .500, the first such occurrence since 2005. The Jordan Flight 45 Clippers return to the playoffs after a five-year absence, while the Jazz made the playoffs for the fifth time in the last six years, and the first retro jordan shoes without Jerry Sloan as head coach since 1988.As was the case last season, both theRetro Jordan 8 Chicago Bulls and the San Antonio Spurs finished atop their respective conferences, with the Bulls again clinching the top overall seed on the final day Air Jordan 8 of the regular season. The Indiana Pacers open the playoffs at home for the first time since 2004, while Jordan 8 Cheap the Memphis Grizzlies earned home-court advantage for the first time Jordan Concords in franchise history. For the fourth time since 2006 a division winner opened the playoffs on the road. Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Jordan Flight 45 Rondo has been suspended for Game 2 of an Eastern Cheap Air Jordans Conference quarterfinal series against the Atlanta Hawks for Cheap Jordans Shoes making contact with a game official, NBA executive vice president jordan concords of basketball operations Stu Jackson announced Monday.Rondo Concords Jordan chest-bumped referee Marc Davis with 41 seconds remaining in Sunday’s 83-74 Game 1 loss at Philips Arena, earning his second technical and automatic ejection.

Comment on this post

Name *

Email *

Message *