A look at Wikipedia’s definition of Gamification over the years

Just out of curiosity, I had a look through some of the historical pages on Wikipedia’s Gamification entry. It was an interesting time line of the evolution of our definition of gamification, first added in October 2010 it seems. Take a look. It is interesting to see that it puts emphasis on technology based solution in 2010, which is dropped by 2012. Around 2011 the term Funware is added to the definition. This gets dropped by the end of 2012. 2012 also sees the idea of game thinking entering the core definition as well as engagement (which vanishes for a bit then comes back in 2013!). In 2013 we see the first mention of solving problems as part of the core definition. Also, Nick Pelling starts to get some credit for coining of the wold Gamification. The difinition that first comes up early 2013 remains pretty much intact right up until presnt day (April 2014).

Have a look!

October 2010

Gamification is the use of game play mechanics for non-game consumer technology applications (also known as “funware”), particularly consumer-oriented web and mobile sites, in order to encourage people to adopt the technology and encourage desired behaviors of users.

Gamification works by making technology more engaging, and by encouraging desired behaviors, taking advantage of humans’ psychological predisposition to engage in gaming. The technique can encourage people to perform chores that they ordinarily consider boring, such as completing surveys, shopping, or reading web sites.

May 2011

Gamification is the use of game play mechanics for non-game applications (also known as “funware”), particularly consumer-oriented web and mobile sites, in order to encourage people to adopt the applications. It also strives to encourage users to engage in desired behaviors in connection with the applications.

Gamification works by making technology more engaging, and by encouraging desired behaviors, taking advantage of humans’ psychological predisposition to engage in gaming. The technique can encourage people to perform chores that they ordinarily consider boring, such as completing surveys, shopping, or reading web sites.

February 2012

Gamification is the use of game design techniques and mechanics to solve problems and engage audiences.

Typically gamification applies to non-game applications and processes (also known as “funware”), in order to encourage people to adopt them. Gamification works by making technology more engaging, by encouraging users to engage in desired behaviors, by showing a path to mastery and autonomy, and by taking advantage of humans’ psychological predisposition to engage in gaming. The technique can encourage people to perform chores that they ordinarily consider boring, such as completing surveys, shopping, filling out tax forms, or reading web sites. Available data from gamified websites, applications, and processes indicate potential improvements in areas like user engagement, ROI, data quality, timeliness, or learning.

September 2012

Gamification is the use of game design elements, game thinking and game mechanics to enhance non-game contexts.

Typically gamification applies to non-game applications and processes, in order to encourage people to adopt them, or to influence how they are used. Gamification works by making technology more engaging, by encouraging users to engage in desired behaviors, by showing a path to mastery and autonomy, by helping to solve problems and not being a distraction, and by taking advantage of humans’ psychological predisposition to engage in gaming. The technique can encourage people to perform chores that they ordinarily consider boring, such as completing surveys, shopping, filling out tax forms, or reading web sites.

Available data from gamified websites, applications, and processes indicate potential improvements in areas like user engagement, ROI, data quality, timeliness, or learning.

November 2012

Gamification is the use of game mechanics and game design techniques in non-game contexts.

Typically gamification applies to non-game applications and processes, in order to encourage people to adopt them, or to influence how they are used. Gamification’s proponents argue that it works by making technology more engaging, by encouraging users to engage in desired behaviors, by showing a path to mastery and autonomy, by helping to solve problems and being more engaging, and by taking advantage of humans’ psychological predisposition to engage in gaming.

Available data from gamified websites, applications, and processes indicate potential improvements in areas such as user engagement, ROI, data quality, timeliness, and learning.

January 2013

Gamification is the use of game-thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts in order to engage users and solve problems.

Gamification is used in applications and processes to improve user engagement, ROI, data quality, timeliness, and learning.

May 2013

Gamification is the use of game thinking and game mechanics in a non-game context in order to engage users and solve problems

Gamification is used in applications and processes to improve user engagement, Return on Investment, data quality, timeliness, and learning The word was coined by Nick Pelling.

April 2014

Gamification is the use of game thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts to engage users in solving problems.

Gamification has been studied and applied in several domains, such as to improve user engagement, physical exercise,return on investment, data quality, timeliness, and learning. A review of research on gamification shows that most studies on gamification find positive effects from gamification.

 

 

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