Is Gamification Dead?

As a quick break from my Introduction to Gamification series, I wanted to ask a serious question. Is gamification dead?

It is a tough question for someone who lives and breathes gamification to consider, as the answer could be problematic!

If we look at the hype that surrounded gamification, it would be easy to assume that it never really lived up to its promise! However, what was it promising?

Gamification, no matter how you personally refer to it, lives by one simple rule. It is not about making games. It is using lessons and elements from games in places where there are not games. If you make a game, you have done that, made a game. In a business context it would be a serious game, it education it would be an educational game. If you gamify something then you have made a gamified something, not a game. That’s why they are different terms.

Really what happened with gamification was a lack of understanding, a lack of good explanations and a willingness by some to over promise what it would do and what it would be! Lazy implementations, platforms that promised the earth and delivered  a delivered nothing more than a spec of shiny coated dust and so much more drove this and perpetuated it – just like all new things.

Is gamification dead, no, but a lot of the expectations for it are. For those of us in the industry, this is a great opportunity. We are now able to really show what it can do when implemented correctly and done with care, time and with the end goal in sight – rather than just “make it fun and shiny”

Similar Posts:

• The Game Thinking Spectrum



• The “Less Bad” Lens – Making a Small Difference with Gamification
• What Makes a Good Serious Game?

Also published on Medium.