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).
Gamification
Ark Group KM Conference
Gamification is a hot topic right now. Gartner even has it at the top of its hype cycle right now. But, what is it and has it taken off in the world of Knowledge Management?
Wikipedia defines gamification as;
the use of game thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts to engage users in solving problems
Gartner has recently caused a bit of a controversy in gamification circles by narrowing the definition to;
the use of game mechanics and experience design to digitally engage and motivate people to achieve their goals
Why am I interested in Gamification?
This is a question many ask me – including myself!
The answer is complicated I suppose, but worth mentioning here.
Many feel that gamification is nothing more than an invention of consultants hell bent on making money from corporations who want to control their employees. In some instances this may even be true!
The fact is, I got involved because of a love of games that goes back over thirty years. I have always loved games, playing them , creating them and learning from them. One of my earliest memories of gaming was my father creating me a maths games. It was very simple, on an early Spectrum. All it did was ask you maths questions and you had to answer. It would congratulate you and I seem to remember there was some graphic representation of your success.
[Updated] What gamification is to me – My definition
Updated September 2015!
As you know, over the weekend I picked a fight with Gartner over their redefinition of gamification.http://blogs.gartner.com/brian_burke/2014/04/04/gartner-redefines-gamification/ and http://gamified.uk/2014/04/05/a-response-to-gartners-new-definition-of-gamification/
The conversation turned to a bit of a bun fight, so I have now stepped away a little. However, it got me thinking about my own definition and why I use it and what gamification in general means to me.
However, I have decided to change it a little, to give it more scope and with luck make the aims clearer.
Competitive Silos or Collaborative Success
One of the most popular uses of enterprise gamification is to create competition. I don’t mean in the form of marketing campaigns, I am talking about internal competitions between employees. Sales leader-boards, fitness competitions, who is best at social etc.
The idea is to drive employees to want to be better than the others. Being at the bottom of the leader-board should motivate me to want to work my way to the top – I should want to win.
Whilst this is true in certain environments, it can be rather limiting in others.