Posts
Gamification burst on the scene several years ago, capturing the imagination and attention of many in the industry. Peering into the proverbial crystal ball, four respected thought leaders in the field weigh in on where they believe gamification is headed.
Karl Kapp is a professor and assistant director at Bloomsburg University’s Institute for Interactive Technologies, and author of the authoritative book The Gamification of Learning and Instruction. An early proponent of gamification, he has observed a host of changes over the years. One of the most interesting, he says, is the diversification of gamification methodologies.
“Originally, gamification was mostly about points, badges, and leaderboards, but it has changed to include additional game elements such as story, feedback loops, and the freedom to fail,” Kapp notes.Axonify is a Canada-based vendor and leader in the gamification market. “When we first started out about five years ago, even the name ‘gamification’ was in its nascent stage,” remarks CEO Carol Leaman. She notes that the field has evolved dramatically over the past five years, with a growing body of research available to support claims of its effectiveness.
“We know that gamification works. We know that game mechanics can drive human behavior due to what is commonly referred to as the dopamine effect,” Leaman says.Andrzej Marczewski is a UK-based gamification expert and author of the book Even Ninja Monkeys Like to Play: Gamification, Game Thinking & Motivational Design. He is often asked about what he believes the future portends for gamification.
He offers the following response:
“In my view, we will not speak about gamification within the next few years. It will be spoken about in the same way social media or digital is, just another part of various strategies. In the case of gamification, it will become part of a standard set of tools for experience design.”Juliette Denny, managing director at Growth Engineering, is amazed that gamification has become a trendy buzzword. “Playing games is not new, and gamification has been around for a long time. It’s just that the learning and development industry suddenly decided that it’s new,” she says.
Several years ago, the UK-based vendor introduced a playful form of gamification to make its clients’ online corporate compliance training more engaging. “We never got into gamification because we thought it was the be-all and end-all of learning technologies,” Denny says. “We wanted to produce learning technologies that would inspire learners to take their personal development seriously and really invest in themselves.”
Read more...
Source: FocusOn Learning 2017
