Do You Understand Gamification?

The big buzz word in the world of marketing in recent months has been ‘Gamification.’ It’s all the rage at conferences spanning several industries; from Game Development (obviously) to HR and even to Education. Of course you can’t leave out gamification’s very own, annual Gamification Summit. Companies around the world want to know all the secrets to this somewhat new niche. They want to know how to apply game tactics to their business model to ultimately increase profit.

The question you have to ask with a concept so new is, does anyone really understand gamification?

At the digital marketing conference ad:tech London 2011 last month, Upstream Group administered a survey to gauge the waters of corporate reception of gamification. Their findings indicated that 78% of marketers believe that consumers are more likely to respond to game-based marketing mechanics, but just 27% have used gamification tactics in their campaigns.

As could be assumed with such a new and radical concept, the survey found that 66% of marketers did not fully comprehend the term gamification. What these marketers don’t realize however, is that the use of game mechanics has been around for many, many years. According to the definition of gamification, it is the use of game design techniques and mechanics to solve problems and engage audiences. Basically put, turning any life task into a game to make it for interesting.

Take AXA Equitable for example, they just unveiled their new game Pass It On! at the 2011 Gamification Summit that does the difficult task of teaching consumers about the boring topic of life insurance. By taking the message and turning it into a fun and engaging game and also offering cash sweepstakes, the game has already been a huge success.

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