Gamification

by Liam Bourret-Nyffeler

I stumbled upon an interesting video about the process of gamification. In simple terms, applying the engaging aspect of games to other activities. Much as we may use smily faces and reward systems in class, for some groups this might already feel too "teachy". For younger students especially, computer and video-games are a huge part of their lives.

More recently, with the creation of online services, the addition of achievements became a big hit, asking players to perform a certain task for a small reward.

"Solve the puzzle in less than 1 minute".

An achievement badge is awarded to the player (visible on their online profile) and they gain a number of points scaled to the difficulty of the challenge. So "complete level 1" may only be worth 5 points but completing the entire game on Veteran difficulty level using nothing but a banana sandwich without dying, the player might garner 125"

The video makes some interesting points but someone on the websites forum decided to test it out.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/2985-Gamification

In the next one check post 1

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.275449-Tried-Gamification-in-my-classroom-Check-updated-post-283-for-User-Group-info-its-now-ready?page=1

and finally some results and analyses

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Gamification-Project