GAMIFICATION & SERIOUS GAMES IN HEALTH by PHARMAGEEK

Everything is coming up gamification and with good reason - it works. This is NOT to say the application of game theory is easy, but gamification is lexicon we must have in our Internet marketing vocabularies.

This is the best article I’ve read about why the Gartner all gamification will fail post is stupid AND gamification is harder than you realize.

The post takes 3 myths and patiently and completely explains the TRUTH of gamification - that is highly effective but neither easy or plug and play.

Myth 1:

Points, badges and leaderboards encourage competition and enhance performance

Marty - I agree. Leaderboards managed badly become disincentives. This is why Scoop. Its "horse race leaderboard" called MyCommunity is so brilliant as it only shows the horses running immediately behind and in front of me.

Myth 2:

Gamification is simple – assign points and badges, and you are done!

Marty - If you think about what we are doing you know "simple" doesn't apply. We are applying game theory to web marketing. Simple? Not at all, but what Internet marketing ever starts as "simple"? None that I've ever come across.

Myth 3:

Gamification increases participation and productivity of employees in boring, mechanical tasks

"Boring mechanical tasks are boring. Visiting a website is rarely either boring or mechanical, so I don't see this issue as important as it is for those attempting to adopt gamification for HR and other team building applications.

From conclusion: "Gamification holds tremendous promise .... but an over-simplified engagement strategy focusing only on points, badges and leaderboards, can do tremendous harm to the organization."