Why should companies be concerned about gamification? Why should you be worried about this? First of all what comes to your mind when you think of a gamer? Think about the image you just saw.
Would you be surprised to know these statistics (Entertainment Software Association, 2016)?:
The average gamer is 35 years old;
73% of gamers are over 18 years old;
41% are women!
Maybe these statistics are not enough to convince you that the world in which we live is thriving on game and game based mentality.
So I’ll give you four more reason why company owners, people developers and leaders should care about gamification.
1st – “70% of business transformation efforts fail due to lack of engagement” (Gartner, 2012)
According to Gartner1, one of the central problems with transformation in the corporate world is the inability to sustain people’s engagement with initiatives. It has become significantly harder to maintain people’s attention or surprise them in order to obtain their engagement and commitment. Gabe Zichermann2 said that people nowadays are searching for more reward and more engagement in each experience they have, far more than ever before. For this reason, he explains, the traditional marketing techniques are now failing. Gamification is required, because the younger generation demands more engaging experiences and is more game-attuned than previous generations. It can bring a balance and help with this problem of attention, commitment and engagement.
2nd – It is more than a buzz word, it is an expectation
Even if the use of game-based techniques in a non-game context to increase engagement was a novelty that a small number of start-ups were aware of, today it is an accepted part of the web in general and in particular of the learning industry (especially eLearning). Your employees are expecting some form of gamification as part of their life inside the company. Different research demonstrates just to what extent game mentality is more than a wish. Gartner Research already in 2011 predicted that by 2015 more than 50% of corporate processes would be gamified. NYSE Governance Services expected gamification would be the top method that 40% of the Global 1000 organizations would use to improve their business operations. A survey by TalentLMS showed that 79% of the participants (both university student and corporate learners) stated they would be more productive and motivated if the learning environment were to be more similar to a game or include game-based techniques.
3rd – Other than Fun there are Psychological reasons for its success
Gabe Zichermann in his Tedx Talk “The Future of Creativity and Innovation” points out one of the strongest reasons why game-based techniques are so powerful: the vicious cycle of challenge->achievement. He explains this and makes reference to what is called by Ian Robertson, the Winner Effect. What it refers to is how we as humans strive on intrinsic reinforcement due to the biologic effect of dopamine increase in our systems when we successfully overcome a challenge. Do you recognize this? You challenge yourself, you achieve and you feel this surge of satisfaction. This is a secret weapon. The more you do it, overcome a challenge, the more you want to do it. This can help explain why in learning for example, certain gamification techniques are most liked by users and considered most effective by the professionals that develop them, namely techniques that create challenges, instil a sense of accomplishment and illustrate one’s progression using among others, points/scores, progression bars, real time feedback on performance.
4th – Numbers do not lie
Gamification is applied to the most diverse areas and business sectors, not only educational or learning/training contexts. There has been and there will continue to be an increase in the gamification market growth.
Research by Ambient Insight (2013) showed that in 2012 game-based global revenue was approx. 1.5 million dollars, expected to reach approx. 2.3 million in 2017.
According to M2 Research the gamification worldwide market will grow from $242 million in 2012 to $2.8 billion in 2016. Another source3 reports 1.7 billion in 2015 to 5.5 billion in 2018.
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1Gartner – consultancy firm that delivers technology research
2Gabe Zichermann author of Game-Based Marketing and the CEO of Gamification.co
3Digital Games Revolutionizing Workplace Learning? True Office 2014
