Happy Monday! Last week was a busy week for gamification in the news, so if you got overwhelmed, here are some of the news pieces that we don’t think you should miss.
Fun and games with serious cash The Globe and Mail 2/10/2012 With the state of the economy still leaving many people jobless or in strained financial situations, education around personal finance has seen more interest than in previous years. The Investor Education Fund decided to put together a financial literacy game to test financial literacy in hopes of raising awareness. The game, The Cranial Cash Clash takes the user though a series of levels testing knowledge of different financial categories, and allowing them to educate themselves on areas they did poorly in during the game. We haven’t seen much gamification in personal finance yet, but love the idea!
Geek Speak: Michael Fergusson, CEO of Ayogo Games Straight 2/10/2012 CEO of Ayogo games, Michael Fergusson sat down and talked about gamification and the creation of serious games, or games that impact health and society. Ayogo’s recent game release, I ♥ Jellyfish, is designed to teach kids about heart rate and how to improve fitness levels. On gamification he said, “Well, people naturally play. It’s sort of humanity’s fundamental behavior. It’s how we learn. It’s how we test out new behaviours in a comfortable, safe environment before we apply them to the real world.”
No Longer an Awkward Teenager? Gamification Grows Up TechCrunch 2/12/2012 We have all seen the ups and downs in the popularity of gamification, but according to TechCrunch, it looks like it’s here to stay. As our CEO Keith Smith stated, gamification is especially useful for marketers who “spend more money on acquiring users than working to retain those users and providing them with a reason to come back to the site”. Gamification is proving itself as a valuable way to take existing users and keep them coming back to your site. We really appreciate TechCrunch allowing us to be part of this article!
Motivate Employees To Travel Cheap: Gamification of Travel Business Insider 2/12/2012 Many small companies don’t have the staff to support a centralized corporate travel plan, leaving most employees to book and organize their own corporate travel. As anyone who has traveled knows, the costs associated with travel can often add up quickly. For a small business looking to encourage employees to save money and work within a travel budget, SmartTrip has introduced its travel management solution. The web-based system uses gamification to ask travelers to set expense goals and encourages them to find ways to come in under that goal. Employees, who successfully do so, unlock gift cards, points towards travel upgrades or other customizable rewards.
Social Visionary Believes Gamification is now a Cultural Movement [Social Media Week] PSFK 2/11/2012 Social Media Week kicks off today and with it of course comes discussion of gamification and its social power. Gabe Zichermann, noted gamification expert, sat down and gave a great interview on the future of gamification and its power in society. On gamification as an agent of change he said, “Gamification is a new discipline with deep roots and extraordinary potential.”