Happy Monday! We have a bit of everything in the news recap this week. Gamification for social good, for education and for shopping deals, there really is a way to make lots of stuff more fun!
Play the good game with gamification The National 6/11/2012 Gamification is a great way to increase user loyalty on the web, but it’s also a great way to achieve personal goals as well. Jane McGonigal and Mark Baldwin are two people focused on using gamification to help people achieve their goals and overall improve mental and physical health. “[Games] can help us to achieve cherished goals, solve grave real-world problems and lead more fulfilling lives.”
50 Amazing Companies Win TiE Company Showcase India West 6/8/2012 We are very proud to have been included in the TiE 50 Company Showcase. Not only is this great recognition for gamification, but we have to admit, we love representing Seattle technology in the Silicon Valley.
Ex-lead programmer of “Plants vs Zombies” and ex-director at ChinaCache work together to gamify real-world deals with Gimmieworld e27 6/7/2012 Playing games online can earn you free stuff and product discounts with Gimmieworld, a new game site created by Roy Liu and David Ng. The site rewards players with points that can be redeemed for free and discounted products at partnering online shops. Shopping and games? Sounds pretty awesome!
Pierce County Library Introduces New Features to Summer Reading Program Gig Harbor Patch 6/5/2012 We are really proud to see gamification being used by a library system in our home state. Students who participate in the summer reading program can earn points for each book they read, points now correspond to redeemable prizes as well as a way for students to pay down library fines. $5 increments of fines can be ‘bought’ with points earned through actively reading. Who doesn’t wish they could participate in that?
The Gamification of Education and Cognitive, Social and Emotional Learning Benefits EmergingEdTech 6/10/2012 This is a really interesting look at the ways that gamification can benefit education of children. By taking a look at the cognitive, emotional and social needs of students, researchers addressed the ways that gamification can be used to maximize learning in the classroom.