Gamification Benefits: Part 1 – Introduction

Image by Nicki Hambleton via Thinking Tradigitally

Gamification can be a powerful tool when used correctly, as many companies have already discovered. Why, you ask? Humans naturally love to play, and our attention is increasingly turning toward video games. Huffington Post reported that as of February 2014, 72% of households played some sort of video game, whether it be on home console, handheld, phone, or tablet. Now, that number is probably even higher as downloadable mobile games continue to skyrocket in popularity. Video games reach an incredibly wide spectrum of the population; from Fallout to Pokémon to Candy Crush to Words with Friends, there is a game out there for everyone.

But what exactly draws people to video games, though? Sure, there's a lot of variety, but what makes people want to play video games over reading a book or watching a movie? Why bother with trying to complete all the levels of Angry Birds or defeat that difficult final boss that you've already died to twenty times when you could kick back and enjoy the action of Ender's Game or Captain America without wearing out your thumbs?

Because games are the perfect little package. They are entertaining, engaging, and they grab people's interest for just the right amount of time before their attention wanders. They are also highly immersive because players can place themselves directly into the game scenario and become the main character of the game, or they can interact with other people they wouldn't be able to normally. Many games set goals for gamers to achieve and give some sort of reward upon completion of those objectives. The sense of accomplishment players feel after getting a certain score, finding a hidden item, or even completing a difficult level is what keeps so many people coming back to games over and over again, even after completing the game's main story or final level. They have the freedom to retry levels and improve their gaming performance until they complete their objective, or at least get much further along than they did before.

A lot of these same elements that make games so alluring can be applied to the classroom through gamification. Stay tuned for Part 2 to learn how to increase your class's energy and engage your students with gamification!

Until next time!