Games are big business. The days of them being seen as a novelty or a fad are decades gone, and with the financial world realizing the kind of economic power they can wield, it’s no surprise that everyone wants a piece of the pie.
The results of this have been cloudy and widespread. On the one hand, it means that the games industry has more money behind it than ever, but it’s become unsustainable in many ways. Furthermore, this idea of gamification has spread to other industries and concepts with varied results.
Online Casinos
Perhaps where it can be seen most clearly of all is when it comes to the world of gambling. While some people think of casinos as strictly physical venues where they can socialize and interact with the idea of gaming away from digital spaces, online casinos have changed that entirely.
Online casinos aren’t necessarily anything new, but they’re a development that has come alongside the popularization of smartphones and the improved technology behind mobile hardware. Now, when people want to play a round of online slots, they don’t have to go to a local outlet that provides such an experience. Instead, they just have to pull up their phone and can immediately access games from WWE Legends to The Dark Knight, or even something like video poker if they choose – all on a secure platform that can let them spend as much or as little time there as they please.
eLearning
It’s also important to examine where gamification can offer something more practical. When it comes to eLearning, companies might want to create a system that encourages more input from the viewer. Rather than just sitting through a bunch of learning materials and desperately trying to remember what you’ve been told, interactive elements can help this knowledge stick through a higher level of engagement.
It’s about finding the right balance of interactivity that serves a purpose and avoiding utilizing it just for the sake of it. You don’t want your own learning material to feel as though it’s filled with clutter or activities that are just wasting time, after all. There is a time and a place for this, which means applying a more precise usage.
Apps of All Kinds
Whether you’re using an app that’s meant to help you exercise, meditate, go shopping, learn a new language, or earn points on the number of coffees that you buy – any of them are susceptible to introduce game-like elements. This might be from something as simple as introducing a streak that puts you on some sort of leaderboard, thereby introducing an element of competition, or it might be by spinning a wheel to see if you won a prize or discount. For the businesses behind these apps, it can seem like an effective way of increasing engagement in a vacuum. Still, when every app and everything the same audience member is exposed to asks the same of them, it can begin to feel less individual.
