Research & Surveys
Gamification: key things, recent applications and predictions

The gamification of e-learning is continuing to grow, although the industry doesn’t really – yet – understand how to build-in true human motivational factors instead of superficial game mechanics. Here are some things that The Company of Thought has been thinking about recently – notably Gamification.

 

Five key things:

  • “Gamification”, now a popular buzzword across almost every industry, involves the concept of applying gaming science and psychology to motivate and reward people – employees, customers, or job seekers – to behave a certain way.
  • Not only does the gaming trend cross ages and genders, it’s also global in nature. The global gamification market is set to grow from US$1.65bn in 2015 to US$11.10bn by 2020, at a CAGR of 46.3 percent, with the growing adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) among enterprises - and the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region expected to become one of the major adopters of gamification techniques by 2020.
  • The APAC region is taking the lead in examples of gamification. Organizations in the region – mainly in Australia, Japan, China, and India - are adopting technologies and solutions to increase profits along with employee satisfaction. These solutions, such as virtual badges, reward points, and club cards, are building loyalty among customers and employees towards the brand.
  • The speedy growth of social media is driving the gamification market. Users in regions such as North America and Europe prefer using social media websites to make purchases or to connect with companies. This has encouraged organizations to provide online gamification features to customers as well as employees.
  • Gamification solutions now play a vital role in marketing, as these are demanded by organizations to motivate the marketing personnel. This helps them to increase the number of prospective clients for the company.

 

Five (or more) recent applications of gamification are:

  • eSentire, Inc., a specialist in Active Threat Protection solutions, has launched eSentire Training Day™, an adaptive, gamified, and fully-mobile security awareness training solution that arms employees against the latest social engineering, spear-phishing attacks, and more. In addition to tracking traditional metrics - like participation, grades, and progress - eSentire Training Day's focus on sustained knowledge allows it to measure knowledge improvements across the organization, with the ability to drill down to an individual employee.
  • Samsung is using gamification to drive customer interest through its social loyalty program, Samsung Nation, via the behavior platform, Badgeville. The aim is to grow its user-generated content and traffic on its global website. Consequently, Samsung has seen 66 percent more users submitting 447 percent more product answers on its global website. Moreover, the user-generated content prompted 34 percent of users to put 224 percent more items in shopping carts.
  • Kaplan University students are introduced to CareerNetwork during their first term at the university. When entering the network, students see an individualized job feed based on their program of study and geographical location. They can apply for jobs directly from the feed and organize their search with the Career Services staff. Students create their own avatar, receive points and advance levels for compiling personal information that, in turn, helps the University’s Career Services team learn more about them and their job search. This helps the team provide more effective coaching.
  • The U.S. Army was one of the first organizations to effectively use video games to attract candidates. Its graphic simulation game, “America’s Army”, significantly improved and revitalized its recruiting efforts. L’Oreal followed suit with “Brandstorm” to introduce students to its brand innovations, joined by companies like Marriott with “My Marriott Kitchen”, a food service challenge, and most recently, by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)’s “Multipoly Next” – a game that allows students to experience what it’s like to work for the firm.
  • Knack is enabling job seekers to play mobile games to understand what they do best, create career paths and link with suitable job opportunities. Video games built on the principles of behavioral neuroscience and predictive algorithms provide organizations with real-time candidate insights to ensure they’re hiring the right talent for the right roles.

 

Three TCoT predictions:

  • The gamification of e-learning is continuing to grow, although the industry doesn’t really – yet – understand how to build-in true human motivational factors instead of superficial game mechanics. For those who insist on proper human motivational analysis before embarking on playful design, the results are significantly further reaching.
  • Watch out for increasing gamification approaches to attract “millennials”. For example, Tamer Rafla, founder and CEO of the gamification company Klujo, says, “Traditional ‘push’ recruitment strategies aren’t as effective with the younger generations. Millennials are hanging out on social channels playing games and building their digital footprint — not looking for jobs.” When Klujo gamified content via a puzzle game, viewer actions rose from 4,000 to 9,970 – a 149 percent increase in engagement.
  • Back in 1876, Mark Twain’s novel “Tom Sawyer” taught us the mantra of gamification - ask yourself what you’re trying to achieve and then build a game around it. If you want to get something done, turn it into a game. There are growing examples of how gaming technology can fuel not only your organization’s hiring and engaging top talent, but can also increase the overall engagement of everyone connected with your business.

 

The Company of Thought publishes quarterly Reports – for subscribers only – that provide more detailed, up-to-the-minute market news and insights.

 

TCoT is a (high level) international think tank, comprising thought leaders from the e-learning and related industries. It:

Has many years’ collective experience of the online learning technologies and related industries around the world

Does continual worldwide research, including data mining and business intelligence

Produces generic reports, guides and newsletters

Produces reports that are specific to the needs of particular customers

Uses its ‘special relevance algorithm’ to match LearnTech buyers with sellers

 

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November 2016