This is another personal reflection that
I’ve decided to undertake partly because I’ve noticed that I often use gaming
and gamification almost interchangeably throughout my posts. I’ve also been
questioned a couple of times about the difference between the two, and I
thought I’ share some thoughts on the topic.
Gamification as a concept involves the use
of gaming mechanics in situations that wouldn’t normally make use of such
mechanics in an effort to increase engagement and loyalty. The term was coined
by Nick Pelling (2003), a computer game writer, and has gained popularity since around2010 (2013), when technology had evolved sufficiently to allow gaming to cross
the divide between being a niche pastime to a commonplace hobby. That’s the
super skinny cliff notes version. You can find out more about the concept on
Wikipedia (2013) and the Gamification Wiki (2013). It should be noted that the term is a heavily loaded one, and a
simple google search will send you into a veritable warzone of divergent
opinions and attitudes towards it.
For the record, I am not a real fan of the
‘textbook’ definition that I’ve given here. As has probably been evident in my
other posts, I’m not particularly grounded in rules or quantitative data sets –
I’m much more creative and interested in the qualitative aspects of gaming as a
whole. I sometimes think of this part of gaming as the ‘spirit’ of gaming, with
the rules acting as a point of reference for characters to relate it to their
world. I have to say I’m not a fan of gaming being bastardized into a business
strategy either – it feels like using a Porsche to do farmwork.
On the other hand, the broader concept of
gaming is simply the overall concept of interactive entertainment for just that
– entertainment. It doesn’t carry any pretensions about education or increased
engagement, and as a concept exists largely independent of the stakeholders
that produce gaming texts (at least, that’s my view of it). There may be
financial considerations that companies in the games industry have in relation
to their games, but the games themselves don’t carry any purpose other than to
entertain. Incidental learning takes place as a result of increased engagement
and the creation of ‘information pull’ on players, but aren’t explicit goals
that they set out to achieve, as may be the case in gamification.
Again, as I’ve alluded to in previous
posts, I think that the main difference between the pair is that gamification
is geared towards an ulterior motive, and that it takes the rules and the
‘number side’ of gaming and holds these up as what are attractive about the
concept, whereas gaming concentrates on having fun and brings more to the table
than the simple sum of its’ parts. At the time of writing, I’m firmly convinced
that the ‘more’ that gaming brings is the narrative and unquantifiable nature
of experience as it’s lived.
I don’t necessarily think that gamification
is a bad thing – it just fills a purpose. It’s not in the interest of a major
shopping centre to simply entertain their customers with a rewards scheme, and
there’s nothing wrong with them instituting such a scheme. I do think that
gamification is very often poorly executed and pointless – as I’ve said before,
I don’t think I know anyone who has spent more on their shopping than they
otherwise would because they want to accumulate more points in the
aforementioned example. I do wonder if there’s a ‘story-based’ gamification
that deals primarily with narrative and the users journey and eschews rules,
and how effective it would be if instituted.
So, there we go. Gamification is
application of gaming mechanics for increased engagement, and gaming is play
for no reason other than entertainment. I hope that irons out any confusion
(and doesn’t make my previous posts more
confusing).
References:
Conundra Ltd - Home Page. (n.d.).
Retrieved October 30, 2013, from http://www.nanodome.com/conundra.co.uk/
Gamification.
(2013, October 29). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gamification&oldid=579238980
Gamification
Wiki. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2013, from http://gamification.org/
Google
Trends. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2013, from
http://www.google.com/trends/explore
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