{"id":1745,"date":"2011-07-02T09:35:00","date_gmt":"2011-07-02T15:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/?p=1745"},"modified":"2014-09-12T10:46:05","modified_gmt":"2014-09-12T16:46:05","slug":"does-everything-really-need-gamification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2011\/07\/02\/does-everything-really-need-gamification\/","title":{"rendered":"Does everything really need gamification?"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amiando.com\/gamificationsummit.html\">Gamification Summit 2011 San Francisco<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This seems to be the hot, hot, hot topic these days. There are conferences, books, and companies jumping on the bandwagon to bring you apps and more that can help you gamify your web space, your company, and even your school.<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t get me wrong &#8211; love games. I think they are an extremely important and versatile medium for all kinds of things.<\/p>\n<p>BUT, I&#8217;m pretty sure I don&#8217;t want to see <em><strong>everything <\/strong><\/em>and every place gamified.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe I&#8217;m alone in this, but points, badges, and shallow machine generated flattery are not things that motivate me, or make me feel special. Stickers didn&#8217;t work so well with me when I was a kid either, and this is really no different. Gamification will not make me feel any sense of loyalty to the company doing it to me, nor will it make me more engaged. While there are a few exceptions, many of the examples of gamification are rather repulsive &#8211; and I&#8217;m sure that was not what they were going for.<\/p>\n<p>Take <a href=\"http:\/\/branchout.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Branchout<\/a>! for example. I don&#8217;t want to be part of an &#8217;empire&#8217;, even if it&#8217;s my own. I don&#8217;t want badges, and I could care less how many points I have. I don&#8217;t want to feel like everything is a competition. I really don&#8217;t. (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.alfiekohn.org\/books\/nc.htm\" target=\"_blank\">I KNOW I&#8217;m not the only one who feels that way.<\/a>) There&#8217;s even evidence to suggest that competition can be counterproductive.<\/p>\n<p>This stuff does not make me feel happy, or warm and fuzzy, or accomplished. It makes me feel a little unclean though &#8211; like I should take a shower and start over again with a clean piece a paper.<\/p>\n<p>What ever happened to sincerity? ACTUAL quality and service? People who cared about doing a good job that was NOT directly tied to money alone? Feeling good about a job well done, as opposed to &#8216;winning&#8217;?<\/p>\n<p>I guess, only time will tell.<\/p>\n<p>p.s. I think there are some excellent examples of using gamification effectively &#8211; but I suspect, here, like everywhere else, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sturgeon%27s_Law\" target=\"_blank\">Sturgeon&#8217;s Law<\/a> holds:<em><strong> <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"padding-left: 180px;\"><em><strong>90% of everything is crap.<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bunchball.com\/\">Gamification &#8211; When Your Customers Participate, Your Business Wins! &#8211; Bunchball<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bunchball.com\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bunchball.com\/\/siteassets\/img_bunchball_hero_panel1.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bigdoor.com\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bigdoor.com\/images\/billboard\/wheel-static.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"184\" height=\"182\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bigdoor.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Gamify your online experience with the BigDoor Gamification API.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.badgeville.com\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" style=\"border: 1px solid black;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.badgeville.com\/images\/logo.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"245\" height=\"52\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.badgeville.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Badgeville.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/gamify.com\/\">Gamification Platform | Gamify.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/static.gamify.com\/images\/logo\/gamify.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"75\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class='wp_likes' id='wp_likes_post-1745'><a class='like' href=\"javascript:wp_likes.like(1745);\" title='' ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-likes\/images\/like.png\" alt='' border='0'\/><\/a><span class='text'>Be the first to like.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class='like' ><a href=\"javascript:wp_likes.like(1745);\">Like<\/a><\/div>\n<div class='unlike' ><a href=\"javascript:wp_likes.unlike(1745);\">Unlike<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span>Gamification Summit 2011 San Francisco. This seems to be the hot, hot, hot topic these days. There are conferences, books, and companies jumping on the bandwagon to bring you apps and more that can help you gamify your web space, &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2011\/07\/02\/does-everything-really-need-gamification\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[352,14],"tags":[31,342,126,395,64],"class_list":["post-1745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gamification-2","category-general","tag-game-studies","tag-games-gaming","tag-gamification","tag-information-technology","tag-internet"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Hsb6-s9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4164,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2014\/08\/09\/comparing-gamification-serious-games-and-simulations\/","url_meta":{"origin":1745,"position":0},"title":"Comparing Gamification, Serious Games and Simulations","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"August 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Comparing Gamification, Serious Games and Simulations. \u00a0 My last post complained about being shut down on several LinkedIn groups because I disagreed with the poster. This is one of the articles that apparently needed to be protected by flagging my post. This group defines gamification, serious games, and simulation like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Computers&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Computers","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/computers-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"BU072083","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/BU072083-269x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1642,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2011\/04\/02\/the-ludologist-gamification-backlash-roundup\/","url_meta":{"origin":1745,"position":1},"title":"The Ludologist \u00bb Gamification Backlash Roundup","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"April 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Nice summary. The Ludologist \u00bb Gamification Backlash Roundup. For me the most important comment is this one: Sebastian Deterding\u2019s Pawned. Gamification and Its Discontents: \u201cGames are not fun because they are games, but when they are well-designed.\u201d","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Gamification&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Gamification","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/gamification-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5878,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2015\/10\/10\/worth-repeating-deterdings-9-5-theses-on-the-power-and-efficacy-of-gamification\/","url_meta":{"origin":1745,"position":2},"title":"Worth Repeating: Deterding&#8217;s 9.5 Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Gamification","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"October 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"There seems to be continued confusion about the distinctions between games, gamification, and game based learning. This talk by Sebastian Deterding is now several years old, but it's as relevant now as it was then. This talk focuses on gamification; what it is, what it isn't and what is needed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academia","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/academia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"gamification","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/gamification-300x205.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2133,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2012\/04\/24\/learnlets-kapps-gamification-for-learning-and-instruction\/","url_meta":{"origin":1745,"position":3},"title":"Learnlets \u00bb Kapp\u2019s Gamification for Learning and Instruction","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"April 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Clark Quinn has written a well considered review of a new book on Gamification. It's nice to see more people getting past all the superficial gamification hype. There's some good stuff here. Learnlets \u00bb Kapp\u2019s Gamification for Learning and Instruction.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Educational Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Educational Technology","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/educational-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5946,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2015\/11\/01\/worth-sharing-gamification-separating-fact-from-fiction\/","url_meta":{"origin":1745,"position":4},"title":"Worth Sharing: Gamification: Separating Fact from Fiction","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"November 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Game-Based Learning \/ Gaming \/ Learning \/ Social Learning While this isn't a new article, it's one worth repeating. The 4 Myths described by Kapp are: Gamification and Games are the same. Gamification alienates older learners. There is no science behind gamification. Gamification is about points, badges, and leaderboards. Source:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academia","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/academia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5760,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2015\/09\/25\/games-vs-game-based-learning-vs-gamification-new-infographic-but-still-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":1745,"position":5},"title":"Games vs Game-based Learning vs Gamification : New Infographic, but still wrong.","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"September 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This same group (Upside Learning) posted a very similar infographic back in June. Although a few things have been changed, the table they present to show the differences is identical to the one they published in June. Sadly, it may be simplified, but it's still as wrong now as it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academia","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/academia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"game-gbl-gamification","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/game-gbl-gamification-1024x8201.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/game-gbl-gamification-1024x8201.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/game-gbl-gamification-1024x8201.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1745"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1755,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1745\/revisions\/1755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}