My Gamification Birthday Wish

Today is my 39th birthday.

When we started on this crazy gamification journey in 2010, I could not have predicted how large an impact our community would have in just 3 short years. What began as a shot in the dark (“I think there are some people out there who think that game concepts can improve business and the world”), has mushroomed into a real movement. Collectively, you have worked to design change in marketing, human resources, product development, strategy and business process. You’ve brought the best ideas from games, loyalty programs and behavioral economics to health, finance, education, government, loyalty and travel…just to name a few industries.

And the examples continue to multiply rapidly – as the videos from this year’s GSummit will attest. These case studies form the backbone of our collective intelligence, and our goal will be continue to discover and amplify those over the coming weeks as we roll out some new features.

These new concepts will support our core mission: to help this community come together, grow and change the world. We’ll continue to do this in every way possible — through live GSummits around the world, online, in print, in certification and more. 

I believe that in order to help you be as awesome as possible, we need to also challenge you. This means bringing together people and ideas that are sometimes controversial, often divergent and always thought-provoking. We also want you to challenge yourself and others with big, new ideas that change the way we think about engagement, business and society. Only through this challenge will we continue to innovate and excel.

And that’s my birthday wish: push yourself — and your colleagues — to think differently about how you will rise to the challenge of the Gamification Revolution.

I’ll start with a small gift: free access to my  GSummit 2013 closing keynote (embedded below).
What you can do for me: watch this talk and share it with two people you think need to hear the message it contains.

In that vein, please challenge me on the ideas you hear in the speech. Undoubtedly you’ll disagree with some (or all) of what I have to say — so share your thoughts. I can be reached in the comments below or on Twitter @gzicherm.

Meanwhile, thanks for making my work so fulfilling. Your (continued) success is the best gift a guy like me could ask for.