May 2, 2026
Headlines

August 2013

mobile ads

Case Study: The Effect of Presenting Ads as Rewards in Mobile Games

34 mins

The challenge of monetization is about more than dollars and cents – it is about continuously enhancing the user experience. Many developers steer clear of monetization solutions, fearing that they will turn off users and cause drops in retention and engagement rates.

However, when ads are presented as personalized they can have favorable implications for user experience and engagement. Below, I will share some data that demonstrates a positive correlation between the implementation of such ads and an increase in overall engagement.

In order to provide some context, PaeDae is a premium ad network that leverages a “reward ad spec” to help app developers monetize. One of the biggest contributors to our success is our commitment to ensuring that reward ads look native, and blend seamlessly into a user’s overall game or app experience.

Read More

Get Certified in Gamification Design Online

Gabe Zichermann24 mins

I’ve been hard at work on a bunch of cool projects, and I wanted you to be among the first to know about my latest: you can now earn your first two levels of gamification certification online, at your own pace.

In partnership with Udemy, I’ve developed an all-new curriculum that teaches you the basics of gamification and engagement design in two parts:

1. Fundamentals of Gamification (LEVEL 1, BASIC)
2. Design Principles, Mechanics, Mastery & More (LEVEL 2, EXPERT)

Click on the two links above to check them out, watch a free lecture, and automatically take advantage of special, limited-time pricing for Gamification Co friends and partners.

Read More
john reynolds for restaurant.com

How Restaurant.com Creates Loyalty with Gamification

Kevin Shane01 mins

Restaurant.com is the largest source of dining deals in the nation. Despite the huge inventory of amazing offers, the company needed a way to create, sustain and socialize customer loyalty. So they turned to gamification with amazing results. Along the way, Restaurant.com learned some of the best — and worst — ways to create customer loyalty with gamification.

Learn from their lessons as Restaurant.com CRM Manager, John Reynolds, and Badgeville Producer, Zachary Bodnar, walk us through some design principles and lessons learned for achieving loyalty success in ecommerce.
Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get the latest videos from GSummit SF 2013 as they’re released. You can also download a copy of John’s presentation by downloading it here.

Read More
what critics don't understand about education in gamification

What Critics Don’t Understand About Gamified Education

Eugene Sheely58 mins

Critics of gamified education always seem to miss some major points:

  1. Gamified education is much more than making mundane activities like work and study fun
  2. What makes a game fun is constant learning
  3. Not all gamified activities are fun, but they’re engaging
  4. Gamified education is the best way to leverage our new technologies to gain the necessary skills and knowledge in the information age

Gamified education should be advocated for its most practical reason: It’s the best method we know on how to organize learning environments to increase knowledge in both diversity and density. Gamified education is not merely an improvement from the current traditional educational model; it’s a completely new innovative way of learning.

Read More
nicole lazzaro

Nicole Lazzaro Explains The 4 Keys to Fun and Gamification

Ivan Kuo02 mins

The Gamification Revolution is the only live gamification webcast featuring Gabe Zichermann and fellow gamification experts every week. Join us and have all of your gamification questions answered by these experts. Today we’ll be looking at our last week’s guest: Nicole Lazzaro, President of XEODesign.

Be sure to catch our next episode this Thursday, August 29 at 1PM ET/1800 GMT, where we will feature Karl Kapp, Assistant Director of Bloomsburg University’s Institute for Interactive Technologies and prominent eLearning/gamification expert.

Remember you can participate in the show if you sign-in and RSVP! Signing in will allow you to receive show reminders, ask questions, and even join Gabe and our guest for a live question.

In last week’s episode, we explored the idea of fun. Would anybody even care about gamification if it didn’t produce something that was fun to do? Gamification practitioners have a responsibility of understanding how a fun system plays into their overall design and Nicole Lazzaro, came on the show to explain the psychology of fun and her theory on the 4 keys to all the types of fun that exist. Watch the video below to get the full scoop on what it means to have fun!



Download this episode (right click and save)

Read More

NSA Gamifies Surveillance Training: Ethical or Questionable?

Heong Weng Mak117 mins

There is a recent Der Spiegel report on the NSA gamifying its infamous international surveillance program, XKEYSCORE. Gleaned from a secret report entitled, “Tales from the Land of Brothers Grimm”, it detailed training procedures that were used to motivate NSA agents who are new to the program. Gamification mechanics were used such as how agents could earn “skilz” points and “unlock achievements” as they effectively use the training program. What was startling was that the report indicated the training procedure changed the perception of its users opinion on surveillance after a certain period of time.

Here at Gamification Co, we have covered numerous examples where gamified systems have been used for good in solving problems across industries. Nonetheless, there is a need to address the elephant in the living room where gamification is used for questionable means.

Read More
amy baskin's grammar olympics

The Grammar Olympics: How to Gamify Teaching on a Budget

Ivan Kuo01 mins

Some of the most exciting things happening in education are the advancements in education technologies, like classroom-wide tablet systems and online learning platforms but it doesn’t mean a creative lesson plan can’t be just as effective.

Amy Baskin, an English professor at Florida State College at Jacksonville, created a teaching-system that combined a series of “Olympic-style” events revolving around teaching grammar conventions. Professor Baskin took the stage at GSummit SF 2013 to share her story with the Grammar Olympics and shows us all how there is no substitute for great teachers.

Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get the latest videos from GSummit SF 2013 as they’re released. You can also download a copy of Amy’s presentation by downloading it here.

Read More
myvegas

Meta Gaming? MyVegas Gamifies Sin City

Kevin Shane01 mins

What’s the best way to talk about the gamification of gambling and gaming? PlayStudios CEO Andrew Pascal took the stage at GSummit SF 2013 to talk about MyVegas,  a partnership between MGM Resorts and PlayStudios to bring gamified loyalty and rewards to the Las Vegas audience.

Watch his talk below as he details the unique challenges and opportunities associated with creating engagement in this challenging environment.

Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get the latest videos from GSummit SF 2013 as they’re released. You can also download a copy of Andrew’s presentation by downloading it here.

Read More

The Psychology of Fun: Transform Awareness into Impact

Kevin Shane02 mins

Following up her main stage talk from GSummit 2012, Nicole Lazzaro took the main stage again at GSummit 2013 and gave us a new talk on how the emotional response from games can inspire people to take real actions for social impact.

We take a look at Nicole’s analysis on the psychology of fun and how her own game, Tilt World, was able to accomplish significant social impact by simply being fun.

Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get the latest videos from GSummit SF 2013 as they’re released. You can also download a copy of Nicole’s presentation by downloading it here.

If you have questions about this content or anything else related to gamification design, please join us tomorrow at 1PM ET as Nicole joins us as our live guest on the Gamification Revolution webshow.  RSVP and Sign-In to join the conversation!

Read More
joseph gordon levitt

Joseph Gordon-Levitt Wants Your Gamification Story

Ivan Kuo12 mins

Have you ever wanted to share your personal gamification story to the world? Now’s your chance.

Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Morgan Spurlock are teaming up to produce a crowdsourced documentary on gamification as their next project for JGL’s hittRECord organization. They’re seeking anyone and everyone to contribute stories, illustrations, graphics, and videos about the following question:

“What do you think has been gamified in today’s world?”

Read More
tacy trowbridge

Tacy Trowbridge on Adobe’s Education Exchange and Promoting Creativity

Ivan Kuo12 mins

The Gamification Revolution is the only live gamification webcast featuring Gabe Zichermann and fellow gamification experts every week. Join us and have all of your gamification questions answered by these experts. This week’s guest was Tacy Trowbridge, Head of Education Programs at Adobe.

Be sure to catch our next episode this Thursday, August 22 at 1PM ET/1800 GMT, where we feature Nicole Lazzaro, creator of Tilt World and president of XEODesign Inc.

Remember you can participate in the show if you sign-in and RSVP! Signing in will allow you to receive show reminders, ask questions, and even join Gabe and our guest for a live question.

In this week’s episode, Gabe and Tacy share some of Adobe’s education programs to see how they’re getting kids to become more creative and the resources they’re offering for educators and students. You’ll learn about Adobe’s Education Exchange, Tacy’s approach to motivating students in education, and a spirited user-chat about gamification user-experience. Watch the full talk below:



Download this episode (right click and save)

Read More
hsn arcade

HSN is Reinventing Online Shopping with Gamification

Ivan Kuo11 mins

Did you know that HSN is more than just a TV-shopping channel? Since 2011, HSN has reinvented itself as a total entertainment and shopping portal with gamification and now sees over 200K daily interactions online .

At GSummit SF 2013, Jill Braff, Executive Vice President of Digital Commerce at HSN, took the main stage to share some statistics and the story behind HSN’s awesome success.

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get the latest videos from GSummit SF 2013 as they’re released. You can also download a copy of Jill’s presentation by downloading it here.

Read More