Games in Education: Getting Girls in the Game

If asked to describe a typical gamer, most people would probably describe a teenage boy playing games in his parents’ basement. Stereotypes do not always match reality, however. Most game players engage in social play by playing either with another person or online, and girls make up 47% of all gamers. What research has shown is that girls are drawn to games for different reasons than boys and that the factors that motivate girls to play are also important aspects of learning. Researchers are investigating how to create games in education that motivate girls and encourage all students in learning.

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The Transformative Power of Social Games with Asi Burak

Last week we had a special episode of the Gamification Revolution, the only live gamification webcast featuring Gabe Zichermann and fellow gamification experts happening every Monday at 1PM ET/10AM PT/1800 GMT. We were lucky enough to have Asi Burak, Co-President of Games for Change, and speaker at GSummit SF 2013 for a little Games for Change special episode.

Watch this week’s episode to get hear Asi’s approach towards social impact games and why he believes games are the best medium for affecting change. In essence, games are a unique medium to convey stories. Traditional medium simply tells you what to believe and what is or isn’t right. Games are unique in that they enable a player to experience multiple perspectives on an issue and allows them to make a personal conclusion through player choice and actions. Learn more about Asi’s approach below:

Download this episode (right click and save)

Be sure to check out the Gamification Revolution next week to see legendary designer, Jesse Schell, as our next guest.

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parenting

How to Provide More Meaningful Rewards in Your Parenting

Every parent knows that bribing their child is not the most effective behavioral management technique, but getting your children to eat the vegetables on their plate for 15 more minutes of video game time doesn’t seem too harmful, right?.

Over the years, psychologists have determined that short-term rewards directed towards end results are not helpful in teaching children proper behavior and manners. In fact, bribes—whether they come in the form of money, play time, and/or candy—have a negative effect on children learning development.

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ddr classroom edition

UnitedHealthcare Teams up with KONAMI to Produce DDR Classroom Edition

Going through a strange time in my adolescence, I was very fond of playing Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) as a means of being able to play videogames while being active. I can attribute much of my adult lower body strength simply to my stomping and jumping to fast-paced Japanese music and it pleases me to no end that UnitedHealthcare and KONAMI are working together to bring these benefits to entire classrooms.

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Learn More About Viral Infections with the Killer Flu Game

If you haven’t already noticed, the 2013 strain of influenza is reaching “epidemic” proportions and people all over your Facebook have been strangely bragging about contracting this “flu thing”.

While there’s little we can do besides avoiding other sick people and bathing in hand sanitizer, there is a way to educate ourselves more about how influenza spreads and avoid blowing the entire problem out of proportion.

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Prominent Gamifiers: Asi Burak

As the Co-President of Games for Change, Asi Burak has had a long career using the transformative power of games to promote greater social good in the world. Asi’s path to social impact games began with his education in a Masters of Entertainment Technology from Carnegie Mellon and a BA in Design from the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem. His initial work in mobile gaming with Axis Mobile has led to many significant projects that has been picked up by international media outlets. Some of this exceptional work includes:

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Status in the Subway: Montreal STM Introduces VIP Program

Loyalty programs have been commonly associated with airlines and retailers but Montreal’s recent plans may soon change that perspective to include public transportation systems. Montreal operates the Opus-à-l’année also know as the Opus & Cie subscriptions, a subscription service which recharges a commuter’s OPUS card automatically every month.
Montreal STM will be introducing a VIP class for its customers, which will only be made available to 20,000 commuters (9% of the 217,000 who regularly buy monthly Société passes). After subscribing for more 12 months, Opus & Cie users will be given the opportunity to upgrade to their new “maestro” status.

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The State of the Gamification Industry with Kris Duggan

We return with a bang in 2013 to bring you first episode of Season 2 of the Gamification Revolution, the only live gamification webcast featuring Gabe Zichermann and fellow gamification experts happening every Monday at 1PM ET/10AM PT/1800 GMT. This week’s guest is Kris Duggan, CEO of Badgeville, and speaker at GSummit SF 2013.

Watch this week’s episode to get a broad perspective on the current state of the gamification industry, some of Kris’ insights into marketing gamification for others, and to learn how Kris managed to scale up his gamification platform and hire talent for his company. We also now will have each of our episodes available in MP4 for downloads so you can take it with you on the go.

Keep an eye out for our next episode featuring Asi Burak, Co-President of Games for Change, in our special episode this coming Friday, January 18, at 1 PM ET.

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The Hidden Implications Behind the NRA Shooting Game

The NRA has just released a free iOS shooting game one month after the Sandy Hook Tragedy and blaming the video games industry for excessive gun violence.

It is particularly easy to see how hypocritical it is for the NRA to release a shooting game of their own, despite having blamed video games themselves. The obvious criticisms about the game have already been well stated by The Huffington Post but there’s something even more reviling that I haven’t heard anyone mention:
There are microtransactions in this game 

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Health Insurers are Using Competitions to Gamify Weight Loss

Many of us agree that the ultimate rewards for successful weight loss are looking great and feeling better. However, how many times have you lost sight of your goal because of the time and work it takes to get there? By using games in health, notably in weight loss, dieters are able to compete and reap rewards to encourage them to stick to their diet plans.

A recent article in AIS Health describes how health insurers are getting involved to keep dieters on track. United Health, Aetna, and Humana have developed competitions for dieters to encourage participation.

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Integrating Gamification into Customer Relationship Management

According to a recent CFO.com article, there is a big problem with customer relationship management (CRM) systems – getting salespeople to actually use them. CRM systems don’t always get the expected return on investment because users often don’t want to do the extra work involved; they want to get on to the next sales call.

The research group Forrester put it this way:

“The use of CRM apps is important to the whole sales process, but if salespeople aren’t using the technology, the ability to leverage the technology to generate deals is greatly diminished.”

Gamification can change that.

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