Jane McGonigal and Games for Change in 2024
Jane McGonigals opened the 11th annual Games For Change Festival in New York by talking on what the social good organization will be celebrating 10 years from now.
April 2014
Case Study: Nissan and GT Academy
In late 2013, Gabe traveled to 12 cities worldwide for GSummit Global, a series of full-day workshops and meetups to bring GSummit closer to gamification fans. As a part of GSummit Global, we also released 10 new webinars and videos by gamification and engagement professionals. We will be releasing them publicly as we keep counting down to GSummit 2014.
Karl Dunn, Creative Director at TBWA Chiat Day , talks about how Nissan GT Academy came to be and how it engaged 400’000 players to participate.
Education Apps Make Learning Less Monotonous
Increase Student Engagement in the Classroom Digital games and learning have a long, storied history together that spans several decades. Ever since computers were introduced into mainstream culture in the 1980s, games have been used to supplement traditional teaching methods. While the early 1980s saw Nintendo make its way to American shores, the mid to late…
Games for Change 2014 Grows In Popularity
It all started in June 2004. This was the very first Games for Change Festival ever, it was held at New York Academy of Sciences in New York City. The goal? To investigate whether or not games could become serious games, ones that could be used for educational purposes and to inspire social change. Unfortunately only forty-two people attended…
However, this year’s Games for Change Festival will prove just how strong this movement has become. It has been projected that more than 800 people have attended in-person and an additional 10,000 people will have attended the event through streaming this past week. The festival also nabbed a great ally in their quest for social good by partnering with the Tribeca Film Festival for this year’s event.
Flirt Planet: If Second Life Went Mobile and Got (Even) Sexier
Online dating sites may be on the way to becoming old news. Gamification mobile apps have moved into the dating field with the introduction of twin applications, Flirt Planet Meet and Flirt Planet Play. These two new applications work together to offer the first mobile game and dating application for mobile. Flirt Planet Play is an interface where users can practice their dating skills and Flirt Planet Meet is an interface where users can try their new moves on potential dates.
Imagine if Second Life got supercharged with gamification and focused on mobile…you’d get this.
Case Study: The Search for New Genres of Serious Games at IBM
In late 2013, Gabe traveled to 12 cities worldwide for GSummit Global, a series of full-day workshops and meetups to bring GSummit closer to gamification fans. As a part of GSummit Global, we also released 10 new webinars and videos by gamification and engagement professionals. We will be releasing them publicly as we keep counting down to GSummit 2014.
Phaedra Boinodiris, the global serious games program manager for IBM, talks about how IBM has used serious games and gamification in the past and how it intends to go beyond its application in training to other areas.
Kolibree Brings Gamification To Your Teeth
A new type of toothbrush is looking to change the health world. Kolibree, a French startup, has developed a Bluetooth-enabled toothbrush that connects to your smartphone or tablet, tracks and displays your brushing habits, and allows you to compete for being the best brusher of teeth in the family!
Managing Gamification Initiatives and Expectation with Rabobank
Last week, we featured Rabobank‘s Gamification Hub manager, Maarten Molenaar to discuss Rabobank’s gamification initiatives and what internal measures were taken by the Dutch banking and financial services company to achieve its business objectives with gamification.
Watch the full interview below to learn about:
- How Maarten jumpstarted the gamification hub within Rabobank.
- The importance of having a consolidated gamification central hub for the organization.
- How to balance gamification and overall user experience when solving business challenges.
- What gamification hub best practices can be taken applied for other organizations.
- How to manage different expectations amongst colleagues and key stakeholders.
Be sure to also catch our next episode of the Gamification Revolution this Tuesday April 22th at 1 PM ET:
Download this episode (right click and save)
Study: Playing Video Games Can Increase Brain Size
A study published in PLOS ONE, an online peer-reviewed journal, gives quantitative evidence of what effects video gaming has from a physical, biological perspective. At very least, playing video games can alter your brain.
Studying a mix of 152 teenagers, both boys and girls, testing was done on two areas of the brain: the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the left frontal eye fields (FEF). What the researchers discovered was that these areas, responsible for executive control, strategic planning, and eye movement relative to “visio-spatial attention” were all positively influenced by video game play in a significant way.
How a Teacher Used Civilization IV to Teach Roman History
Education Games Research had an account of a Canadian teacher, Dr. Shawn Graham, who employed a unique approach in using games in education. The teacher set up a scenario in the popular simulation game Civilization IV to allow students to become one of the factions in Ancient Rome’s “Year of the Four Emperors” that took place in 69 A.D. after the assassination of Nero. During that year, four successive Roman generals, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian in rapid succession marched on Rome with their legions and seized power.
Case Study: Lessons on Gamifying Social Media at Events with Livecube
In late 2013, Gabe traveled to 15 cities worldwide for GSummit Global, a series of full-day workshops and meetups to bring GSummit closer to gamification fans. As a part of GSummit Global, we also released 10 new webinars and videos by gamification and engagement professionals. We will be releasing them publicly as we keep counting down to GSummit 2014.
This week, Aaron Price, co-founder of Livecube and founder of NJ Tech Meetup, will share his learnings after successfully gamifying social media at events, including GSummit for the past 2 years. We are also doing it this year, so stay tuned and participate to win awesome prizes!
Eric’s High School Experience Makes SAT Studying Interactive
Eric’s High School Experience is an online K-12 education resource that offers interactive learning tools for those attempting the SAT, seeking ways to improve their high school performance or just keeping up with a lifelong learning goal.
It is a response to the College Board’s call to action after the 2013 SAT report on College & Career readiness revealed that only 43% of students that took the SAT were qualified as college-ready, and that this number had remained virtually unchanged for five years.
Crowdsourcing GIF Emotional Research with MIT Media Lab
Last week, we featured MIT graduate students Travis Rich and Kevin Hu to talk about their gamified crowdsourcing project, GIFGIF. The MIT Media Lab project aims to map out the emotional language of animated gifs using game mechanics to draw user engagement and quantifiable methodologies to gather research data.
Watch the full interview below to learn about:
- The design purposes for using specific mechanics to drive outcomes.
- Where they drew inspiration from when building in the mechanics.
- How the team plans to use gathered data to be used for scientific research.
- The ethical questions for utilizing a crowd sourcing capability.
- What possibilities lie ahead to facilitate complex dialogue beyond cataloging gifs.
Be sure to also catch our next episode of the Gamification Revolution this coming Tuesday April 15th at 1 PM ET:
Download this episode (right click and save)
Gartner Redefines Gamification: What Do You Think?
Gamification is considered a relatively new term. As a new term, its definition is in flux and is continually changing. The popular media and different professionals continue to offer different and sometimes competing definitions. As different definitions are offered, it is up to everyday people to accept or reject those definitions.
Gartner, a leader in information technology research and advisory, has recently offered a new definition of gamification. As an industry leader, their definition carries some weight. Gartner redefines gamification as, “the use of game mechanics and experience design to digitally engage and motivate people to achieve their goals.” This is a very loaded definition with very specific implications.
Case Study: Air Canada’s Gamified ‘Earn Your Wings’ Program
In late 2013, Gabe traveled to 15 cities worldwide for GSummit Global, a series of full-day workshops and meetups to bring GSummit closer to gamification fans. As a part of GSummit Global, we also released 10 new webinars and videos by gamification and engagement professionals. We will be releasing them publicly as we keep counting down to GSummit 2014.
First up, a webinar by Ian Di Tullio, the Director Loyalty Marketing of Air Canada. This fast-paced webinar will lead you through the basic features and characteristics of airline loyalty programs, with a neat case study of Air Canada’s own loyalty promotion, Earn Your Wings.
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