October 13, 2026
Headlines

2014

Case Study: The Search for New Genres of Serious Games at IBM

Natalija Knaidele01 mins

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.

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Managing Gamification Initiatives and Expectation with Rabobank

Heong Weng Mak01 mins

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:



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Study: Playing Video Games Can Increase Brain Size

Ivan Kuo05 mins

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.

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How a Teacher Used Civilization IV to Teach Roman History

Natalija Knaidele05 mins

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.

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Case Study: Lessons on Gamifying Social Media at Events with Livecube

Natalija Knaidele02 mins

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!

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Eric’s High School Experience Makes SAT Studying Interactive

Bianca Gelli05 mins

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.

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Crowdsourcing GIF Emotional Research with MIT Media Lab

Heong Weng Mak11 mins

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:



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Gartner Redefines Gamification: What Do You Think?

Kevin Shane06 mins

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.

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Case Study: Air Canada’s Gamified ‘Earn Your Wings’ Program

Natalija Knaidele03 mins

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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Connecting Culture and Playful Learning with Jake Orlowitz of Wikipedia

Heong Weng Mak11 mins
as Jake Orlowitz of Wikipedia explained the many challenges faced by Wikipedia editors on the Gamification Revolution webinar. Last week, we featured the grantee to discuss how Wikipedia is utilizing gamification to train potential editors while reinvigorating its veteran editors.
Watch the full interview below to learn about:
  • What inspired Jake to propose and build the gamification project?
  • How Jake convinced the board of directors to implement the project?
  • What game mechanics were utilized to impart core editorial principles?
  • What were the quantitative and qualitative feedback upon implementation of the project?
  • What is the future roadmap upon successful implementation?
Be sure to also catch our next episode of the Gamification Revolution this Wednesday April 9th at 1 PM ET:



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influent

Influent Turns Spatial Memorization into a Language Learning Game

Bianca Gelli36 mins

If you’ve ever attempted to learn a second language, you might have found yourself overwhelmed by this apparently daunting task, or even worse, got yourself disengaged because of the dryness of traditional textbooks and lecture formats they are conveyed in.

Don’t give up just yet! There are a couple of game-like methods out there for you to diverge from the traditional learning setting. This year during GDC week, Influent was released. Aimed to be a “Language Game Redefined”, the game enables players to have a self-directed learning experience, immersing them in a 3D house, fully furnished with a rich amount of everyday objects that can be interacted with in the chosen language.

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