A research team from North Carolina State University recently submitted a study for publication in Computers in Human Behavior stating older adults that played video games showed an improvement in health versus non-gamers.
Game based learning resources are available free of charge to students at every level. According to Starting Point, Students today spend almost two hours per day on video games. Educators are understandably interested in getting a piece of that action, and that action can be found at the University as well as in the public television sectors.
We’ve recently shared a comprehensive overview on how games can help healthcare in 2013. We’ve found a few more ways how gamification is affecting the health landscape through simulation learning, inspiring new health insurance programs, disease management and more.
A recent Forbes Article offers an interesting take on the value of gamification technology as one fix in our broken education system. Games and technology are often the source of the very distractions that impede learning, but are they agents of engagement for the current generation of gadget-savvy school kids?
“Yes and no” is the answer
Educators are rapidly embracing Minecraft, an online simulation game in which gamers craft buildings and conceive of entire civilizations. These efforts proceed in an open world environment. Things have certainly progressed from educators imploring their students to stop playing Minecraft in favor of completing assignments. Now, teachers are seriously exploring ways that the Minecraft experience can advance the education of their students.
Joel Levin is a computer teacher at a private school in NYC. His foray into using Minecraft in the classroom evolved to the point that his enterprise, TeacherGaming LLC, has developed MinecraftEdu. This version of the global gaming phenomenon has been developed specifically for game based learning. As of December 2012, MinecraftEdu had already entered into the curriculum at almost 1000 schools and has even become mandatory in one Swedish school as well.
We’ve noticed that there are very few resources for individuals wanting to learn more about companies in the gamification space. The kinds of question we continue to observe on a regular basis look like:
There are valid questions for someone looking to explore the space but its not always apparent where one can start, which is why we built two resources for anyone curious about gamification to explore: The Gamification Buyer’s Guide and The GBase.
Many designers are using gamification to intrigue their users and keep them involved with an application over time. However, you want to make sure that the mechanics you are using are sound, and will make the most out of your effort. Some ludemes (things like badges, experience points, achievements, levels) may look useful since they are used in many games, but can be overused and may eventually turn a user off. Here are some things that will work in gamification.
If you’re still unsure of what gamification is or how it could help you in marketing or human resources, Gabe Zichermann will be providing two free expert gamification webinars to show you why gamification works for marketing and HR on February 5th and 6th, 2013.
Gamification is a powerful tool that is poised to change the world. The old Gartner adage that predicted that by 2014, 70 percent of the world’s top 2000 companies will be using some form of gamification…but they also had a report that stated 80 perfect of gamified processes will fail in 2014.
Naturally, there is some backlash from those who think gamification is a fad that doesn’t really work, or that it can even be harmful. And you know what? Some of those critics make good points. The problem, however, is not gamification itself. The problems are FAKE gamification and BAD gamification.
If you’ve never attended one of our gsummitX meetups before, now’s your chance to experience some of the great speakers we sign up for our events. Watch the video below to hear some great sessions from our last gsummitX meetup at Tel-Aviv this past December. Some of these sessions include, talks on marketing gamification, the IDF Blog’s gamification story, and the brains behind Freshbiz, the Entrepreneurship Game, that we covered this past summer.
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.
Although society often views video games as a barrier to more productive educational outcomes, some in the field view games in education as a way to address current concerns. Some educators recognize increases in student engagement, but others see skill acquisition benefits as well.
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.
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.
It’s not very surprising that the military has been using video games as a form of training. This form of gamification is very serious, enough so that in 2008 the U.S. Army invested “$50 million over five years on games and gaming systems designed to prepare soldiers for combat.” This investment is so big, it has its own title: the Project Executive Office – Simulation Training and Instrumentation, or PEO – STI, and the Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, and Homeland Defense are involved as well. These games are basically complex simulations, which have been in use since possibly the 1920’s.
