June 9, 2026
Headlines

GCo’s Picks: How Microsoft’s Ross Smith Redefines Productivity with Games

Sudarshan Gopaladesikan05 mins

GamificationCo has asked some its editors for their top sessions picks for GSummit SF 2013. Here is Sudarshan Gopaladesikan’s most anticipated session for GSummit:

I love risk-taking. As a junior in college, I have the notion that the workforce won’t allow me to take any risks because safe, but sure investments/ideas are less unpredictable to a company’s profits. Looking through the sessions at GSummit (all of them are great!), Ross Smith–Director of Test at Microsoft–will be speaking on how trust among colleagues can foster individual innovation, productivity, and risk-taking.

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A Comprehensive Overview of How Games Help Healthcare in 2013

Sudarshan Gopaladesikan89 mins

Gamification and healthcare may be the next best thing since the invention of bread and butter. I recently read an article on 3 different ways that video games can improve health and immediately became curious as to other research going on in this area. Since GSummit 2013 is fast approaching, I would like to take the time to provide a brief comprehensive overview of how games and healthcare are converging in harmony in 2013.

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Al Gore’s Reality Drop Game Is a Small Step Towards Climate Change Awareness

Gary Henkle106 mins

It’s easy to see why Jane McGonigal and other commentators might loathe Al Gore’s new game social sharing game “Reality Drop.” It feels like it was written by your dorky middle-aged Dad who only knows how to speak corny, and judging by the pop culture gurus she associates with,  Jane is probably disappointed that during this game Al Gore doesn’t pop out of  stage curtains in front of a TV studio audience to scream “look under your seat -Reality has dropped! You win a Prius! You win a Prius! Everybody wins a Prius”

After playing Reality Drop, I find it might be helpful for us to collectively lighten up.

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GSummit 2012 Behind the Scenes: Tim Vandenberg, The Monopoly Teacher

Taavi Lindmaa41 mins

(8/26 Gamification Expert Interviews Unlocked)

Every week until GSummit SF 2013, we’ll be unlocking some special content from last year to give you a preview on what to expect this April 16 – 18.

Listen to the #2 US Monopoly Champ and Math teacher, Tim Vandenberg on his successful experience using Monopoly as a legitimate educational tool. This is one of my favorite sessions of GSummit 2012:

To see more expert gamification videos, visit our Video page or Subscribe to our YouTube channel!

See the latest in gamification by going to GSummit. Register now!

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Study: First-Person Shooters Can Improve Multitasking Ability

Ivan Kuo85 mins

Parents might have a tough time arguing against videogames if their kids begin to learn about all of the potential benefits from playing them.

Just a few days ago, we reported on a study which showed that dyslexic children could improve their reading skills and attention span by playing fast-paced videogames. Now another study has emerged, which has shown playing first-person shooter videogames like Call of Duty can improve multitasking abilities.

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How to Gamify Your Life with Jon Guerrera

Ivan Kuo12 mins

The Gamification Revolution is the only live gamification webcast featuring Gabe Zichermann and fellow gamification experts every Thursday at 1 PM EST/10 AM PST/1800 GMT. Join us and have all of your gamification questions answered by these experts.

This past week’s guest was lifehacker and GSummit speaker, Jon Guerrera! Jon has been heavily involved with gamifying his goals to find success and actually gamified his way to a job at Google. Watch the interview to find out:

 

  • Why Jon started to gamify his approach
  • How to effectively choose motivating rewards for yourself
  • If cheating yourself is a problem
  • What kind of people these systems are appropriate for
  • Where you should focus gamification in your goals
Check out the video below for the full interview.



Download this episode (right click and save)

Be sure to catch this week’s episode featuring game designer Tadhg Kelly and learn about gamification from the game designer’s point of view.

You can now catch the Gamification Revolution every Thursday at 1PM EST/10 AM PST/1800 GMT.

 

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How Companies Use Big Data & The Quantified Self Movement For Insight

Sudarshan Gopaladesikan109 mins

The quantified self-movement (QS) is a hot topic in 2013 and focuses on using sensors and other trackers to acquire self-knowledge for the end goal of gaining deeper insight about personal habits. For example, I use Nike+ to log my daily run performance. I also make a list of my diet for that day and compare it to how well I performed. I am hoping that after a couple of months of use, I can figure out what the optimal diet is for me before I go for a run or engage in physical activities such as sports. Other examples can include measuring coffee intake vs. productivity or sleep activity vs. diet. With the inclusion of Big Data—the ability to process large amounts of data quickly—people are looking to contextualize all the data available on their laptops, mobile devices, or even social media platforms.

Whether or not you are actively participating in the QS movement, companies are adopting the method to find new ways to measure performance metrics. By measuring employee activity through sensors, these new metrics will be aggregated to redefine what being a successful worker means.

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GSummit 2012 Behind the Scenes: Beth Shiroishi, AT&T

Taavi Lindmaa21 mins

(7/26 Gamification Expert Interviews Unlocked)

Every week until GSummit SF 2013, we’ll be unlocking some special content from last year to give you a preview on what to expect this April 16 – 18.

Listen to Beth Shiroishi, Vice President, Sustainability & Philanthropy at AT&T, talks about how the AT&T Foundation has been supporting gamified education and social good endeavors:

To see more expert gamification videos, visit our Video page or Subscribe to our YouTube channel!

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MMOWGLI: The Navy’s New Crowdsourced Ideation Game

Ivan Kuo33 mins

What could the US Navy’s crazy acronym “MMOWGLI” possibly mean? – “Massively Multiplayer Online War Game Leveraging the Internet”

The acronym makes me picture an old Admiral with a monocole saying “Ah yes, we need to use the internets!” but the game is being used for more than just a little “war game”.

MMOWGLI is a new game by Office of Naval Research (ONR), Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) and Institute for the Future (IFTF) designed to crowdsource solutions for some of the Navy’s current problems.

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Gamifying the Classroom with World of Classcraft

Alex Landa144 mins

A common dilemma with students is having to decide between focusing in school or playing video games. Shawn Young is looking to fix that.

World of Classcraft (WoC) is a game for the classroom where students can choose one of three classes, gain powers, and face peril. The game follows a rule structure commonly found in that of MMORPG video games like World of Warcraft. When students do positive actions in the class room they can gain experience points, which leads to leveling up, and gaining special abilities. The goal is to turn the entire classroom into a game – not just a few minutes each day at the end of class playing ‘heads up, seven up’.

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Study: Video Games Can Improve Reading Ability of Dyslexic Children

Ivan Kuo44 mins

Most of the news surrounding gamification for health tends to deal with weight-loss and fighting childhood obesity but what about some of the positive effects? We’ve seen one study that shows videogames can offer “simulation-therapy” in improving vision. According to the HuffingtonPost, a new study has emerged that claims playing fast-paced games could even have cognitive benefits of improving the reading skills of dyslexic children.

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GSummit 2012 Behind the Scenes: Seth Cooper, Foldit

Ivan Kuo51 mins

(6/26 Gamification Expert Interviews Unlocked)

Every week until GSummit SF 2013, we’ll be unlocking some special content from last year to give you a preview on what to expect this April 16 – 18.

Watch Seth Copper explain how Foldit was able to motivate citizen scientists to play for the greater good:

To see more expert gamification videos, visit our Video page or Subscribe to our YouTube channel!

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Bunchball Announces Nitro 5.0 Update to their Enterprise Gamification Platform

Ivan Kuo41 mins

Bunchball today announced the release of Nitro 5.0 with a graphical overhaul and a suite of new features, including Nitro Studio, for employee and customer engagement.

Nitro Studio is a new control center that will allow for easy management of Nitro’s gamification features. New features of Nitro Studio include:

  • Accessible drag-and-drop user interface design
  • Integrated analytics including reports and data visualizations
  • A universal search function that works across the entire Nitro program
  • Mobile-optimized interface with responsive designs that are compatible for mobile usage. 
Bunchball has taken strides to ensure that Nitro 5.0 is their most user-friendly version of their enterprise gamification software so far and to make it useful for users of all skill-ranges, and not just for high-level enterprise users.
To learn more about Nitro 5.0 and and the new Nitro Studio, read their official press release.
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Wufasta Aims to Reward Video Game Loyalty with Physical and Digital Prizes.

Ivan Kuo134 mins

Many people believe the video game console market is dead. In the face of growing mobile and casual games market, some would even go so far to say that traditional games are dead altogether. While we won’t know what the market will shape out to be just yet, there is one thing for certain: there are die-hard loyalists on each side of the spectrum and TechCocktail has recently written about a new startup wants to start rewarding these people.

Wufasta will be partnering with companies to produce branded promotions, reward gamers for completing in-game challenges, and even sponsoring professional completive gamers.

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