New Research Suggests Fitness Games Improve Long-Term Health

If someone gave you the chance to claim a reward in exchange for boosting your physical activity, would you do it? It turns out, a lot of people are taking up that offer, apparent in the growing number of examples of games in health finding a place in businesses. But executives at companies considering such programs might wonder whether they work. New research suggests that not only are patients participating in games, this participation is also leading to measurable improvements in health.

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Gamification Research in Poker Suggests Artificial Intelligence Applications

Part of what makes Texas hold ‘em poker intriguing to watch is that it’s a game where some of the cards are visible to all – both the players in the game and any spectators who are watching. This type of poker is what’s called an imperfect information game – all the players know different pieces of information about the elements in play. This kind of thinking has implications for technology, Slate reports.

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Conducting Gamification Research with Elisa Mekler

We last featured PhD student Elisa Mekler from the Center of Cognitive Psychology and Methodology at the University of Basel to discuss her 2013 research paper on whether gamification elements such as points, levels and leaderboards undermine user’s intrinsic motivation. The results garnered from the study was profoundly surprising as empirical evidence supporting the hypothesis was lacking prior to the research.

Watch the full interview below to learn about:

  • How was the study constructed and designed to examine each mechanism?
  • What were the surprising results generated from the study? Were there outliers?
  • Has there been controversy or surprise generated in academic circle due to the results?
  • How was the process of getting gamification research approved and funded?
  • What are the next steps and opportunities in deepening further gamification research?
  • What ways could gamification industry practitioners help to boost future research?

Watch the video below and be sure to catch our next episode of the Gamification Revolution.



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Top Articles for Enterprise Gamification in 2012

2012 was a great year for gamification in the enterprise as we saw many more companies begin to adopt gamification into the workspace. In today’s Best of 2012 feature, we look at some of the top stories in workspace engagement, strategy, and loyalty for businesses. There’s some really top-notch information in here, including gamification withdrawal effects, analysis of gamification’s current position in the Gartner hype-cycle, cultural differences for gamification, the evolution of loyalty, and even more after the jump.

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