On Publishing Perspectives (@pubperspectives) Hannah Johnson (@HannahSJohnson) writes, “Over the past year or so, gamification (also called game mechanics, serious games, and funware) has become a mainstream technique that marketers rely on to drive more traffic to their websites, to increase content consumption, and to encourage user participation. Have you ever taken a poll or survey on a company’s website? Have you ever signed up for a newsletter for a chance to win a prize? ….All of these are examples of gamification, and you can expect to see a lot more of this in the near future.”
She continues
For publishers who are experimenting with enhanced content, maintaining author websites and creating consumer-facing websites, adding game mechanics can be a great way to get readers to engage with the content.
Johnson includes a TED video of game researcher Jane McGonigal (@avantgame) who says 3 billion hours a week are currently spent playing online games. She lists 4 attributes gamers want to be associated with:
1. Urgent Optimism
2. Social Fabric
3. Blissful Productivity
4. Epic Meaning
Read this article in full and watch the video.
Also see Econsultancy’s (@Econsultancy) “Gamification: Is everything a game?” which says this type of marketing is about “motivations, reward, and aligning ambitions between the business and the people they want to engage.”
Gamification even extends to journalism. See Ken Doctor's (@kdoctor) article on The Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University (@niemanlab), "The newsonomics of gamification - and civilization."