Gamification is the process of enhancing a service with gameful experiences to achieve value creation[1].
While gamification is not a game, examples of gameful features are leader boards, reminders, tracking and monitoring, points and scoring, competition and multiple players. Gamification combines the fun of competing with information to enhance customer engagement, awareness, loyalty, satisfaction and behaviour change.
Gamification is a tool that can be used with large markets and is thus scalable and cost-effective while at the same time offering personalisation and relevance to a particular individual. The development of mobile technology has provided the platform for gamification to be used as part of the toolkit for addressing social problems with many apps including gamification features. Consumers like gamification because of the competitive appeal, the social interaction features, the instant feedback that is motivating and the ability to contribute opinions and feel validated. From a neuroscience perspective, consumers are hard-wired for play and gamification stimulates the production of the ‘feel good’ hormones of serotonin and dopamine. So when an individual receives a reward or see’s their name on the leader board, they receive emotional payoff and the release of these hormones and are thus both engaged in the process and motivated to continue.
Serious Mobile Games
Serious mobile games have the common goal of being developed for broader purposes than entertainment, such as training, behaviour change, marketing, and healthcare and are played on mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets. Serous games delivered via mobile apps are assisting consumers to achieve better health and well-being outcomes.
Additional Resources:
- [1] Huotari, K., & Hamari, J. (2016). A definition for gamification: anchoring gamification in the service marketing literature. Electronic Markets, 27(1), 1-11.
- Johnson, D., Horton, E., Mulcahy, R., & Foth, M. (2017). Gamification and serious games within the domain of domestic energy consumption: A systematic review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 73, 249-264.
- Johnson, D., Deterding, S., Kuhn, K. A., Staneva, A., Stoyanov, S., & Hides, L. (2016). Gamification for health and wellbeing: A systematic review of the literature. Internet Interventions, 6, 89-106.
- Infographic: Four Reasons to Use Gamification
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