by Angela Guess
Maximilian Lemos of 42terabytes reports, “If you ask Gabe Zichermann, a gamification thought leader, what gamification is he would tell you: ‘Gamification is the process of using game thinking and game mechanics to engage audiences and solve problems.’ I happen to think this is a great place to start. It answers what Gamification is and uses terms that almost anyone can understand. But what are the nuts and bolts behind those mechanics and thinking?”
Lemos continues, “The glue that holds gamification together, making it a viable solution, is the ability to analyze large sections of data very quickly. This big data is, from the computer side of things, what defines you. Depending on the situation this can mean Facebook ‘Like’ data, click through rate, post engagement measurements, Foursquare ‘checkin’ data, or even Farmville ‘cow’ data.”
He goes on, “It may sound absurd, but that’s exactly the kind of user actions that track you in today’s age. All of this big data takes a lot of crunching, but imagine what this data says about you. It’s almost scary. At least we think so. But imagine for a moment what kind of conclusions app developers and gamification practitioners can come to with this data. They can handcraft experiences for users that are more fun, engaging, meaningful, and rewarding, resulting in online experiences that both benefit the company and the consumer.”
