The idea to use game thinking and game mechanics to solve problems of any kind, raise moral and put an incentive in the hearts of players – which is all of us. It’s funny seeing dogs being trained using quite similar methods.
Games work if they are fun and enticing, but they mainly work for the purposes for which they were built: Entertainment. Sometimes, though, they have a positive side effect in that they actually make the players learn something, if not useful, then at least meaningful. That’s the Mary Poppins notion of “a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.”
Games have been used throughout the ages as means to both entertain and educate – and they do that in an abstract world. The main reason for the sudden hype of gamification is that with internet connected devices we do see a much lower barrier to entry, and the possibility to pick up the game anytime anywhere.
Remove barriers to entry. Automate any mechanical tasks
Taking the card shuffle out of Solitaire or Patience games – or Poker for that matter – doesn’t improve on the gameplay as such, but it makes it a lot easier to pick up the game as well as play it.
Games can be anywhere
It doesn’t have to be a game – it could just be playful behavior, e.g. the VW initiative The Fun Theory – I’m thinking about the Piano Staircase, which reminds me of the piano floor in the 1988 movie “Big” starring Tom Hanks.
Many things are possible if the right idea and implementation arises. Be inspired try out some ideas for yourself, test and tweak them. Dive into the psychology behind predictability of people, the choices we make, and what really drives us.