Gamification is the use of game techniques in non-recreational activities in order to enhance motivation, as well as to reinforce behaviour to solve a problem, improve productivity or obtain a goal. This approach applies in many areas of modern life: education, work and business.

The main elements are competition and reward. By performing simple actions, the player receives gifts, while his rating grows, followed by greater excitement and desire not to leave the game any longer.

Life is nothing but a game

Today, according to statistics, everyone plays in one way or another. The global market for games for smartphones and tablets will grow from $ 58.3 billion in 2019 to $ 97 billion by the end of 2020, the Research And Markets study indicates. For its part, the revenue of the games market in 2020 is estimated at $ 159.3 billion, which represents an increase of 9.3% compared to last year, revealed the report of the analytical company NewZoo.

It is therefore not surprising that the use of game techniques in other people’s activities is gaining ground in the contemporary world.

“You can have fun playing, but you can also work playing. The reason gamification in administration and education is so popular is that we live in the age of the internet, an era where people have seen the power of gaming as a form of control,” Kong Shaohua, a junior researcher at the Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing said.

The expert believes that gamification can be seen as a kind of “serious game for adults” that is widespread in all aspects of life and work.

“Since we were born, people have been constantly ‘playing’. Our work and our lives have been connected to ‘games’,” he said.

In this context, the success of gamification depends on three elements: the character of the game, the reward and punishment mechanism, and the technical means of the game, Kong Shaohua explained.

Gamification in everyday life

Meanwhile, gamification has a large number of manifestations and is not always directly related to gambling. For example, in management or marketing it is simply borrowing similar ways to impact people.

In this way, today a person is surrounded by games. Performing special tasks to obtain discounts, bank bonus programs, cashback and other examples can be designated as games. Even the route in IKEA stores is based on the principle of video games with the open world.

All of this is designed to get people involved in the game and achieve better results, or rather spend more, he said.

“From a theoretical point of view, many of our incentive mechanisms that can motivate employees or encourage people to learn can be seen as a kind of gamification,” said the expert.

The average annual growth of the gamification market through 2024 is expected to be 30%, according to experts.

In the near future, gamification will become an element of the development strategy of many large companies from different fields, experts predict. According to a study by Boston Retail Partners, almost 9 out of 10 retailers expect to turn to gamification in the next 5 years, while 46% of them say they prioritize offering loyalty programs with gaming experience. 

Gamification is not a theoretical or practical innovation, Kong Shaohua said, noting that it is a concept of commercialization. 

Meanwhile, by 2025, more than 70% of employees will be of the generation for whom computer games have long been a common phenomenon.