Gamification is using games to enhance your lifestyle, engage with more people of the public and to help work towards goals. Some games do this in a very subtle way whereas sometimes it’s just highly obvious. These games are a great way to interact with new people and they also make life a bit more enjoyable on the way. For example some students from Germany invented a device that attaches to the wait signal button near the traffic lights; it is the simple game of ‘Pong’ that was originally released in 1972. This game that you can play whilst waiting to cross the road brought a lot of people together as you can see in the video people giving high fives to the person they played against at the other side.
A few games that became very successful and helpful towards patients is ‘Genes in Space’, ‘Reverse the Odds’ and ‘The Impossible Line’. These games have been scientifically proven to help with cancer research. ‘Genes in Space’ is the most successful as each time you play it it helps towards finding a cure for cancer by spotting patterns of generic information.
Gamification is also used in advertising. The US Army needed more people to join the army so to get more recruits they brought out a game. The game is a tactical shooter, however, it’s not the same as games like ‘Call of Duty’. The game is more realistic so that the player gets a better experience of what it is really like to have a job in the army. To persuade the player even more, they have the chance to earn badges of honor therefore keeping the player more interested in the games using game mechanics.
And finally one of my favorite uses of gamification, the Nike+ Zombie Run. This game helps you with exercise, by using your headphones and earphones you can feel like you’re in a real Zombie Apocalypse as you can hear zombies behind you via your technology. It’s a great way to keep you motivated and you can also choose your settings. The settings give you lots of different experiences as seen below.
All of these games are great to include in our everyday lives as they improve our fitness, our knowledge, help us connect with other people, find jobs and much more.
Links to Research and Videos
Pong Traffic Light System
Cancer Research – ‘Genes in Space’
http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/support-us/play-to-cure-genes-in-space
hannahbalesblog 
Recent Comments