REPORTTHE PAST, PRESENT &FUTURE OF GAMIFICATION

FEATURING:

KARLKAPP

VICTORIAICHIZLI-BARTELS

MARIGORAFTOPOULOS

VASILISGKOGKIDIS

DAVIDCHANDROSS

JULIETTEDENNY

CRAIGMILLS

ROBALVAREZ

The Future of Gamification

WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF GAMIFICATION?Gamification isn’t going to suddenly explode into a pile of pixels. It’s here to stay. But what does its future look like? Join us as we jump into a DeLorean, reach 88mph and hurtle into a gamified future.

Growth Engineering have been in touch with leading gamification experts from around the world. Each of them have contributed their own unique insight to help paint a picture of how gamification will evolve and develop over the coming years.

Executive Summary The findings of this report into the future of gamificationcan be arranged into four main categories:

1. Gamification will evolve. If our understanding of

gamification doesn’t evolve with it, it will become outdated. An outdated understanding of its capabilities will limit its potential and we mustn’t let this happen.

2. The surge in technological innovation will lead to an explosion in new expressions of gamification.

3. Further academic research into gamification is essential to its evolution. It will open up new ways to apply the principles of gamification and provide scientific rigour to gamification practice.

4. The next wave of gamification will delve deeper into elements of consequence and mastery.

This report emphasises the potential of gamification to transform behaviour, business and even society.

Introduction Gamification may have only received its name in 2002, but the practice of making everyday tasks fun by making them game-like has been around for millennia.

In the past five years, gamification has changed more than it did in the 1,000 years preceding them. What was once the simple (but effective) practice of applying mechanics like points, badges and leaderboards to everyday tasks has become something extraordinary.

The next two, five, even ten years will see even more substantial changes. As technology advances at an exponential rate, the evolution of gamification will leap forward.

Peeling back the curtain to peer into what the future holds for gamification is no small feat. In this report you’ll benefit from the unique insight of eight gamification experts. Each adds their own piece to the puzzle and as the pieces come together, they create a picture of what the future holds.

State Of The Market: 2020 In 2012 Gartner released their ‘Gamification 2020’ report1. Eight years later and the report has finally come of age. What Were Gartner’s Key Predictions?

• The key problems for gamification to solve are disengagement and unrealised potential.

• Gamification would primarily be applied in employee training, education, customer engagement and personal development.

• The hype around gamification would die down, enabling it to mature into a tool we incorporate into our daily lives.

All these predictions ring true. Gamification is being used by companies around the world to solve the problem of disengagement and to help employees realise their full potential. In fact, gamification is so effective at solving these problems it’s grown into a $6.8 billion market2. But more importantly, the gamification market is projected to grow faster than ever before.

A landmark industry report2 forecasts an annual growth rate of 32%, meaning the gamification market will be worth more than $40 billion by 2024. The key driver for this growth remains employee engagement.

2

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The idea that gamification is losing popularity is common across the industry. As this graph shows, it looks as if interest in gamification peaked in 2014 and has been slowly declining ever since.

But this isn’t the whole story. This only shows interest in gamification across North America. The graph below shows interest in gamification across the world since 2012.

You can see that the global outlook for gamification is very positive. Rather than declining, global interest in gamification is increasing.

The early 2020s hold the potential for enormous growth in the gamification market, but much of that growth is coming from new territories.

References: 1. Market Gartner: Gamification 2020 2. Reportlinker: Gamification

If the twenty-tens were the decade in which gamification found its feet and became established, is it possible that the twenty-twenties hold the potential for so much more?

Interest Over Time - North America(Source: Google Trends Data)

100

75

50

25

2014 2016 2018 2020

Interest Over Time - Worldwide(Source: Google Trends Data)

100

75

50

25

2014 2016 2018 2020

Africa North America Eastern Europe Western Europe Latin America Middle East Asia Pacific

60%46% 43% 40% 40% 32% 27%

Meet The Experts Karl Kapp: Karl is among the world’s foremost gamification experts. He is a scholar, writer, and expert on the convergence of games, learning, and technology. Karl has written six best-selling books and is a frequent international keynote speaker. Victoria Ichizli-Bartels: Victoria came up with ‘Self-Gamification’, a unique self-help approach uniting anthropology, kaizen, and gamification to increase the quality of life. Victoria has also written a highly anticipated book, ‘The Gameful Project Manager’. Dr. Marigo Raftopoulos: Marigo is a digital media expert. She works with games and gamification to facilitate enterprise innovation and development. She has a global presence having been published in peer-reviewed journals and spoken at global events. Her research has added scientific rigour to gamification practice.

Vasilis Gkogkidis: Vasilis is a gamification trainer working for GAMIFICATION+ LTD; organiser of Gamification Europe; Lego Serious Play facilitator and a PhD researcher at the University of Sussex where he researches gamification, innovation and crowdsourcing.

Rob Alvarez: Rob, AKA. Professor Game, is an expert, speaker and advocate for the use of gamification in education. He’s the creator and host of the Professor Game podcast and works at IE Business School Publishing. His focus is on interactive and engaging learning experiences. Dr. David Chandross: David teaches at Ryerson University and is the lead game designer/researcher at Game and Train. David also works closely with Sim-ONE, Canada’s healthcare simulation network. He is proud to have contributed to the gamification of addiction medicine, funded by the College of Family Physicians of Ontario. Craig Mills: Craig was the Learning Manager at GAME, the UK’s largest video games retailer. His passion for gamification is undeniable and his expertise helped GAME deliver gamified training to thousands of employees, winning loads of awards along the way.

Juliette Denny: Juliette Denny is the Ideologist in Chief of Growth Engineering. She’s also a GamFed member, a world-renowned speaker and an industry pioneer. Her thought leadership approach wages war on dull online learning, with gamification being the #1 weapon in her arsenal.

Karl Kapp: What Will Gamification Look Like in the Future? Aspirationally, I hope that in the future designers and implementors of gamification will focus on the unique affordances of gamification and take a thoughtful and deliberate approach to gamification. I see future iterations of gamification incorporating and then building upon previous incarnations.

In the first generation of gamification, the impetuswas on the most superficial elements of games: points,badges, leaderboards, characters. Then, without muchthought, they were added to instruction.

In the second generation, we’ve seen more around “game-thinking”, where designers of gamified experiences are taking a more holistic approach and implementing gamification in a manner that reflects the entire learner experience or journey.

In the third generation, I’d like to see more emphasis on what I call “deep gamification”, which is adding in elements of consequence, mastery and trade-offs into the gamified system, where learners are required to do hard work to be successful. I see gamification incorporating more from the concept of “desirable difficulty” and providing opportunities for “deliberate feedback” within the gamified learning space. We the learner work hard, fail, and then receive direct, instructive feedback, so we can continue our learning journey.

While the “easy” elements from games were quickly incorporated into learning experiences with various levels of success, now what is in front of us are the deep elements, which we need to carefully design into learning experiences. This is a more difficult level of gamification and moves us up a maturity level, but is required for us to create rich, meaningful learning experiences.

How Will Gamification Have Changed? Gamification will have matured in its look, feel and application. Still, too often people refer togamification simply as a way to incorporate “fun” into an organization. While “fun” might be a by-product, the real value is in engaging employees and propelling them forward in knowledge and/or performance. The discussions around gamification will change to be more focused on the psychological and research-based aspects that lead to real, tangible performance outcomes. We’ll talk about gamification as driving business performance. We are already beginning to discover how things like positive feedback loops and a sense of agency impact learner outcomes, productivity in departments and ultimately, organizational success.

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In the future, we’ll be much more informed by evidence-based practice and in a much better position to create engaging, meaningful experiences using gamification. This is because it will have matured into a business productivity strategy, rather than a technique that gets applied only at the tactical level.

Victoria Ichizli Bartels: An Open Approach To Gamificaiton’s Future Gamification is an amazingly fast-growing discipline, but it is still a relatively young scientific field. There is a lot of debate on what is wrong and what is right with each gamification solution.

But what if we stopped classifying gamification’s various applications and interpretations into “right” and “wrong” and instead looked at what we see non-judgmentally, with curiosity and interest? We should approach gamification the same way the anthropologists do when they study a new (for them) culture.

What would happen then?

We might see that each choice — made by anyone working with gamification, be it a producer of a solution or its user — is perfect for that person or team under their specific circumstances and at those particular moments.

According to The Oxford Dictionary, the word “perfect” also means “total” and “complete,” in other words, “done” and “gone.” Seeing things in retrospect and from “another point of view” doesn’t help and, and might even become counterproductive. So, instead of judging, as the cultures we grew up in taught us, let’s go back to the roots of our inspiration. Let’s play a game. More specifically, let’s play a role-playing game of being anthropologists and study together each request, each application, each opinion — even if it is a rejection of what we do — with interest and an open mind.

Non-judgmental seeing, the way anthropologists practice it, results in awareness. This awareness is about our goals, each tiny step we take toward those goals and the experience of fun while taking and appreciating those steps.

I believe this process has started already because more and more people are turning their lives into games.

So, where do I see gamification and game-thinking going?

I think gamification, game design, and game-thinking will enrich and facilitate the education process as never before. But these disciplines will very soon enter school programs as basic subjects.

Literacy is no longer the only essential skill set emphasized at schools nowadays. Mathematical “literacy,” social skills (including kindness, empathy, and mindfulness), environmental awareness, and taking responsibility are necessary skills today. As a parent of children going to school and kindergarten in Denmark, I witness and experience this daily.

I also see that storytelling, design and technology, and project thinking are taught, too, as never before.

Games and gamified activities are a part of my children’s daily school and kindergarten lives too.

Bringing game-thinking and design into schools as something children will learn to master is the next logical step. Game-thinking for children should include teaching them to turn their own lives and what they are up to into fun games. Because, if they will be able to turn their lives into games, that is to both design and play their self-motivational games, then our children will be able to design a truly exciting future for themselves and the generations to come.

Marigo Raftopoulos:Strategic Gamification

What Will Gamification Look Like in the Future?

In the future gamification will be a strategicmanagement tool rather than a set of gameful designfeatures or a technology solution. Gamification willbe about how we think, how we collaborate, and howwe co-create a different way of learning, working andbuilding community.

How Will Gamification Have Changed? Gamification’s development to date has beendominated by a focus on technology and gamefuldesign.

It’s now evolving into a more substantialscience that’s backed by rigorous research, theory andframeworks that can be applied across a broad rangeof applications. This represents a shift in focus fromshort-term tactical solutions to long-term strategicdevelopment.

How Will Gamification Affect People’s Lives? Strategically focused gamification will rely less onbehavioural design elements and more on buildinghuman agency, autonomy and capability. This meansthat we empower people in a meaningful way ratherthan nudge, push, entice and reward. The latter justmakes people a little happier about the current system.It doesn’t empower them to change the system.

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The Relationship Between Gamification and Innovation Gamification has provided an innovative approach to existing solutions but has been limited in developing outcomes that have resulted in paradigm shifts which solve problems. This is a subtle but important difference. The most significant social, environmental and economic challenges we are facing need us to think in terms of systemic change and managing complexity. This will require a different type of gamification than the one we know.

Vasilis Gkogkidis: Gamification: An Art and a Science

Community-Based

I believe the future should be community-based.There is a lot of value in people getting together andsharing knowledge and best practice. For gamificationto survive we need to get together, compare notes andtalk to each other regularly.

Opportunities

There is a lot to be improved in learning, HR andteam-building. I am also interested in gamificationfor innovation, a relatively new field of practice andresearch. There is a big opportunity for people that want toresearch gamification projects. There is not enoughresearch and there aren’t enough books that documentcase studies in an organised and analytical way.

Technologies

AR will be used a lot in gamification (VR will work betterfor games and completely immersive experiences).It already has some interesting uses in gamificationprojects.

Cloud-based solutions are already the norm in anygamification system. But I would like to see moreanalogue and face-to-face gamification in offices andworkplaces. When we engage people face-to-face andask them to make something without a computer infront of them, we see exciting results! Convergence of Academia and Industry

Gamification is part art, part science.Industry needs to do more reading, and academianeeds to do more practice (and work closer to theindustry). Industry can discover case studies thatacademics have been documenting and explaining

from a scientific point of view. Academics should document and research more projects directly connected to the industry.

Rob Alvarez: An Invitation to Gamification

The Sneakiness of Gamification

Gamification has been quite sneaky in the years afterthe hype. What used to be on many people’s bios andmany company’s descriptions is no longer there. Thiscould mean it is dying out, but many of the key lessonsof gamification have continued and even increased tobe applied in many circumstances.

This is where it gets interesting. These strategies andideas have started to sprout into projects, products,classrooms and many other places even without theintent of gamified design. A Challenge and an Invitation

This brings forth a new challenge for the future: Howdo we spot these situations and make them intentional,with the simple goal of making them radically moreeffective?

The same thing happened 20 years ago when loyaltyprograms had a lot of room for improvement. Thedifference is that now we are aware of how gamesare able to motivate us. We have been intentionallycreating engagement through its strategies and thenatural thing is that those who are in the field will getbetter and discover new things with practice.

As always, there is an invitation to be constantly awareof the opportunities that gamification has to offer. Aninvitation to be aware of what it can offer your workand practice so you get better. An invitation to become part of thegrowing team of gamification practitioners around theworld!

David Chandross: A Gamified Life

Gameworlds The principal shift in gamification will be theconstruction of open gameworlds, which are 3D,immersive locations that players can explore. We arealready building these at Baycrest Health Sciences inToronto, Ontario. Open gameworlds will become the cutting edge ofeducation technology and will provide unsurpassedability to monitor learner progress and set goals which

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encourage content exploration, social connectedness,competition or achievement.

Smart learning-game apps will continue to providemoment to moment feedback to both studentsand instructors using course analytic software. Thiswill enable educators to assess knowledge throughmeasurement of player behaviours and decisionmakingin virtual space. Virtual Space

Virtual space will be created through advances in laserscanning and 3D game-world building technology. Inshort, you will live in two worlds, the real one, and avirtual one which archives your data for professional orpersonal use.

Virtual reality experiences will be designed to integratewith game mechanics and learning outcomes. Thiswill create a continuous learner experience throughachievements, badges and controlled challenges.

Gamified experiences will radically improve skillacquisition, motivation, engagement and learnerachievement tracking. Gameworld designs will replaceconventional presentation media in order to enableprecision in training with the goal of skill rehearsal.This will enable learners to identify target behaviourswhich are associated with success in higher educationaccording to research literature.

Authentic alignment will drive learning in alltechnologies, with evidence-driven coaching andmentoring support.

I view the future of gamification as an integrationof learning with job and life “performance” usingsmall head-mounted displays and other biologicallyintegrated systems. This will permit gamificationtechnologies to be used for behavioural change, such asaddiction management, fitness and even psychologicalsupport.

Craig Mills: The Future of Gamification in L&D

Gamification & GAME

I used to work as head of L&D at GAME, the UK’s biggest video games retailer. As you can imagine, we immersed ourselves in the latest trends and hype for all the popular gaming experiences.

Our employee development thrived because of a gamified LMS. GAME’s employees are passionate gamers who are hungry for the most engaging experience and like GAME, we need to always be thinking of the future at all times.

Gamification in HR

I see a big need for gamification to tie togetherthe threads of HR practices that businesses struggleto embed (such as values, purpose, personaldevelopment, coaching, and recognition) with thecompetitive and engaging nature of gamification.

Imagine a world where you can create a selection ofcompetencies which can be linked to specific contentcompletion targets. As your learners complete theirlearning they can see their stats progressing! This leadsto levelling up. Specialist titles would be unlocked asthey reach milestones and learners can boast aboutthis on their profile. You can ask people skilled in acertain area for support, or give advice to someone inan area you are proficient in!

Everyone loves collecting things but collecting anendless supply of badges can quickly lose its impact.This element is ready to evolve into something more.Skill-specific badge collections, timed and themedcollections, and a recognition system where you cancollect praise on your role would help gamification tomaintain its impact over time.

The Future

We need to move beyond the gamification of learningand move towards the gamification of behaviours andpractice in business.

All these features and more, delivered via a userfriendly, mobile platform with push notifications,challenges, events and a detailed dashboard for youto view your progress and compare it with others isdefinitely what our learners are looking for.

Gamification is popular now, but this is nowhere nearthe level of popularity the future holds.

Juliette Denny: The 2020s:A Defining Decade If you’d asked me in 2010 what I thought 2020 hadin store, I’d have told you that the war on boringeLearning would be over and that learners around theworld would be engaged by their online learning.

But, 2020 has arrived and still the war on dulleLearning wages! The key thing to remember overthe next decade is that the need for the engagementgamification delivers is only going to become moreimportant, not less. But as for how gamification itself will change - here’swhat I think:

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Gamification and Personalisation

Humans are extraordinary. We’re a species of skydivers,roundabout enthusiasts, stamp collectors andastronauts. What makes one person punch the air inexcitement might cause another to hide behind theirhands.

It’s the same with gamification. Where one person isdesperate to win rewards, others need encouragementor crave the freedom to explore. Right now, gamifiedsoftware doesn’t learn which stimuli each userresponds to, but the technology already exists.

At Growth Engineering we’re investigating how we canuse machine learning to train gamification softwareto get to know each user personally. The system willbe able to understand each user and provide themwith a tailored experience designed to engage themspecifically.

Social Gamification

You might find it hard to imagine the world moreconnected than it is today, yet every few years anew innovation comes along and the world getsthat bit smaller: telegrams, telephones, texting, theinternet… TikTok. Our lives are getting increasinglyinterconnected.

Connectedness isn’t just about staying in touch withold friends. It’s about problem-solving. Crowdfundingand crowdsourcing have proved that when we cometogether we can overcome problems that can’t beovercome alone. When people come together to solveproblems and overcome challenges they become partof something greater than they are on their own.

This sense of purpose, (which I call epic meaning), isan important game mechanic. It gives people the drivethey need to change the world. Combine that withthe problem-solving power of a connected world andgamification could well be the tool we use to solve ourgreatest problems.

The Engagement Engine of the Future

There are those who describe gamification as a lonelyand isolated experience. There are those who think thata one-size-fits-all approach is the future. But the futureof gamification is social and personalised.

Disengagement is the root of many problems weface today. Gamification will solve these problemsby bringing people together, empowering them withpurpose, and engaging them with stimuli that workspecifically for them. In the future, gamification will giveyou the power to overcome any obstacle, solve anyproblem and engage the world.problem and engage the world.

Conclusion Key Findings

• People will be able to use gamification to shape their skills and behaviours to become the person they want to be. Gamification is moving beyond engagement and towards self-actualisation.

• Technology will open up new opportunities for gamification practitioners. Augmented reality, virtual reality, head-mounted displays, machine learning, biologically integrated systems and game worlds all hold enormous potential.

• Gamification is moving beyond infancy. As it enters maturity, gamification practice needs to be supported by further research. Gamification practitioners need to work more closely with researchers to increase the body of research literature related to gamification.

• At present, gamification is seen as a solution for combating disengagement. In the future, it will be used as a tool for facing ‘the most significant social, environmental and economic challenges’.

Based on the extravagance of these predictions, youmight assume they’re predicting the distant future orthat they’re long-shot suggestions. But they’re not. Many of the predictions in this report are withintouching distance. Some of the contributions describeinnovations that have already happened. They’re justwaiting for wider uptake. No one can know what the future will look like. But thisreport arms you with the insight you’ll need to informyour decisions and incorporate gamification into yourbusiness strategy. Staying ahead of the curve is important. But it’s evenmore important to be inspired. Gamification has thepotential to help solve problems, from individualbehaviour change to global issues. Don’t let yourpreconceptions about gamification limit your goals.

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