RE: Thoughts, Words and Photos (Twenty Three)
If you're interested gamification is something that becoming increasingly popular in the technology sector, but I see it as something that hopefully will be recognized in other industries as well. Especially that of the education system. In case you're not familiar with the term, gamification is basically making things into a game. When gamifying an experience, fun things are brought to more serious things. The same way as children learn, fun ways. In most of the animal populations kids learn through play and we as humans are no different. Dogs for example like to fight play to learn survival, for us humans we don't really need to fight although boys tend to have some predisposition to do so. Anyway, we also learn by the fun of it in the beginning. The amazing thing is that it never really disappears, just the social norms make it less acceptable. Therefore, by making it acceptable to play to learn is something that I believe will be more prevalent in the future, especially since technology is becoming more and more everyday.
As good as gamification may be in theory, so far it is predominantly used as a way to to take more attention resources from 'real life'. There is a lot of future potential however with VR and AR I think but again, if not managed well and left up to the conglomerates looking to engage our wallets instead of develop our minds, it will lead down poor pathways.
There is a long way to go with this of course but I think it still requires a cautious approach considering the implications.
Seems you're familiar with the idea. However, as with many new ideas gamification is still so early in its lifespan that people might be using it wrong. To me it is an ideal, more than a method. As far as I know, there isn't any one way of doing "gamification", therefore I see it as an opportunity to bring what is great about childhood to adulthood in an acceptable manner. But in all honesty, I've never given it a try. No such projects so far in my career. Ideas are always easier than results.
Yes, it is very early on on but it has been mostly used thus far by the large social platforms to improve time on site numbers by hitting pleasure/reward centres and make people feel like they are achieving without actually doing anything of consequence. << Farmville
Of course, the application of it and the possibilities of it can be quite different yet, we seem to want to only use new tech concepts to mostly improve our entertainment experiences.