Gamification refers to the use of game-centric elements and thoughts. Since games are all about entertainment, motivation, and engagement, the purpose of using gamification in business is to use game elements to make non-game-related products and services more engaging and fun.
Examples of gamification occur in the most diverse contexts. Let’s check out some of them.
Nike
Nike uses the gamification strategy with the application Nike + Running. Through this app, users can track and save race progress data, share, compare with other users’ performance, and celebrate achievements. The company’s objective, through technology, is to motivate the player’s social circle to achieve a healthier life. Ultimately, the main objective is to get users to buy more sporting goods, as this is the company’s business.
Waze
The Waze app also uses a gamified system to improve the quality of the information provided to users. It is a GPS application that, in addition to informing the user of the best route between two addresses, also provides real-time guidance on traffic, traffic jams, radar, and accidents.
This is done by capturing speed information and warnings from users themselves, who are encouraged to provide information through a social competition with leader points and rankings. Points are earned by traveling distances using the app, editing maps, logging new lanes, adding lane names, reporting accidents and other traffic events.
It is one of the examples of gamification used by thousands of people, many of whom are not aware that they are using a gamified environment to contribute to traffic improvement.
Stanford
The work by Stanford University Computer Science professor Balaji Prabhakar is one of the examples of successful gamification to reduce congestion at the university during peak hours. The congestion occurred because people arrived and left the campus at the same time.
The aim of the gamified system was to encourage people to arrive and leave the university at spaced times, reducing congestion during rush hours. The objective was achieved through feedbacks and rewards and its viability was possible due to an automatic monitoring system of entry and exit times using GPS.
The success of the gamified system impressed the university’s director of transport and parking, Brodie Hamilton. About 15% of the displacements made by the participants in the experiment started to happen outside rush hours.
Stackoverflow
The Stackoverflow is an example of gamification used in a site of questions and answers for professional programmers and enthusiasts. The site is part of Stack Exchange, a network of 152 question-and-answer communities. Its purpose is to answer programming questions.
Good answers get positive votes and are displayed first to the questioner. Encouragement to use the site is based on a good reputation for those who provide the best answers and gain the most votes in favor. By earning reputation points, the participant receives privileges such as the right to vote, comment on and edit other people’s posts. Medals are distributed for cameos. The site has about 75 thousand active users per month.
Knowing these examples of gamification in business, talk to our experts at Pixetic and see how they can help to benefit from gamification for your business.
