“That’s what games are, in the end. Teachers. Fun is just another word for learning.”

-Raph Koster

I recently attended a Hackathon at Daimler’s India Chennai Plant. I understood for the first time how businesses are using Gamification in creative ways – to attract new customers, enable existing customers learn the most optimal use of their products and many more.

Gamify a boring task

Do you have a task which is boring but important for people to learn and do? Can Gamify the task help?

Nowadays it is becoming a trend in many businesses to gamify their company. Even in competitions like Hackathons it is usual to find one or more teams that are working on something similar to gamification. But what does it mean to gamify a company? What are the benefits of gamification?

Gamification is in simple terms- to represent the company in a game. The game would give importance to the product of the company. The “main character” of such games is a customer of these products. For instance, if Thinkpad (a laptop company) were to make a game, it would be about how we need to buy a laptop to do our job, and the better the laptop, the quicker and more accurate the work. The goal of such a game would be to have the best laptop, so that you earn the most money by your job.

Gamification has two major type – those that market their company and those that create awareness about their product. The first type of game will show you exactly why you should be buying their brand and not any other. But awareness games would also show you the reality of handling such a project. For instance, transportation of goods using vehicles like trucks is not about going fast. Rather, it is about optimizing the journey with no damage on the vehicle. Such perception can be spread through a game.

Any company going for the “gamify” route need to keep two things in mind. Firstly, they need to able to comfortably support the initial cost, and next expect immediate results. Secondly, they need to keep the delicate balance in the game between the fun and the educational compartment in the game. It should be eye catching while being fun.

With Covid 19 and lockdown causing a lot of people to turn to games, I think the gamification is the future. I strongly believe that if any company has the budget for it, they should definitely follow up with this idea, to get a head start over their competitors.