May 26, 2012

Gamification in Indian Education

Will gamification in India lead to more Chess champions?
Sorry, had to get my chess picture quota of the day

My previous article on Gamification within Education dealt with the general concept; however a new story recently came out about gamification within the Indian education system.  To quote the piece:


Gamification, or using gaming techniques to explain concepts, is a happening trend among Indian students these days. It has been identified as among the Top-10 technology trends for 2012 by audit and consultancy firm Deloitte. Classtopper.com, for one, has over 10,000 users logging in just a month after its launch in India. 

 This just further goes to show that not only is gamification a major education issue, but it is also a business as well.  The article (which you can find here) talks about how gamification in India affects both the young and the old.  Therefore not only does it go across educational subjects, but it pretty much can be applied to everyone from ages 3 to 103 (Sorry great-grandma!).

Helping while you learn




This time instead of sharing another business application of gamification I would like to introduce you to freerice.com. This free, non-for profit site was founded in 2007 by the United Nations World Food Programme and through a very simple yet addictive game allows you to collect rice that will then be donated to hungry countries all around the globe.

The game consists of guessing questions, for every correct answer you donate 10 grains of rice. This might sound like a little, but in 4 years freerice.com has donated 6100 metric tons of rice and fed millions of people in places like Cambodia, Haiti, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. 

As you can see from our last couple of posts gamification goes well beyond a money making tool. It can also be used to create awareness of a social problem and help us get through difficult situations. 

May 24, 2012

Gamification in Hospitals


Going along with the theme of Gamification in fields with social consequences, here is a story about how Gamification is helping patients within a hospital overcome their difficulties.  Produced by Cundari, the application allows kids to express their pain and also do daily activities designed to overcome it.  Seeing as this is currently being developed for young kids with Cancer, it simply goes to show that gamification can have powerful applications beyond the juvenile traits some assign to games.

Take a look at the main article here http://bit.ly/KSl69V, and a massive hat-tip to our friends over at http://gamification.co/



May 20, 2012

It’s all part of a Game

Is this gaming concept something new? Or have companies been using this concept for a long time? Although many of us might think that this is an innovation, using gamification as a relationship tool has existed for a long time.



The first example that strikes the mind is the award’s points in your credit card. Yes, you might be thinking, “why didn’t I think of that?” Well, awarding points is just one type of game strategy that companies use better classify and maintain you as a customer. Airline companies also use gaming strategies, but in a different way, they want to turn a sporadic flyer into a frequent flyer. How do they do it? Well, if you fly 50 thousand miles, you get one ticket for free, or if you fly a certain amount of miles in one year, you’ll receive an upgrade in your status (see table).



Does this sound just a little bit like a game? Where someone needs to collect points in order to get a price. Now, going back to the credit card example, doesn’t this also apply? Don’t we have to keep buying in order to obtain more points?




And for what, to get prices, free airline tickets, access to private lounges, etc. This are just some examples of how gamification has worked in the past and is still at work now.


But the question you might be asking yourself now is, how have this evolved. I know that this has existed for a long time but what are the new trends in gamification.

I can assure you dear reader, that this blog will answer all of those questions in the future.