Gamification is a process of implementing gaming mechanics into a business setting (Welbers et al., 2019). Most of the time, when people hear the word game, they automatically starting thinking of monopoly or overly aggressive-em up game. The gamification process is similar to a coffee shop that offers a punch card; each time you visit, you are slowly building up towards a reward. This gives you a feeling of accomplishment and encouraging you to visit them more often. If it’s being talked about in a business setting, people start to think of trust fall exercises. One example of gamification is the badges used on Snapchat, the more you use to send and receive pic and view featured videos, the more badges you unlock, and the higher your level will rise. This increase clicks and visits, which includes watching advertisements at some point. The more traffic a site or application gets, the more they can charge for ad space. Gamification can be applied in business to be used for purposes such as motivation, improving communication, encourage loyalty from both employees and customers, among others.
Applications
Gamification in marketing is the art of developing marketing advertisements that are holistic and engage clients in a unique and fun way designed for a particular product or brand (Lee & Jin, 2019). Previously people used to click on online adverts since they could not differentiate between content and ads. But nowadays people are becoming keener and know how to filter unwanted content hence minimizing the effectiveness of adverts. Gamification utilizes particular elements of a game and strategies in the marketing industries and focuses more on why a user may be interested in engaging (Refer to the sample essay on Nike Marketing analysis). Marketing should not be one way but rather involve the whole ecosystem while making both users and marketers engage continuously in different ways.
Games are also used in working environments to motivate and inspire employees in their daily tasks (Sailer et al., 2017). In most scenarios, the employees only show up at work to earn a cheque and more so work hard to maintain their positions. Employees have little attachment or engagement in their work. Gamification is important in such a scenario to prompt creativity and innovation. Employers need to invest in gamification as a means of motivation to avoid having surplus labor with little productivity. It makes sense to have fewer employees who are motivated and engaged in working their productivity shall be high, resulting in the improved overall performance of the organization.
Online and offline products that are inspirational, fun, and engaging to use can be developed using gamification. It is challenging for most businesses to create products that shall be loved by clients., continuously use them, and be free to share with their friends. Companies mostly focus on the functionalities of a product (what the user can do) but fail to determine and emphasize on why users should be willing to use the product. Games have an amazing way of influencing people to spend more time on the product through their innovation and creativity. The key reason for using games is to create a product that shall be endorsed by people and shall be willing to share the product
The best way to approach this topic is to start with the basic issue of what gamification does. The primary purpose of gamification is to assist people in advancing in life, from one step to another. It does not matter in whichever perspective you look at it from, may it be engaged in marketing, individual growth, and improvement of society. It is the wish and desire of everyone to explore the world and make the most out of it to become the best version of us. Unfortunately, most people do not possess the discipline and thinking systems required to achieve the desired case. This is gamification applies. Gamification exposes learnable complex systems, and users are able to engage within a manner that will enable them to achieve their aspirations. A perfect example is a person who has lost weight by emulating weight watcher leaderboards, levels, challenges, among others.
When applied appropriately, games are successful in encouraging people to come up with solutions, develop skills, and change behaviors. Currently, it is used to engage clients, educating and training staff, sustainability, and individual development (Looyestyn et al., 2017). For instance, Nike built a platform known as Nike + to assist those who love keeping fit with daily workouts. Gamification is bound to produce positive results and less productive in the short term. It is predicted that the current gamified systems will not attain the organizational goals after five years, mainly because of poor design. The design entails aligning objectives of the business with application development. In the long run, as the design improved, and the company makes clear objectives, gamification will have a massive impact on the company. It becomes an essential way for the company to have a long-lasting engagement with its audience.
Gamification also allows marketers to focus more on gaining customers’ loyalty and convincing them to make more orders (Conaway & Garay, 2014). This is achieved using the power engagement toolkit offered by the gaming platforms. Gamification has equipped marketers with the discipline required to improve the quality of interaction between games and products. In the last ten year, there has been conflicting statistics between brands and games more so in advergaming and use of advert in fictional games. In game-ads and advergaming have not been successful since the marketers failed to consider the conflict between inspiration to play games and commercial consumption. Taking more time to understand why people play games and how to catch their attention could help marketers create experiences that are engaging and long-lasting. The marketer shall be able to reach the target group, which turns raises the sales volume in an organization.
In conclusion, gamification can be applied in business to be used for purposes such as motivation, improving communication, encourage loyalty from both employees and customers, among others. Games are used to create marketing adverts that engage clients holistically and uniquely. Games are also used as sources of motivation and inspiration for employees to increase their level of productivity (Koivisto & Hamari, 2019). Employees become more dedicated to their work. Using the approach of gamification, it is possible to develop online and offline products that are engaging and continuously used by the clients. In addition to assisting people in advancing in life and achieving personal goals, gamification is also used by marketers to gain customers’ loyalty. Loyal customers have the tendency to buy products from a specific provider, thus guaranteeing the flow of customers to a business. Generally, gamification is essential in any business set up.96319307337
