Gamification 101: The Psychology of Motivation

Hello Suzanne,

Thank you for stopping by and commenting.

I believe that games (and gamification) are extremely powerful, and they can really change human behaviors for the greater good. And that includes shaping our politics and economics. It really comes down to how we implement these games. In fact, many things in our life already have all the elements of a game (e.g. education, business, etc). Gamification simply uses game dynamics to change their incentive and reward structure to make them enjoyable rather than stressful. That is how people gamify education and work.

As in my reply to Matt (above), like anything else, gamification is merely a technology, and it is not inherently good or bad. It all depends on how people use it. That being said, it is definitely possible for gamification to become just another form of propaganda. That is, if the only application of gamification that people can think of is to get more people to play their game and beat down their opponent. But if people use it for good, then it can also become something great. So far people have use games for a lot of good purpose (e.g. entertainment, education, boost productivity, training, etc).

My speculation is that there will be good and bad uses of gamification in the future, and there will probably more good than bad. We just have to learn to make the best use of this new technology. However, if people abuse it or don’t know how to use it in the right way, then legislators will have to establish rules to tell us how it is use it.

Alright, thank you for bringing up this sensitive issue. It is an important issue though. So I appreciate that your voice your opinion. Hope to see you again next time.