What is Gamification, Really?

Hello Mike,

as far as I can see your definition of gamification is the most precise on the internet. However I have difficulties to understand the non-game context part of it:

You say:
"the definition specifically states that gamification refers to those applications in a non-game context, where players don’t really know that they are actually playing a game."

So by non-game context you actually mean that the application which is to be gamified is not a game before being gamified, right?

In other words: If you use game attributes to drive game-like player behavior in a non-game context and
"unintentionally" create a game - is that gamification or doesn't it fit into the definition here because of breaking out of the non-game context? Specificaly: What happens if suddenly the user understands that he is actually playing a game, is it then still non-game context? Is it still Gamification?

I actually thought that if you gamify something in a non-game context and it happens to you that you create a game where there was no game, than this is the best result you can achieve with Gamification.

Thanks!