Mashable Op-Ed (OPINION): Location-based Games as the Next Killer App
In his Op-Ed piece for Mashable, Greg Steen writes: Capture the flag. Hide and seek. Marco Polo. These location-based games brought hours of fun to many of us as children. Then video games came along and suddenly the only location you played in was the living room. Now this shift is coming full circle as innovative mobile games are using geo-location, image recognition and augmented reality technologies to combine the real and virtual worlds.
Location-Based Games Are Already Starting to Emerge
Read more: http://mashable.com/2011/07/24/location-based-gaming/
Venture Money Flows to Games and Gamification
VentureBeat's "GamesBeat" featured a post today by Gabe Zichermann, the author of Game-Based Marketing and organizer of Gamification Summit 2011.
Gabe had this to say:
In the last twelve months alone, over $10 million in seed capital has flowed into a series of disruptive, gamification-centric startups, over $25 million additional capital has gone to businesses betting big on gamification as a core customer strategy, and at least one $100 million fund dedicated in part to gamification has been launched. (Last year, more than $600 million was invested in game companies).
Read more at: http://venturebeat.com/2010/12/10/vcs-level-up-with-gamification-investments-...:+Venturebeat+(VentureBeat)
Jesse Schell DICE 2010
Jesse Schell raises the prospect of gamification becoming pervasive.
A couple excerpts:
"Games have crept out and are going everywhere."
"Who do you think are designing these games? Skilled game designers? No, not really. Just whoever's there. Think about what will happen when skilled game designers get ahold of these things.
"Sensors are going to be connected to almost everything in your life, and these things are going to be used for game play."
Not everyone was thrilled.
Someone posted a copy of a portion of this talk on YouTube and gave it the title:
Most Disturbing Presentation Ever: Our Tech Nightmare ("Skinner Box") DICE 2010
And gigaom's Kevin Kelleher was skeptical that gamification would be good for advertising or marketing.
Why Playing Games with Consumers Won't Work
My favorite part of Schell's presentation at DICE 2010? The end, where he begins to talk about gamification as a tool to help us choose to become better people. He isn't describing a forced system for generating a particular outcome. He's talking about the idea that gamification could be a set of capabilities that I embrace to help me make certain changes in my actions or behavior. Things I choose to do to become a better person.
Over on the pavlov.posterous.com blog, I have a new post about creating habits. I think that's one of the ways that gamification could become particularly useful and important.
Google Group: Gamification
For those of you who prefer your "gamifcation" via email, check out the Google Group, "Gamification." (Details below.)
Congratulations: you've successfully created your Google Group, Gamification.
Here are the essentials:
* Group name: Gamification
* Group home page: http://groups.google.com/group/gamification
* Group email address gamification@googlegroups.com
And here are links to a few more Google Group-related goodies:
* Invite more users: http://groups.google.com/group/gamification/members_invite
The Dark Side of "Gamification"
For anyone looking at the exploding "gamification" space, I highly recommend the presentation by Sebastian Deterding (@dingstweets) [Playful 2010, London, 24.09.2010], available on Slideshare:
Mojo (earnmojo.com) Takes Check-ins Web Wide.
Mojo's not the first player to do this. But this is the direction the world is headed. Pavlov's all about this. So are a growing number of startups and established companies. A few weeks ago, Meebo announced a similar capability via a browser plug in.
And check out Mojo:
http://everything2everything.com/enter-mojo-foursquare-for-the-web/
earnmojo.com
Why would I want to check into Web-content?
My guess is; the same reason people physically check-in to locations. To earn points from your favorite brands that equate to discounts and hyper-relevant offers. To unlock badges you can socially share and display, and to be a brand advocate for something you already love, like me, I love Arby’s, so I just mentioned Arby’s for no good reason… Eat Arby’s.
Game-Based Marketing
The authors of Game-Based Marketing, Gabe Zicherman and Joselin Linder, make the case for gamification - aka "funware" - using examples of opportunities for gamification that range as far and wide as air travel, banking, subway seats selection, coffee shop queues and more. Chapter headings include:
- The Argument for Loyalty
- Passive Play
- Social Networks and Leaderboards
- Funware Mechanics: Points and Beyond
- Prizes and Games of Chance
- The Ultimate Funware: Frequent Flyer Programs
- Know Thy Player
- The Future of Gamers: Generation G
- Everyone Wins: Games in Your Business
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From Foursquare and Farmville to the frequent fliers popularized in Up in the Air, playing “everyday games” has become an obsession that’s entered the popular culture, mirroring the worldwide growth of interactive entertainment. Smart organizations like Chase and the US Army are getting on the bandwagon, offering loyalty programs and game experiences that pay out in cash, miles and virtual rewards for all kinds of activities, driving growth, community engagement and customer loyalty at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing. Authors Gabe Zichermann and Joselin Linder have spent the past ten years chronicling the rise of the everyday games we play and in their book “Game-Based Marketing” (Wiley, March 2010, $24.95) they show how successful companies are shaping our fun future, and how savvy organizations of all sizes can play to win.
Game Mechanics - Gamification.org
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Tom Higley
tom@pavlovgames.com
tom@iggli.com
303.570.8888
