- Google News Badges
Jul 14, 2011Google News releases a system of badges, to reward users for reading articles related to particular topics.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/shareable-google-news-badges-for-your.html
- Sierra and Deterding clearly spell out gamification criticism
Jun 15, 2011In response to a Gabe Zichermann post on the O'Reilly blog, Kathy Sierra and Sebastian Deterding lay out the main problems with gamification as it is usually presented.
http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/06/gamification-criticism-overjustification-ownership-addiction.html#comments
- Saatchi & Saatchi release result from gamification study
Jun 8, 2011A confusing mess, mixing up social gaming, gamification, social responsibility and "social challenges". The most trumpeted result is " 55% of Americans said they were interested in working for a company that uses gamification to increase productivity. " However, it's not clear what respondents thought "gamification to increase productivity" meant.
http://www.saatchisblog.com/2011/06/08/engagement-unleashed-saatchi-s-releases-results-from-groundbreaking-gamification-study/
- Pixie Dust & The Mountain of Medicority
Jun 7, 2011Kathy Sierra elaborates on her gamification critique. "There is a world of difference between helping someone *appear* more awesome and helping them actually BE more awesome."
http://gapingvoid.com/2011/06/07/pixie-dust-the-mountain-of-mediocrity/
- Don't Play Games With Me!
May 27, 2011Sebastian Deterding puts the final nail in gamification's coffin. Games teach us how to deal with the hard parts of life, they are not something that should be used to hide reality. "Suffering is no a bug - it's a feature of life." The entire field of gamification is stopped dead in its tracks, all projects in-progress are halted, and no further work is begun.
Well, not really. Apparently not everybody got the word...
http://www.slideshare.net/dings/dont-play-games-with-me-promises-and-pitfalls-of-gameful-design
- Gamification Workshop at CHI 2011
May 7, 2011The goal of the workshop was to "...develop a shared understanding of existing approaches and findings around the gamification of information systems, and identify key synergies, opportunities, and questions for future research."
Organized by Sebastian Deterding
http://gamification-research.org/chi2011/
- Exploitationware
May 3, 2011Ian Bogost argues for renaming gamification to "exploitationware".
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6366/persuasive_games_exploitationware.php
- Kathy Sierra confronts Gabe Zichermann
Apr 28, 2011Kathy Sierra comments on a post by Zichermann, criticizing his approach. " It is not just game devs who feel gamification is perhaps worse than snake oil because -- like slot machines-- it IS indeed based on psychological principles that manipulate people."
http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/04/gamification-purpose-marketing.html#comments
- McGonigal on Al Jazeera
Apr 25, 2011Jane McGonigal appears on "The Stream" to discuss how terrorists are using gamification to motivate and recruit followers.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/14275354
- Gartner Report on Gamification
Apr 12, 2011Gartner predicts that by 2015, "more than 50% of organizations that manage innovation processes will gamify those processes" and that " more than 70 percent of Global 2000 organizations will have at least one gamified application."
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1629214
- G. Zicherman: "Games are the only force in the universe that can get people to take actions that ...
Mar 16, 2011Gabe Zicherman makes a remarkable statement, that perhaps lies at the core of many people's interest.
http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/7283-q-a-with-gabe-zichermann-on-gamification-fun-and-metrics
- Serious Games Summit Gamification Day
Mar 1, 2011Gamification Day at the Serious Games Summit featured a keynote by Jane McGonigal and "The Grea Gamification Debate", including McGonigal, Jesse Schell, Ian Bogost and others. Panelists were against bad gamification.
http://schedule.gdconf.com/session/12301
- McGonigal on NPR
Feb 18, 2011Jane McGonigal talks about her book on the show "Science Friday"
http://www.npr.org/2011/02/18/133870801/could-gaming-be-good-for-you?ft=1&f=1049
- Jane McGonigal on Colbert Report
Feb 3, 2011McGonigal is interviewed on the Colbert report about her book "Reality is Broken"
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/373360/february-03-2011/jane-mcgonigal
- First Gamification Summit
Jan 20, 2011The first gamification summit, organized by Gabe Zicherman, and included Jane McGonigal, Amy Jo Kim, Ian Bogost, Sebastian Deterding, among others, as speakers and panelists.
http://www.amiando.com/gamificationsummit.html
- Reality is Broken
Jan 20, 2011Jane McGonigal publishes "Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World"
When presenting her ideas, McGonigal attempts to distance herself from the term "gamification", preferring to use "gameful".
http://realityisbroken.org/
- Gamify creates the universal gamification platform
Jan 18, 2011Gamify launches gamify.com and announce the Gamify Platform, a platform to drive user engagement through points, badges, and rewards.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/gamification/gamify/prweb4968274.htm
- Gabe Zichermann speaks at Web 2.0 Expo
Sep 30, 2010Zichermann presents "Mastering Game Mechanics for Community Building"
http://www.web2expo.com/webexny2010/public/schedule/detail/15210
- Badgeville Launches
Sep 27, 2010Gamification company Badgeville launches a platform to drive user engagement through points, badges, and rewards.
http://www.badgeville.com
- Pawned. Gamification and its discontents.
Sep 24, 2010Sebastian Deterding's presentation at Playful 2010, discussing how gamification's focus on rewards and points tends to remove elements of fun and playfulness. The first well-publicized and well-thought out critique of gamification.
http://www.slideshare.net/dings/pawned-gamification-and-its-discontents
- Badge-o-matic
Aug 31, 2010Big Door announces Badge-o-matic, a platform to drive user engagement through points, badges, and rewards.
http://www.bigdoor.com/press/announcing-the-badge-o-matic/
- Jane the Concussion Slayer
Jun 26, 2010Jane McGonigal's Ignite presentation, describing the game she developed to recover from brain injury (leading to http://superbetter.org).
http://igniteshow.com/videos/jane-concussion-slayer-ep-66
- Publication of "Game-Based Marketing"
Mar 29, 2010Gabe Zichermann publishes "Game-base marketing: inspire customer loyalty through rewards, challenges, and contests"
http://www.amazon.com/Game-Based-Marketing-Customer-Challenges-Contests/dp/0470562234
- Evoke Launch
Mar 3, 2010Evoke is an alternate reality game, created by Jane McGonigal for the World Bank Institute. "The goal of the social network game is to help empower people all over the world to come up with creative solutions to our most urgent social problems."
http://www.urgentevoke.com/
- Jesse Schell on Gamified Toothbrushes
Feb 18, 2010Jesse Schell's "Design Outside the Box" presentation at DICE 2010 described psychological tricks used by Webkinz, Farmville, and the Wii, and outlined a feature where everything, including toothbrushing, is a game
http://www.g4tv.com/videos/44277/dice-2010-design-outside-the-box-presentation/
- Jane McGonigal TED talk: Gaming can make a better world
Feb 10, 2010Jane McGonigal's presentation on using games to change the world.
http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html
- Total Engagement
Nov 2, 2009Byron Reeves and J. Leighton Read (of Seriosity) write about using virtual worlds and games to make work more interesting.
http://www.totalengagement.org/
- The Fun Theory
Sep 22, 2009A Volkswagen ad campaign showing how people can be motivated to choose better behavior by adding a fun element.
http://www.thefuntheory.com/
- FourSquare launches at SxSW
Mar 13, 2009Check-in at locations and earn badges
http://foursquare.com/about
- Gamification: Game Mechanics is the new Marketing
Nov 5, 2008James Currier writes glowingly about using game mechanics for marketing : "And that might be the best part of it, is that as everything gamifies, we’re going to like it. It’s fun! " References Clay Shirky and Bret Terrill use of "gamification" term. Mentions that Gabe Zichermann uses the word "Funware".
http://blog.oogalabs.com/2008/11/05/gamification-game-mechanics-is-the-new-marketing/
- Stack Overflow Launches
Sep 15, 2008Joel Spolsky announces the launch of Stack Overflow, a site for asking and answering questions about programming. With voting and reputation features, Stack Overflow is often cited as an example where an engaging core user experience is supported by game-like elements, instead of adding a "game-layer" to generate interest.
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2008/09/15.html
- The Art of Game Design published
Aug 18, 2008Jesse Schell publishes "The Art of Game Design - A Book of Lenses" an in-depth description of the game design process.
http://artofgamedesign.com/
- Bret Terrill mentions the "gameification of the web."
Jun 16, 2008Reporting on the Social Games Summit, Brett Terrill (who would soon after join Zynga as Senior Director of Corporate Development), mentions how the "gameification of the web" was a hot topic of discussion.
Are there earlier references where gameification/gamification is used?
http://www.bretterrill.com/2008/06/my-coverage-of-lobby-of-social-gaming.html
- Web 2.0 Expo Panel on Funware
Apr 23, 2008"Children of Flickr: Making the Massively Multiplayer Social Web" a panel discussing "sneaking fun into everyday online life"
http://www.web2expo.com/webexsf2008/public/schedule/detail/2144
- GDC Talk: Applying game dynamics to virtual worlds
Feb 18, 2008Erik Bethke of Go Pets talked about using reward structures to motivate user behavior in virtual worlds, but also for exercise and other domains. One attendee summarized the talk with " Use points and leveling up to get people to do ANYTHING." (http://lsvp.wordpress.com/2008/02/19/applying-game-dynamics-to-virtual-worlds/)
http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/02/18/gdc08-exercise-the-mmo/
- Bunchball introduces Nitro platform
Oct 23, 2007"Bunchball, a Web services company dedicated to making websites more addictive, today announced the launch of its new Web Catalytics service, Nitro." Nitro is a platform to drive user engagement through points, badges, and rewards.
http://www.bunchball.com/news/pressReleases/20071022nitro.shtml
- Chorewars launches
Jul 17, 2007Chorewars uses MMO inspired mechanics to turn doing chores around the house into a game.
http://www.chorewars.com/oldnews.php
- Virtual Worlds, Real Leaders
Jun 28, 2007Seriosity and IBM release a report describing how MMOs like World of Warcraft help players develop leadership skills that can be applied in business settings.
http://domino.watson.ibm.com/comm/www_innovate.nsf/pages/world.gio.gaming.html
- Seriosity's Attent for email overload
Nov 8, 2006Seriosity (http://seriosity.com) introduces Serios, a virtual currency for email management. Badges included.
Seriosity was founded in 2004, but this is the earliest reference to Attent I could find.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/dyson/seriosly-interesting/25
- Gabe Zichermann gives presentation on gamification
2006In this interview, Zichermann states that he gave his first presentation on gamification in 2006.
http://gamemechanics.levlr.com/post/932338974/interview-with-the-author-of-game-based-marketing
- Nike and Apple Launch Nike+
May 23, 2006Nike+ shoes track runner statistics uploading them to a service where users review them, compete with others, and earn badges for specific achievements.
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/may/23nike.html
- World of Warcraft reaches 6 million subscribers
Mar 2006Blizzard announces that WoW has reached 6 million users, firmly establishing itself as the most popular MMORPG. The idea that games can lead to serious numbers is sparked.
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=8352
- eTech Presentation: Putting the Fun in Functional
Mar 7, 2006Amy Jo Kim, Creative Director of Shuffle Brain, describes different game mechanics that can be applied to non-games:
Collecting
Earning Points
Feedback
Exchanges
Customization
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/et2006/view/e_sess/7735
- Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds
Nov 4, 2005Ludologist Jesper Juul's book on video game theory, discussing the nature of games and why they are enjoyable.
http://www.half-real.net/
- A Theory of Fun for Game Design
Nov 6, 2004Raph Koster publishes "A Theory of Fun for Game Design", describing learning as the core element that makes games fun.
http://www.amazon.com/Theory-Fun-Game-Design/dp/1932111972
- Where in the World is Carmen San Diego
1985Surely not the first attempt to use games for learning, but let Carmen Sandiego represents the vast previous history of games in learning.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_in_the_World_Is_Carmen_Sandiego%3F
- Mary Poppins
Aug 27, 1964"You see, in every job that must be done there is an element of fun/You find the fun, and snap! The job's a game."
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