Here is a chronology of world gamification with the most significant events.
1980s
The first mention of “gamification”. Richard Bartle, a professor at the University of Essex and a pioneer in multiplayer online games, gave the first definition:
Gamification is the transformation of something that is not a game into a game.
2003
Gamification originated in America. Nick Pelling, British game developer, and programmer introduces a new concept:
Gamification is the process of using game thinking and game dynamics to engage an audience and solve problems.
However, the term “gamification” fell into disuse shortly thereafter. Since it was practically not used and was not used due to the lack of specialists.
2005 – 2009 in the West
The first services that deal with gamification appear. One of the famous ones is Bunchball. In those years, by and large, gamification boiled down to the fact that services offered to insert badges into any project.
Criticism of gamification
In 2009, the first bright critics of gamification appear. At this time, Daniel Pink’s book Drive: What Motivates Us comes out. On the one hand, Pink criticizes the very principle of gamification software, on the other hand, he also criticizes extrinsic motivation. Daniel says that for users who do something neither for their own desire, nor for the sake of studying, but, for example, for the sake of monetary reward, motivation does not work long and poorly. It disappears after some time, unlike intrinsic motivation. The latter is much more important.
By conveying these thoughts to books, Daniel Pink, without suspecting it, laid the foundation for serious gamification. Subsequently, I, Ilya Kurylev, the Gingerbread Agency, which appeared only in 2013, and other specialists, will begin to talk about gamification differently. As about something that should appeal to intrinsic motivation.
Gamification in 2021
In the 21st century, gamification engine finally entered the practice of product development. It cannot be said that it is applied everywhere. But every product manager should have an idea about game mechanics.
Many brands have already learned how to use game mechanics to solve their problems. For example, to increase employee engagement during the high season or train new app users. Gamification has ceased to be an amazing feature and a hallmark that separated old boring products from new interesting ones. It has become one of the machine tools in the arsenal of a UX designer, teacher, start-up artist, marketer, and more.
Serious gamification has become widespread, not at all like a game. It acts as a visualization of progress or controls the user’s attention. Serious gamification does not offer rewards, it does not have story elements, but it provides interaction with the user. Thus, a person receives more information about himself.
Until 2021, promo games and gaming marketing have waited, where the main goal is to give out discounts, attract more audience to a hype interesting topic and further tell them about the product in an entertaining manner.
Gamification, at least in the West, is no longer considered a trend. She appeared back in 2014. Despite this, gamification is much more common in 2021 than it was back then. Why is that? Now more and more products are entering the market, development has become cheaper, and it has become easier to add interactive content to mobile applications. There are more contractors and online systems that allow you to embed gamification into your product. This is especially true in the field of education.
Of particular importance in 2021 was the correct scenario of user interaction. The mere presence of game mechanics is no longer enough. It is important whether your game has a balance and how organically the game elements fit into the product or business processes of your company.
According to research, the size of the global gamification market is growing. It was $9.1 billion in 2020. It is expected to reach $22.9 billion by 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 41.8%
