Gamification Roundup – February 6, 2012

This week in the roundup we got news about some unconventional and unique uses for gamification. In public relations, there is some untapped potential for gamification as a storytelling tool. Gamification is also seeing some unique applications in the social good and education sectors, featuring gamified philanthropy and educational MMO games. Gamification is definitely said to be more than just turning something into a game to make it more engaging; these are some ways on how to achieve that.

Gamification in enterprise has been primarily focused on the marketing of any particular product but techblog Holtz proposes a huge potential for gamification in public relations. One of the most engaging things about an effective game is its capacity to provide a striking narrative. If the goal of public relations is to create a mutual understanding between an organization and the public, the use of gamification to create that narrative could be profoundly effective. The article cites organizations such as NASA and Syrum using gamification to push its message. Perhaps a new gamification PR trend is on the horizon.

 

Learn How to Achieve Sustainability with a Green Gamification Panel

As a part of Social Media Week, Baruch College in Manhattan is hosting a discussion panel called “Green Gamification: Using Game Mechanics to Promote Sustainability,” from 4 to 6 p.m., February 15. Enhanced Online News reports that it will feature names such as Susan Hunt Stevens, Founder & CEO, Practically Green; Samantha Skey, Chief Revenue Officer, Recyclebank; Dan Vallejo, Co-Founder & CEO, The Mutual; Albe Zakes, Global VP, Media Relations, TerraCycle; and Anthony Zolezzi, Co-Founder, Greenopolis. The topics of discussion will revolve around game-based marketing, social media, and website tools to promote sustainability.

 

Employees Compete to Volunteer More Hours with Causecast

The Huffington Post reports on gamification finding its way into the world of corporate philanthropy in a platform called Causecast. Corporate environments have been surveyed to find that 72% of executives donate to charities where employees volunteer. There are increasing possibilities to engage employees with the promise of good cause backed behind their work. While it has been previously difficult or expensive to achieve this, Causecast provides a platform for employees to easily donate and track their time with a gamified campaign system. What is most striking about Causecast is their dedication to serving only nonprofit organizations; their motto is “Nonprofits Ride Free”. Will Causecast become an essential platform for CSR synergy between executive and employee?

 

TvTak Augments and Gamifies TV Watching

Have you ever considered the integration of augmented reality and television watching? PRWeb announces the creation of a new video platform called TvTak which aims to do just that. The new platform claims that “two-thirds of all television viewers share their attention between the big screen and their [smart] devices”. With recognition speed as fast as “1 second”, TvTak aims to bridge this gap and introduce elements such as interactive augmented reality ads and rewards for simply viewing advertisements. The service also includes a social network in which people can collect and share “TV Cards” based off the shows they watch. To see TvTake in action, their YouTube channel has a variety of demos to watch. TvTak will be showcased for the first time at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from February 28 – 29, 2012.

 

MIT Gets $3M to Create World of EducationCraft

According to TheJournal, MIT research team Education Arcade is teaming up with Filament Games to create a massively mulitplayer online game (MMOG) to teach math and science to high school students. The game is aimed to be used as a real education tool, complying with the Common Core standards in mathematics and the Next Generation Science Standards for science. The game will feature character classes in the form of scientists, engineers, and mathematicians for players to explore the open world. There will also be task-based quests that will utilize learned topics and concepts. It will be fascinating to see this game in practice but I fear addictive nature of MMOG’s may get the best of some students. Although I suppose there are worse things than addictive learning.

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