The "LA" in "PLAY"

Boss Battle: Gamification

Full disclosure: for this image, I just did a Bing image search for “gamification” and used the first thing I found.

I think it’s a good image, though, for this fraught topic. Hoo boy is “gamification” a loaded term. As I write this, Jane McGonigal is preparing for a webinar on the subject with Lithium, and there’s no shortage of screeds on the virtues (if you’re in marketing) or perils (if you’re a game designer) of this buzzword and its proponents.

Here’s two more comments on the trend: this slideshow is a good primer with excellent graphics. But more pointed is this total explosion of a poorly presented treatise, skewered by the Gamification Results Network.

I’m not the first to say it, and I won’t be the last, but adding points and badges don’t make a game. A game is supposed to be fun, bottom line. If there are points and badges, that’s one way to measure progress, but nobody ever said, “Hey what’s that game with all the badges and points? Let’s play that one!” You know?