Gamification is the future, and the future is here. Get to know 3 examples that show how powerfull this tool can be.

When we think of gamification we immediately think of young kids or guys over 30 still living in their mom’s basement. This could not be further away from the truth.

Gamification is not about gaming. Gamification is using game elements and mechanics in non-game situations, engaging the participants and getting results faster and more efficiently. Gamification is rooted in our culture, we enjoy competition, achievements and rewards. Achieving a milestone drives us, motivate us and make us feel good, literally. Achieving a goal releases dopamine in the brain which is the substance responsible for happiness. And although its not a new concept it is now reaching its full potencial – and companies are seizing the moment and getting results. Big companies like Microsoft, Samsung and a whole world of others use gamification to boost their performance internally and externally. In this post we will show 3 amazing cases that will change your perspective about gamification.

1- The Traffic Lottery.

What started as a submission in a Volkswagen contest called Fun theory actually became a game changer in Sweden. Using the principle of gamification, the concept is the following : Every time a car passes by the speed camera exceeding the limit they get a ticket to pay that is send to your home. However if you pass by the camera within the speed limit you are automatically elected to win a monthly prize, which is the sum of tickets that the people who did not respect the limit paid.

Fun right?

The best part is that it actually reduced the number of people exceeding the speed by 80%, it drove people to the objective. What started as an experience was implemented in Sweden and is now an everyday reality.

2 – Puzzle Game Foldit.

In 2009 arround 30 milion people had died from AIDS.

For 15 years, many of the top PhD Scientists in the world were trying to decipher a crystal structure for one of the AIDS-causing viruses called the Mason-Pfizer monkey virus (M-PMV), but could not solve it.

Luckily, the University of Washington’s Center for Game Science (yes, such center exists) collaborated with the Biochemistry department and created FoldIt, an online puzzle video game about protein folding. For everyone surprise the community online was able to solve the 15 year long reasearch in only 10 days. Yes, we agree, absolutely amazing.

3 – Nike Plus running APP.

Trough a competitive game with peers, nike plus got people from all around the world competing with each other and earning points for it. Until this day, this action is a complete success.