The documentary ‘How Games Shape The World - Gamification’ by DW documentary has opened up my mind to something amazing. People are improving the work space, helping folks learn and even helping kids exercise- through Gamification!
Gamification means to bring game-like qualities such as earning points or following rules, and apply them to the workspace. It doesn’t have to just be a standard job. You could use Gamification for school, for exercise, and many other different things.
Gamification doesn’t even have to be video games, it could just be a game created in real life applied to a subject. For instance, I watched a school in Denmark carry out a week of role playing to learn about the history of East Germany. Kids are able to be creative and dress up as border patrol and just re-enact what happened in those days- except there’s no script! The kids literally just spend the day pretending they are in East Germany in the mid-1900’s, trying to escape, going through interrogations, having election parties and so on! It sounds so fun, I wish they did that at my schools when I was younger!
Gamification is not just for kids, it can be for adults too!
For a few years now, every now and then my mind would wander to how I could make school curriculums more fun to learn with games. Usually, my mind would think about how video games could make learning funner. I mean, we have seen this before with math. There are tons of games that help with learning math with engaging video games, but not much for reading.
I myself have always loved video games for the sake of the story. I would wonder, what if there was an action role-playing game for learning story arcs or spelling, maybe even a role-play game for learning spanish!? And now, I feel this can become a reality, since people are developing games for people with health conditions.
Gamification to me is amazing, since I do believe that emotion helps people learn and remember things.
Now I’m thinking about what else people can use Gamification to make things better. How about becoming a doctor, or maybe a restaurant owner. Hey, it’s possible this stuff is possible!