Gamification and Game Mechanics Made Simple

A simple lesson in motivation has existed for centuries, from Huck Finn€s painting party to Mary Poppin€s advice for cleaning a room: If you want to motivate people, turn what you want people to do into a game. Today, the practice of embedding game-like elements into business and social objectives, now commonly referred to as €˜gamification€, is big business and maturing into a science of its own. Gamification is rapidly becoming to the 21st century what sex was to the 20th century - the mechanism of choice for driving behaviors and marketing to the masses.

This book represents a simple primer on gamification and is designed to quickly introduce individuals to the basic concepts of gamification, describe how gamification works (and doesn€t work), explore the major building blocks of gamifying goals and activities, review the companies emerging to help organizations leverage gamification, and examine what the future of gamification promises.