Gamification is the future of creativity, innovation, and education

You are 10 years old. You are out with your great-grandma and are super excited because your 4-year-old brother is there too, and maybe, just maybe, you’re going to get ice cream. But, all of a sudden, ice cream is out of the picture, as the car goes errant: your grandma has had a heart attack and has lost control of the vehicle.

No, this is not part of a videogame intro. It is what happened to young Gryffin Sanders who saved everyone’s life by taking control of the car, at 10 years old. Where did he get his driving skills? Mario Kart, of course. Gryffin told reporters and authorities that once he got his hands on the stirring wheel, he just went into game mode and pretended it was a test.

We hear a lot about how video games are bad, can get children addicted, and inspire violence. But can’t there be more? Much more?

Gamification

Making things you have to do, but don’t want to, fun

Points, timers, badges, and leader boards are all typical gamification components/elements, although this is a generic and maybe cookie-cutter way of explaining how game elements can be used in other areas.

It might be better to explain gamification through the psychological theories it leverages, as well as real-life examples.

First, I’d like to talk about social creativity.

In the past, the idea of a creative person was linked to either madness (the mad scientist), wealth, or the insane intelligence. But, this doesn’t seem true anymore, does it? And, it isn’t a really democratic way of thinking about process and innovation either.

Creativity should be and really is, a social experience. As an example, which is tied up with the whole gamification concept, we can think of the game Phylo. Here — in this DNA puzzle game — to optimise alignments over a machine algorithm, players tackle sequence puzzles that represent nucleotide sequences of distinct phylogenetic taxa. In brief, people (anyone) come together to solve DNA puzzles. Humans were able to increase 70% of the alignments as opposed to the computer output. You’re right; people like you and I achieved huge advances in science just by coming together with a goal in mind and a gaming attitude.

Gamification can put the psychological strengths of gaming to work for a purpose.

Aside from viewing creativity as a social phenomenon, other psychological motivators taken from video games can be applied to areas such as school learning, work, science, etc. Some of the most prominent are:

• Intrinsic reinforcement: you succeed at something, so you feel accomplished and would do anything to feel that way again (think about apps that give you badges for anything you do)
• Epic calling: you are the only one that can save the world! Or the game, and this drives you to fulfil your (special) destiny
• Social influence: knowing that your neighbours consume less energy than you makes you want to do the same to conform
• Scarcity effect: if I only have 5 minutes to do (or buy) something, I feel pressured to do it now and not lose the chance
• Curiosity and unpredictability: will I win? Will I not? Let me try, this is exciting!

But, maybe more importantly…games give us leeway to fail.

The power of YET

Are we still raising our children for the now? For temporary success? Being upset when they fail, punishing them if they don’t get an A at school?

One almost ubiquitous feature of games is that you may keep on trying again and again, and you’ll still get another shot. Games require continual failure because they involve repeated testing, trying different ways around a problem or an obstacle. In fact, for several games, you mostly play by failing repeatedly, and you learn something new each time. Indeed, gamification is, to a large extent, about learning through failure. This notion is known as “Growth Mindset,” a phrase created by Stanford’s Dr Carol Dweck. People with a growth mindset — that is, those who feel that intellect and skill can be cultivated — outperform those who believe that talent is intrinsic.

That is the power of gaming in education, and in innovation: accepting that obstacles mean we are not there YET. But that goals are the end of processes, and learning is never a straightforward journey. In games, you can fail easily. There is no nasty consequence, long term shame, or end of the road. You get up again and try until you succeed.

Remember how in Phylo. people like us discover patterns and sequences in the DNA? That is because success was never related to being a genius anyway. And this is another concept gamification theorists know well.

Examples of progress via gamification

Kahoot!

Kahoot! is a game-based platform that allows you to quickly create, share, and play game-based learning trivia quizzes. Mostly utilised in schools, Kahoot! can assist teachers in transforming trivia games into educational aids.

Interestingly. According to research conducted by the University of Valencia, the usage of Kahoot! resulted in a considerable rise in total marks and the proportion of students passing subjects. Why? It’s entertaining, inspiring, and memorable, plus it adds some healthy rivalry to the classroom.

Netflix: Black Mirror: Bandersnatch

Although Bandersnatch was not introduced as a single promotional strategy, it was a very inventive gamification effort, dubbed “the gamification of television” by many. Bandersnatch is set in 1984 and tells the narrative of Stefan, a young video game developer who sets out to create a multiple-choice game based on a sci-fi book. The audience (yes, us) also use the multiple-choice approach, in which they have several alternatives for how the tale will unfold.

How is this progress? Not sure, just wanted to share it.

Many games and science

Games are changing the way some scientific discoveries are made.

Foldit, an online puzzle game about protein folding, users determined the sequence of an enzyme that causes an Aids-like illness in monkeys. For the previous 13 years, scientists had been trying to fix the problem to no avail. It took the players around three weeks to crack it.

A year later, individuals playing Planet Hunters discovered a strange planet with four stars in its system.

So maybe, let's stop focusing on all of the bad things kids get from gaming and start thinking about how game structure and mindset can help the next generation change the world.

And ours too!