April 21, 2012
When Will We See Gamification In Government?
Gamification refers to the practice of making non-game activities more like games by incorporating achievement-based reward systems.
Under gamification, using government examples, when your project or mission is complete you might receive a ‘completion badge’ (such as a letter from the Secretary, an Australia Day Award, or a medal). Or when you attain a higher level of proficiency in a particular skill you’d receive an ‘achievement’ or rise on the ‘leaderboard’ (such as a bonus or a promotion).
From the examples above, there’s clearly already aspects of gamification at work. Rewarding achievement, success and skills acquisition is a standard part of business and forms the basis of merit-based advancement systems – not just games.
However the gamification process involves a much greater level of achievement-based recognition, than has commonly been used in organisations.