Games are engaging and fun
Mohammed Iqbal & Syed A Suffiyan
It was not until early 2010 that gamification started catching up as a mainstream digital strategy. In 2010, corporations spent $100 million on gamification, and this number is expected to rise up to $2.8 billion by the end of 2016. Tracking the trends in shifting digital strategies will help to understand the importance of gamification and its relevance going forward. Between 1990 and 2004, marketers relied heavily on one-way communication; it was about making claims and telling a story.
Today, digital marketing strategies are based more on engagement and connections. Reviews, likes, ratings and comments have become an integral part of information online and marketers can now view trends in social forums to identify user needs and expectations. This has led to several downsides, as social maturity has caused information overload and network fatigue, resulting in a passive consumer audience. Between July 2009 and June 2011, there has been a large level of decline in contribution and active participation on Facebook.
Marketers now realise the need to transform passive behaviour into a dynamic high-end user engagement and involvement activity. Gamification and its essential dynamics, coupled with social networks, is a very powerful tool to enable multiple levels of engagement.
Human behaviour studies indicate that people need to play. We love the feeling of achieving mastery in a game by overcoming obstacles, learning, gaining skills and earning rewards for our achievements. Playing a
