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Gamification ahoy

Gamification is the new Social Media. Which in turn was the new Web2.0. Which in turn was the new Black.  Everybody wants to be Apple - but well, you cannot.

Thus it is that everybody wants a piece of the latest buzzword. So, today it is gamification.

Now gamification is not about overlaying badges and trophies on an elearning. It is clearly much more than that. But more often than not, this fake gamification is used an excuse to beautify otherwise pathetic content.

Gamification has to be inbuilt into the experience, it is not a separate piece that stands out like a bad comedy track in the movies. And real gamification is hard work - it means looking at the content and literally constructing a game out of it - that means competition, levels, hidden alleys, wild cards and a tough algorithm - among other things. And by the way, some randomness and unpredictability as well.

Read the wiki page and find out if your 'gamifying' idea can hold its own against the many mentioned there!

Just by awarding a  few trophies and putting up a few badges does not get you anywhere. It gives a bad name to gamification and worse, the next time you do a real gamifying experience, you have lost the audience before you even start.

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