Gamification in Marketing - An Introduction
Gamification in Marketing - An Introduction The oldest documented game, Mancala, dates back to Egypt in the fifteenth to eleventh centuries, but according to game expert and proponent of gamification Jane McGonigal, Herodotus (of Ancient Greece), was the first to report on the cultural significance of game-playing in society and the psychological value inherent in the act of playing. In his histories, he writes of an 18-year famine that plagued a society he calls The Lydians. He credits The Lydians with inventing and playing games as a coping mechanism for the hardships associated with the famine. The ancient Lydians played Mancala , a dice based game to survive an eighteen year famine. From a very simple viewpoint gamification has been defined as the use of game design elements in non-game contexts (Deterding et al, 2011). A more in depth definition is also given by Deterding et al: the use (rather than the extension) of design (rather than game-based technology or other ...