Over the last year, you may have noticed that a once-niche trend not only crept into the mainstream, but is starting to really make a big splash. Gamification has become one of the hottest buzz words in the industry and is probably in the process of taking over a website or user experience near you.

For the uninitiated, gamification, said simply, is the use of game design techniques and mechanics to solve problems and engage audiences. Over the last year, even large companies and enterprises are starting to get in on the game, with Gartner saying that all CIOs should have gamification on their radar, and M2 research predicting that the gamification market will reach 2.8 billion in direct spending by 2016.

Okay, so it’s on the rise, we get that, but let’s take a look at some of the players that are helping to take this trend to the next level. Three companies in particular are currently creating some buzz in the space: Badgeville, Bigdoor and Bunchball.

Badgeville started by making a big splash center stage at Disrupt in the fall of 2009. The company took home the Audience Choice Award at Disrupt, has since gone on a tear and is poised to have a great 2012. (Check out Rip’s original post on Badgeville’s prospects here.)

Badgeville Co-founder and CEO Kris Duggan pulls no punches when it comes to one of the most visible and early adopters of gamification, the check-in king: Foursquare. The CEO says that Foursquare was early in its attempts at gamification, but that its incentivization models remain fundamentally flawed.

Duggan points to the “Mayorship” system within Foursquare: “You have literally hundreds of people and only one mutually-exclusive point of recognition, the Mayor. What happens to the other hundreds of people? Not only are they not engaged, but you don’t take into consideration different types of users.” Duggan believes you need to engage not only the heavy user, but medium and light users as well. Rather than a one-size-fits-all methodology, you can appeal to each user type and incent them accordingly.

More at: http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/12/no-longer-an-awkward-teenager-gamification-grows-up/

Last year, Jung Von Matt Sweden launched a mobile hunting game for the MINI Countryman in Stockholm. Now, the award-winning campaign is moving to Japan for a bigger, better game. The idea is the same: Use your smart phone to catch a virtual MINI, and then run as fast as you can out of its orbit to prevent anyone from stealing it. Anybody who successfully keeps it in their possession until the end of the game wins a real car, this time a MINI Coupe.

But everything’s bigger the second time around. The gaming area in Tokyo is about 32 times larger than Stockholm, at 240 square miles and the game is open to Android users as well as iPhoners. The number of players is expected to run into the six-figures, unlike Stockholm, which saw about 11,000 participants.

More at: http://adage.com/article/creativity-pick-of-the-day/catch-a-mini-world-s-biggest-reality-game/231225/

28 November 2011 Last updated at 14:47

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Toilet gaming technology targets urinal boredom

By Dougal Shaw Technology reporter

WATCH: The BBC’s Marc Cieslak tries out the urinal-mounted games console for men

There is not much choice: stare blankly at the wall tiles, focus on shoes with face set in a grimace, or maybe whistle.

When men use a public urinal they are cruelly left in full view, with nothing to do as they answer nature’s call.

Until now.

British company Captive Media thinks it has developed a product that fills a gap in the market - a urinal mounted, urine-controlled games console for men.

Toilet humour: Leader boards appeal to players’ competitive streak

It calls it the first “hands-free” video gaming console of its kind.

The sturdy device sits above the normal oval ceramic urinal bowl, opening up a whole new world of entertainment.

The user is presented with three generous targets to aim for in the urinal: stickers in the unit that read “Start”, “Left” and “Right”.

The console is able to detect where the urine is falling by means of an infra-red device.

And so a rudimentary “joystick” is set up.

Bog Standard

Games on offer include a skiing challenge, and a multiple choice pub quiz.

Once they have finished their business, customers can use their mobile phones to post their scores to Twitter and a live leader board.

The console unit has a 12 inch LCD screen, and sits behind toughened glass. So it can withstand collateral damage and be easily cleaned.

The sensor unit is contactless and does not use a camera, another important design consideration.

We are also installing units in ladies’ toilets, to address the issue of long waiting times”

Gordon MacSween Director, Captive Media

Windows 7 embedded, it is powered by one of Intel’s Atom dual core microprocessors.

More at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15923438