Gamification : Toward a Definition

This paper proposes a working definition of the term gamification as the use of game design elements in non-game contexts. This definition is related to similar concepts such as serious games, serious gaming, playful interaction, and game-based technologies. Origins Gamification as a term originated in the digital media industry. The first documented uses dates back to 2008, but gamification only entered widespread adoption in the second half of 2010, when several industry players and conferences popularized it. It is also—still—a heavily contested term; even its entry into Wikipedia has been contested. Within the video game and digital media industry, discontent with some interpretations have already led designers to coin different terms for their own practice (e.g., gameful design) to distance themselves from recent negative connotations [13]. Until now, there has been hardly any academic attempt at a definition of gamification. Current uses of the word seem to fluctuate between two major ideas. The first is the increasing societal adoption and institutionalization of video games and the influence games and game elements have in shaping our everyday life and interactions. Game designer Jesse Schell summarized this as the trend towards a Gamepocalypse, ”when Copyright is held by the author/owner(s). CHI 2011, May 7–12, 2011, Vancouver, BC, Canada. ACM 978-1-4503-0268-5/11/05. Sebastian Deterding Hans Bredow Institute for Media