I am currently taking the Gamification MOOC (massively open online course) through Coursera and have begun to fundamentally understand the intricacies and impact that Gamification does and could have on the world. Listening to professor Kevin Werback @kwerb expound upon the fundamentals of the concepts it becomes clearer that we have and will continue to utilize these concepts to connect game elements to our daily lives.

One interesting note about the concept of Gamification is how readily accepted and potentially fast moving this concept can become because of the newer generations affinity and understanding of technology and modern games. Kids today are growing up gamified. They are participating in games and they don’t even know it.

One niche that I think as a society we could benefit from is the introducing of gamification to health care which could provide motivation in an area that has the potential wins for those paying for healthcare and those utilizing healthcare. A large preventative cost of healthcare can be refined and controlled by making healthier people and rewarding them both intrinsically (better health) and extrinsically (money savings passed on to consumers) we can create a situation that is win-win for many sides. It will be interesting to watch how this topic evolves as entities begin to understand the broad sweeping changes that can be implemented from a gamified system integrated in the healthcare sector.

Side Note:

If you haven’t yet considered it take a look at taking an online MOOC through one of the many sites that offer them (Coursera, edX, Udacity, etc) consider it if you want to keep your mind fresh and learn topics from leading minds for free.