Gamification 2.0: Game on!
September 9, 2019
By Beverly Beaudoin
“It sounds like fun, but does it really work?”
I can’t tell you how many times my marketing clients, especially those in pharma and health care, have asked me that question about using digital technology in creative ways to change consumer behavior. They’ve had good reason to ask. Until now, there’s been little solid evidence or clear guidelines to turn to, and more hype than actual help.
Thankfully, that’s changing. In fact, great strides are being made through applying new insights from digital technology through the use of apps with strategies and tactics from behavioral and game science—a phenomenon I’m calling Gamification 2.0. These insights are turning what some considered a fad into possibly the most powerful tool in the behavior-change arsenal, applicable to enhancing patient education, prescription adherence, managing chronic diseases, and much more.
As a digital and integrated marketing communications strategic consultant, I’ve been closely following the gamification phenomenon almost since the beginning. That wasn’t so long ago: The term was first coined in 2008 but only gained widespread usage beginning in 2010. That was around the time when two clients of mine, one in financial services and one very forward-thinking maker of OTC children’s meds, piloted a couple of the first in-market programs I know of. Gamification has since been defined in many ways, but the definition most people use is “the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts.” (Wikipedia).
The idea first caught on as observers started to realize how many hours people were spending playing games like Candy Crush on their smartphones. I was amazed that subway riders would miss their stops over such absorbing play. Games on this platform clearly had the power not only to command engagement and attention, but also to sustain it over not only hours, but days and weeks. Indeed, the video/mobile game industry now dwarfs Hollywood in annual sales ($138 billion to $38 billion), according to some analysts. What if that power could be turned on stubborn problems like medication adherence and lifestyle changes?
Early enthusiasm led to some stumbles. Just as early Web sites were often lackluster “brochure-ware”—repurposed text and art served up without understanding how people really use the Internet—early health behavior apps for smartphones were neither games at all nor a lot of fun. A 2014 review of leading health and fitness apps found that fewer than 50% of them integrated gamification components or true game elements. The authors also found that few apps employed recognized health behavior theory constructs, “thus showing a lack of following any clear industry standard of effective gaming, gamification, or behavioral theory in health and fitness apps.”
Well-intentioned though these beginning steps were, results were scattershot. My own OTC client was able to show increased brand reach and awareness, but metrics in those days had not yet evolved sufficiently to link sales increases with the digital initiative or to measure ROI. Some in the industry considered giving up on smartphone apps as a marketing channel.
Then the industry got serious.
2012 saw the first peer-reviewed scientific publication, Games for Health Journal, debut with well-controlled studies on health gamification. A second journal, JMIR Serious Games, began publishing the year after. Global conferences brought together experts to bring discipline and rigor to the subject (the 7th International Conference on Serious Games and Applications for Health, IEEE SeGAH 2019, was held in Kyoto, Japan in August.)
From these and other sources have finally come the guardrails, guidelines, insights, and best practices we’ve searched for. Today we are applying success factors derived from Minecraft, Pokémon Go, and other blockbuster games with behavioral science and (of course) digital best practices to drive journeys to lasting health improvements. Badges, leaderboards, points and levels, challenges and quests—these are some of the elements found in the most effective behavior-changing apps such as Boehringer Ingelheim’s RespiPoints and in offerings like Pfizer’s HemoCraft.
The good news is gamification testing is now more mainstream, with major players creating and developing serious in market programs. In my next post, I’ll dive deeper into how second-generation gamification is aiming to build patient confidence and motivation, particularly in stigmatizing illnesses.
Meanwhile, I’m off to play Minecraft.
Games for Health Journal Editor-in-Chief: Tom Baranowski, PhD ISSN: 2161-783X
JMIR Serious Games JMIR Serious Games (JSG, ISSN 2291-9279