Dear Readers,
Today, Monday 1st August see’s the official launch of our blog – GameAccess.com!
I’m very proud and excited to be a part of this new and exciting site, where we have many things in store for you.
What are we?
GameAccess.com is dedicated to posting news and discussion on all things Gamification, but not just in Market Research, as you thought might be the case. We’ll be posting news, videos, pictures and case studies on Gamification across many industries, from marketing and advertising to concept testing and even solving world hunger. There are hundreds of examples out there and we’ll be bringing them all to you in one committed site.
What you can expect from GameAccess.com
As well as case studies using Gamification from around the world, we’ll also be talking about the latest technologies used with Gamification and how these will shape our future personally and in business. I anticipate many of you will have your eye on this area!
As Editor-In-Chief, I will be a key contributor to this blog, but we’ll also be inviting interesting advocates on the subject to be Guest Bloggers as often as we can, so that you can have a direct view of what some of the most out-of-the-box thinkers have been doing with Gamification.
As many of you may know, I am the CEO and Founder of Research Through Gaming Ltd (or R.T.G) which is a business dedicated to the Gamification of Market Research. Our interns at R.T.G are happy to Guest Blog too so readers can enjoy an understanding from a ‘creators’ point of view of what it’s like to use Gamification in new Market Research projects.
Gamification Conference Updates
We’ll also be bringing you updates from Gamification conferences around the world, namely the MRS (Market Research Society http://www.mrs.org.uk/) Kids and Youth conference in London where I will be speaking on the 16th November this year. The conference is all about engaging children using Gamification with some big Client names due to attend. We’ll bring you tweets, updates, pictures and videos from this conference.
I’ll also be attending the ESOMAR 3D Conference (http://www.esomar.org/index.php/3d-digital-dimensions-2011-programme.html) as a committee member in October where I will chair the Gamification sessions. I’ll be talking to speakers like Peter Harrison from BrainJuicer, Bernie Malinoff from element54 and Elias Veris from InSites Consulting. Follow the hashtag #eso3D for live updates.
You can also expect reports on news from conferences that we can’t attend, as we’ll be following the hashtags on Twitter, so you can follow on as we do too!
We hope you enjoy our site and all things Gamified. Keep us bookmarked!
All the best
Betty Adamou
Editor-in-Chief
Play is one of a few aspects of accelerating learning and creativity! It has not a few aspects of which I mention a few:
1. Concentration (focus) on a problem to find an outcome tends to fixate into “tunnelvision” so that one doesn’t see the forest for the individual tree in the way. Relaxing (sleeping, dreaming, golfing, gaming) helps my sub-level creativity to randomise many aspects and often to come up with a solution or new idea,
2. Outdated learning mode of recited repetition is the worst way of learning, but variation in the mode of repetition promotes accelerated retention in long term memory.
3. Stress is our worst III Mil. enemy [contra health, contra learning, contra good relationships, etc.] – gaming takes the mind off the stress-factor thus relieving stress at the moment and relaxing my mind to see the whole “forest scenario” and come up with better solutions and outcomes.
Doc Stan at haere@xtra.co.nz would like to seem games that can be somehow be adjusted and adapted to other than one set of variables. Good on you and keep finding good and positive applications as you keep gamifying you dreams and goals!!
Thank you Dr Stanley, you’re words are greatly appreciated!
I agree with you on your points and it is interesting how we can play games during moments of stress to help relieve us of that stress by immersing ourselves in games, which in many ways ‘should’ be stressful themselves as they present us with unnecessary obstacles to overcome.
I also hugely agree that ‘parrot-style’ learning is outdated and ineffective for most people. I say most people because some have fantastic memories and can hold in information being thrown at them in that way, but others like myself, need to be stimulated in other ways to remember something. My parents used to make me go to Greek School when I was younger (I hated it back then but I’m glad I went now) and they mostly relied on parrot style learning. There were little interactive opportunities and little (if any) visual stimulation. As a result, most of the children in the class were bored out of their minds and didn’t even understand the words they were supposed to be learning to pronounce properly, because it seemed the pronunciation of the words and the ability to read at a ‘normal speed’ overrode the understanding behind the words, which in my humble opinion is one of the best ways to want to use the words in everyday life.
At Research Through Gaming Ltd we are using Gamification in Research to develop surveys into games. We apply the visual stimulation and interactivity to allow people to engage with the research at hand so they can provide much more honest answers because they’re taking the time to do the research properly, because they are engaged. So thank you again for your feedback, we will continue to promote Gamification!