Gaming techniques to encourage user interaction and loyalty will be of increasing importance in everyday apps, according to a new survey of tech stakeholders and analysts.

Gaming techniques such as game mechanics, feedback loops and rewards to encourage user interaction and encourage loyalty will be of increasing importance in everyday apps, according to a new survey of tech stakeholders and analysts.

The survey of 1,021 Internet experts was carried out by Pew Research, and while just over half the respondents believe the techniques will be increasingly used, opinion was split on whether this is a good thing or not. Around half the respondents thought the effect would be mostly positive, aiding education, health, business, and training. The other respondents said it will result in invisible, insidious behavioral manipulation.

Gartner has predicted that 50% of corporate innovation will be “gamified” by 2015, while Deloitte put “gamification” as one of its Top 10 Technology Trends for 2012, predicting:

“Serious gaming simulations and game mechanics such as leaderboards, achievements, and skill-based learning are becoming embedded in day-to-day business processes, driving adoption, performance, and engagement.”

Asked what they understood by the concept of “gamification”, respondents described elements taken from a wide variety of game types including some serious crowd source applications - massively multiplayer online games such as Star Wars: The Old Republic through World of Warcraft, Farmville, to Angry Birds, even including options such as Foldit, a game that researchers used to crowdsource a scientific solution to an AIDS question.

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