The Business of Gamification A Critical Analysis Routledge Advances in Management and Business Studies Series

At the turn of the century the term "gamification" was introduced as a concept to understand the process of using game mechanics in "non-game" contexts. The impact of gamification was soon evident to business practices where it had impact both on marketing and, more broadly, on the organizations themselves. As the number of individuals playing video games grows, there seem to be an acceptance of game mechanics elsewhere. Its effectiveness is highly dependent on both technical possibilities and cultural acceptance, two factors present today.

The aim of The Business of Gamification is to critically analyze the practical and theoretical consequences of gamification. Practically, how has gamification been applied in businesses to this point, and what are the future scenarios? Theoretically, what are the contributions of gamification to existing academic knowledge? How does this change our understanding of how business are performing and its consequences, for organizations, consumers, and society in general?

This edited volume contains new, and stringent, perspectives on how gamification is contextualized in business settings, both in theory as well as in practice. This book will provide a wealth of research for individuals seriously interested in the industry at the academic level. As a result, this book will serve as a reference in curricula associated with video game development for years to come.

Part 1: Internal Organisational Perspectives

1. Roleplaying Games at Work: About Management, Gamification and Effectiveness

Emmanuelle Savignac

2. Feeding the Red Critter: The Gamification of Project Management Software

Raul Ferrer Conill

3. Gamification as Ideological Praxis: On Play, Games and the Modding of Management

Alf Rehn

Part 2: External Organisational Perspectives

4. Game of Gamification: Marketing, Consumer Resistance and Digital Play

Lena Olaison and Saara L. Taalas

5. Win, Earn, Gain: Gamification in the History of Retailing

Franck Cochoy and Johan Hagberg

6. Inside the Gamification Case of a Mobile Phone Marketing Campaign: The Amalgamation of Game Studies with Marketing Communications?

Mikolaj Dymek

7. Samsung Nation: A Gamified Experience

Tracy Harwood and Tony Garry

8. Play a Game, Save the Planet! Gamification as a Way to Promote Green Consumption

Christian Fuentes

Part 3: Conceptual Perspectives

9. Gamification for Sustainability: Beyond the Ludo-Aesthetical Approach

Per Fors and Thomas Taro Lennerfors

10. Designing for the Play Instinct: Gamification, Collective Voodoo and Mumbo Jumbo

Stephen Webley and Karen Cham

11. Total Gamification and the Limits of Our Imagination

Per H. Hedberg and Mattias Svahn

12. Old Things – New Names

Peter Zackariasson

Mikolaj Dymek is an Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Communication Science at Mid Sweden University, Sweden.

Peter Zackariasson is an Associate Professor in Marketing in the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.