What is gamification and how does it work
Gamification is the process of applying game mechanics and design to non-game contexts. The primary goal of gamification is customer retention by creating an environment that encourages competition among users and fosters loyalty to your business or brand. You can even see the effects of gamification in social media, where companies like Instagram and Twitter implement features like “likes” and “followers” to keep us coming back for more.
Gamification has become increasingly popular in recent years as it has been applied to various industries, including marketing, healthcare, education, government, and more.
In this article, we’ll look at some of the ways that gamification has impacted professional sports.
How has gamification impacted professional sports
Gamification Helps Improves Performance
If you’re an athlete, it’s your job to train. It’s your coach’s job to push you. And it’s gamification’s job to help you both do your jobs better.
Trying to motivate people is a constant struggle in sports, and there are few things more motivating than fun. It has always been hard for coaches and athletes to enjoy the training process because it can be repetitive, dull, and exhausting. This is where gamification comes in.
Many professional sports teams and athletes have begun using gamification to improve performance. Here is how it works: Gamification motivates players by creating a sense of progression and achievement that can help them avoid “burn-out” or motivation loss. This progression is measured by several different metrics, including points, levels, badges, and more.
Furthermore, adding colleagues or friends to a leaderboard also adds competition and thus makes the process more enjoyable.
Strava, FitBit, Nike Run, and other apps are examples of where gamification motivates users by creating clear goals and results. Users are rewarded by “levelling up” or completing achievements for each activity or workout completed.
The emergence of esports and other new sports
Esports is a term that describes competitive, organised gaming. It has become increasingly popular in recent years with the rise of professional leagues and championships for games like Fortnite, League of Legends, and Overwatch.
Esports is not only attracting attention from gamers – but it’s also attracting major sponsors. It has become so popular that it’s even becoming a viable career for young players looking to become professional gamers.
Increased Fan Engagement
Gamification has also changed the way that fans interact with sports.
Unlike professional athletes, most fans can’t step onto the field of play. So instead, they’re stuck in their seats with nothing to do except watch and wait for something interesting to happen.
Gamification has allowed fans to engage with sports in new ways, making their experience much more enjoyable.
By using gamification, professional sports teams and athletes can engage fans.
Gamification can help achieve and improve fan engagement through features like:
- Challenges that allow fans to compete against each other for bragging rights
- Leaderboards: Fans can track their progress against other fans trying to achieve the same goal.
- Tournaments: By inviting fans to participate in games, you give them a way to engage that is both fun and rewarding.
- Fantasy leagues: Fans can draft their favourite players onto virtual teams and compete head-to-head against other fans.
Gamification makes it easier to learn a new sport and enhance technical abilities
We all remember having to learn multiplication tables in elementary school, but with modern gamified applications, we can make learning new skills as easy as playing a video game.
Thanks to technologies like virtual reality, people can now learn new sports more efficiently than ever before. VR is used in a variety of ways to help people understand things like baseball, tennis, golf, and football – and it does this by allowing the user to “practice” their technique.
VR is used in several ways, including simulating real-life practice environments, providing instant training feedback, and allowing users to watch precisely what they need to see.
For young athletes, gamification can help them learn new techniques more quickly. It is because games are often built around achievements. If young athletes can win a game, they are more likely to try out the new techniques that helped them succeed. For example, VR and AR environments can help coaches and mentors to teach new techniques and tricks more easily.
Gamification is pulling in younger fans
GenZ and Gen alpha fans are another group that has grown accustomed to trying new things – they are pro-tech and more likely to experiment with new sports and gadgets (like VR, of course).
Using gamification to make learning new sports fun will help you tap into this market. Traditional sports, media and marketing might be too boring for younger generations. Gamification is a way to help them learn about the sport and keep them engaged with it for life.
Gamification is helping build a global community
Gamification is helping to change how we all follow our favourite teams, making this experience more interactive and enjoyable. No longer are we confined to simply watching the game from our couches – we can take part in it as well. For example, fantasy sports are a great way to help fans feel more engaged in the action or Zwift – a fitness app that lets users cycle at home while competing with other users from all over the world. In the end, it creates a sense of community and makes the experience more enjoyable.
The future of Gamification in Professional Sports
The definition of “sports” is constantly changing as new technologies and innovations enter the market. It’s possible that a decade or two from now, some form of a video game will be among the list of sports included in the Olympics.
As VR and AR capabilities become more advanced, gamification will become an even more integral part of professional sports in the future.
The future is about making everything fun, and this includes sports training.
In the future, professional sports teams will have to compete with virtual reality and other forms of technology to get fans’ attention. Gamification is a great way to make it more fun for fans of all ages while simultaneously helping athletes learn how to play better.
