The facts on gaming speak for themselves - can you ignore the fact that an average American 21 yr old has spent 10,000 hours playing video games - the equivalent of 5 working years? But it's not just those who have been brought up gaming that engage through gaming. Gaming plays to a natural response we have as humans. 

It's interesting to consider the potential of gaming in the coming years. Marketing that's more engaging is just touches the surface - but it's highly welcome. We are currently working with a gaming company who are developing games that fuse popular games with real learning to create a situation of transferable skills - learn through gaming and then apply to real world actions. Taking some of the hardest things to learn and transforming them in to enjoyable experiences in front of a screen or away from the screen. 

I've stolen some key paragraphs below from Method's article. The first is from the introduction and hits on a problem we are all familiar with in the ad business.   

Using gaming principles to change people's behavior is not limited to any one sector. Creating new products and services that enable positive behavioral change applies to all industries. However, it requires a thorough understanding of that sector's Hierarchy of Needs. In order to maximize consumer engagement and achieve brand loyalty in any industry, utilizing gaming elements to change behavior relies on four critical design attributes: entertaining, competitive, visual, and rewarding.

1. Entertaining
Make it fun and entertaining. What if your health insurance company decided to use gaming principles to create a health- care experience that was actually fun? Nintendo’s Wii console engages people in exercise through a new and entertaining game experience. Exercise is a by-product of the experience, which is perceived as play rather than work. Nintendo effectively converted “no pain, no gain” into “have fun, will exercise.” The American Heart Association and Nintendo recently announced a first-of-its-kind strategic partnership designed to help people create healthy lifestyles through physically active play.

2. Competitive
Make it competitive for users. Nike+ is a small device that re- cords the distance and pace of a walk or run. Nike+ also allows runners to meet and challenge other runners, ask questions, and give feedback. The corresponding Nike+ website includes a user-generated challenge gallery, a route naming tool, iPod compatibility, a distance-traveled club, and fastest 5K club. Imagine the impact if utilities giant PG&E used their smart meters to create neighborhood competitions that incentivized lower energy consumption, where competing households could earn discounts on their monthly bill?

3. Visual
Make it visual. When Toyota began visualizing fuel consumption for drivers in their Prius models, they created a “fuel economy game,” allowing the driver to minimize gas usage with real time information. The phenomenon is known as the Prius Effect. How might household appliance manufacturers, such as GE, tap into such insights from the auto-industry to not only sell more products but help promote environmental consciousness while doing so?

4. Rewarding
Make it rewarding. Research shows that financial rewards are not effective at encouraging sustained, long-term behavior change. Rewards that create social value tied to a meaningful cause are more effective over the long term and have a greater likelihood of encouraging others to do the same. RecycleBank is a web-based service designed to promote recycling. Families accrue points based on the weekly amount of materials recycled; these points can be redeemed for discounts at over 1500 national businesses. Freerice.com is an online trivia game that donates rice to the United Nations World Food Program for each correctly answered question, and has donated over 80 billion grains in just 3 years.

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