Now, let’s see what gamification is really about:

·         Gamification means that we have to recognize the power of games.

Games are designed in sophisticated ways and we can learn a lot about it. The aim is to identify how the games mechanism works and try to apply those same techniques so we can achieve powerful learning results.

·         Gamification is about learning.

Learning from game design but also learning from fields like psychology and learning techniques and motivation. Gamification requires learning deep things about what makes people act in a certain way, about human behavior whether that's in a learning context, a workplace context or behavior change context. And with gamification you can design patterns to activate those aspects of human behavior.

·         Gamification fundamentally is about fun.

Gamification recognizes that fun is powerful. It has been so important and significant throughout all of human history. We use mathematical models to play a game but why we feel engaged to play it’s because the game creates that sense that we call fun.

BUT!

·         Gamification is not turning everything into a game.

Gamification does not mean to turn everything into a game, you are still in the real world, it just means that you can look for elements from games and use them to enhance the experience you are having. For that you must find the meaningful core of those experiences and make them more rewarding, create greater motivation, but not pull you out of the real world. You must considerate that not every situation related to games and learning is gamification. Gamification it’s not just saying there's games in class or we're going to make the lesson more game like. It is about finding things that are not boring in learning and using game elements to enhance them.

·         Gamification is not serious games.

Serious games can be remarkably powerful, for simulation, for systems thinking, for education, but they still are just games. They are purpose built to create an immersive experience that puts a person into an environment. But gamification does not mean the same, it means to take elements of games and put it into an existing environment to change it to make it feel more engaging and to create better motivation.

·         Gamification should be distinguished from Game theory.

Game theory is a set of algorithms and formulas and quantitative techniques for analyzing strategic decision making, so, although it has a close relation with gamification, it is not the same. The Wikipedia entry says “game theory is the study of strategic decision making, using mathematical models”. So game theory uses stylized concepts of games, people competing against each other but they aren't typically real world games.