/* ---- Google Analytics Code Below */

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Tamagotchi Emerges Again in Gamification

More than a dozen years ago we looked at Bandai's Tamagotchi pets as a potential model for consumer engagement.  The basic idea was an early look at what we now call gamification.  Or using gaming principles in improve interaction between people and machines.   Looking back at my notes of the time, the Tamagothci model, and the principles we lernde, were not far wrong.   The idea worked well and powerfully in carefully focused areas. Much less so in others.  I think there are still some excellent gamification learnings to to gained from them.   I had  lost track of their popularity or even availability, but it turns out they are now back, not unexpectedly as smartphone Apps.  Thinking of them as Apps is a useful, compact way of taking the experiment further.  How will this work differently from the way they were delivered then?  That will provide new ways of comparing physical versus virtual emotional engagement.  Has Bandai looked at this?

No comments: