Another dot in the blogosphere?

Karl Kapp tries to distinguish serious games and gamification in this blog entry. Another blog provides a few more examples of the two.

I have a more simplistic way of distinguishing the concepts. Serious games are products; they are video games that are designed with education (not entertainment) in mind. But that is not to say that the game cannot be entertaining. If it wasn’t, it isn’t a game!

Over the last few years, a colleague of mine has developed serious games for Physics (electromagnetism and projectile motion) and National Education [these and other examples here]. The CeL is currently developing a Financial Literacy game for the smartphone thanks to the resources of yet another colleague [see screen shots below, click to see larger version].

Gamification is a process. It is a way to incentivize mundane or even unpleasant tasks. Imagine getting points, badges or other simple rewards for doing household chores, getting to work early or completing your school work within a stipulated time.

Kapp showcased a video of a musical staircase that encouraged people to exercise by using the stairs instead of using the adjacent escalator. I have used points to gamify various learning-related tasks in a course I facilitated recently.

Now add gaminess to the mix. This is something Eric Klopfer of MIT mentioned when he visited NIE in March this year. Unlike gamification where the tasks might be unpleasant, gaminiess builds on intrinsic motivation and leverages on hard fun. So is gaminess a more positive property of gamification?