Turning ordinary web sites into something fun through “gamification” has been a popular idea. And that has helped The Gamify Network gather some steam itself.
The site has become a media hub for gamification, which is becoming a big business as service companies and consultants try to train big companies to make their information sites more game-like. It may seem early for this nascent industry to spawn its own media site, but market researcher Gartner says that 50 percent of all companies will embrace gamification by 2015 as a way to get consumers more engaged with products and services.
Nathan Lands (pictured) started the site with a Gamification Wiki that he launched in November for the purpose of collecting data and research on gamification. Now there are several more sites aimed at making the Gamify Network into the central destination for the gamification industry, with a focus on information, discussion, technology and jobs.
“We are trying to create the largest resource for gamification in the world,” Lands said.
The network now sees 110,000 monthly page views and has 21,375 social network (Twitter and Facebook) followers and fans. The community has more than 1,300 members and 600 pages of user-generated content and 300 answers.
Companies using the network include Disney Mobile, CrowdStar, StyleOwner.com, The Learning Annex and the SETI Institute. Gamify’s rivals could include Gamification.co and Gameful.org, though the services offered seem pretty different now. Badgeville and other gamification service companies aren’t direct rivals now that Gamify is producing a consumer product.
“We get more traffic than any other self-proclaimed ‘gamification company,'” said Lands, who created the comapny with $193,000 in funding from donations and friends including Dan Dodge, Ron Williams and Dean Gebert. His co-founder is J. R. Bédard, chief technology officer and formerly the lead engineer at Scribd. In the near future, the company plans to launch Gamify.com, a new consumer product built using the Gamification Platform. The alpha test will launch in August.