Gamification @ Stack Exchange

Now, that we know about Stack Exchange and Area 51, lets skip to the main part. The Gamification Site Proposal finally went into the commitment phase. It has been moving along slowly, but if speed is any indicator, then slow is better than fast.

The topic of the proposal is gamification. Gamification is a buzzword which means the use of game elements in non-game engagement contexts. The term, however inaccurate and incomplete, will stick, as most of the work being done, and there is a lot being done, on the field already references and uses the name. Gamification has spread like wildfire over the past few years and will continue on an upward trend till 2016 after which things are expected to slow down. There are a huge number of designers who develop gamified applications and a significant number of people who are treading into it for the first time. The gamification course on Coursera has had a total of 19000 individuals complete it with greater than 70% marks. Add to that the number of professionals already working on gamified systems, and you get a significant number of internet using gamifiers.

What is missing from here, is a single collaborative knowledge sharing resource where developers may collaborate with researchers and work on their problems. A place where professionals may interact and discuss the principals of the field. What is missing is one Q&A site that deals with all of the issues of these diverse user groups. Herein comes gamification.stackexchange.com.

The creator of the proposal is himself a professional of the field, Ryan Elkins. This shows that there is a space to be filled. Also, the 10k Courserians that complete the course everywhere have nowhere to go and discuss once the course gets over (the course forums are cleared every session). Gamification.SE can be a home to many of them as well.

All in all, the user-base is real and vast, and there is no major competition nearby. Excellent conditions for the site to come out strong.

Coming to the scope, the site would cover the psychology that is involved in gamification, along with design and user experience. All of these is technically on-topic on other sites, but at less than 4-5 questions on gamification per month, it is safe to say, that none of the sites would have a problem.

So, what are you waiting for? Register your support!