Jane McGonigal

Jane McGonigal is one of the more incisive proponents of gamification. Her primary goal is to use the structure of modern games to encourage people towards positive social action. In her TED talk (you can watch the full video below), she discusses world without oil, her game that encourages players to act as though they live in a world facing a severe oil shortage. Basically, the game acts as an alternative reality in which the players must go about their daily lives while adjusting to this severe restrictions on resource use. As McGonigal describes in her talk, the game simulates real world changes and asks players to respond:

So when you come to the game, you sign up, you tell us where you live, and then we give you real-time news, videos, data feeds that show you exactly how much oil costs, what's not available, how food supply is being affected, how transportation is being affected, if schools are closed, if there is rioting, and you have to figure out how you would live your real life as if this were true. And then we ask you to blog about it, to post videos, to post photos.

In effect, world without oil is a mix between Gamification and Simulation (similar to Epistemic Games). However, it cannot fully reach the level of a simulation because only appearances are changed. Furthermore, the use of awards, missions, and statuses reinforce the experience as one of gamification. Still, McGonigal argues that these small changes/rewards can have a big effect on motivation level. The key isn't exactly how the game is made, but rather that people think of themselves as playing a game.