Is anybody aware of some effective examples of applying game mechanics to apps? (besides those mentioned in the video)
The best example I know is stackoverflow.com, which uses votes, badges, reputation etc.
The best example I know is stackoverflow.com, which uses votes, badges, reputation etc.
Game mechanics are about exploiting irrational but predictable psychological levers in the human mind. To that end, there are lots of apps that use game mechanics, some more obvious than others:
Foursquare/Gowalla are obvious. You get random rewards and points for doing various real-life activities like traveling and eating out.
Opower. See, e.g., this article http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2009/10/californi...
Mechanical Turk. Why would an American do work for $0.50/hour? It's not rational, and I think it's the game-like nature of mturk.
Many websites use the quest/reward mechanic to guide users through the registration process and the first few key steps of the application, e.g., LinkedIn's "your profile is 75%" complete mechanic.
I think the issue is more about providing a meta-experience as games do rather than the particulars of the game mechanics.