How Gamification will change Business Intelligence

Abstract

In 1958, William Higginbotham was part of the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) Instrumentation Division. In those days, BNL hosted a visitors day each fall. This was an opportunity for thousands of visitors to come and tour the lab and get a better understanding of the capabilities and operations at a nuclear research facility. William Higinbotham wanted to do something that would impress the audience as well as demonstrate the capabilities of the instrumentation division. Higinbotham came up with an idea that would allow the audience to play a simulated game of table tennis. By utilizing an analog computer and an oscilloscope, Higinbotham created the first publically available video game. The game was very simple and simulated the vertical side of a tennis court, the edge of the floor with the edge of the net perpendicular, on a screen. Each player had a button and a rotating knob. Rotating the knob would change the angle of the bar controlling the ball; pressing the button sent the ball toward the opposite side of the court. If the ball hit the net, rebounded at an unexpected angle. If the ball went over and was not hit back, would hit the floormore » and bounce again at a natural angle. If disappeared off the screen, a reset button could be pressed, causing the ball to reappear and remain stationary until the user pressed the button to send the ball flying back across the net. Higginbotham recounted that it was a simple design. Back then, analog computers were used to work out all kinds of mechanical problems. They didn't have the accuracy of digital computers, which were very crude at the time, but then you don't need a great deal of precision to play TV games. The game was wildly successful and Higinbotham could tell from the crowd’s reaction that he had developed something very special. From the days of Higinbotham’s rudimentary version of the classic game Pong, video games have matured and become much more complex. Not only has the technology advanced, allowing for better graphics, sound and game play, but also significant research has been done in the area of game mechanics. “Game mechanics are rule based systems that facilitate and encourage a user to explore and learn the properties of their possibility space through the use of feedback mechanisms.” (Koster, 2004) As these game mechanics become better understood, they are being applied to areas outside of the realm of video game development. Game mechanics have become the basis for understanding the psychological drivers of users in the digital world. Business Intelligence, part of this digital experience, can learn some great lessons in how to engage users and revolutionize the user experience through the application of these game mechanics. In the tradition of BNL’s innovative spirit and as a sister laboratory in the Department of Energy laboratory complex, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) looks to determine how we can enhance the user experience through the effective application of game mechanics to Business Intelligence to meet the needs of our business.« less

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