Joy Sticks: _Interactive gaming technology extends to diverse fields as a revolutionary tool_

Video games, as compared to just about everything else discussed in this section of the newspaper, are a pretty new medium. They’re still coming into their own, but they’re doing so in a way that influences and will continue to influence life itself.

Gamification is a term that represents how games are influencing the real world. The main idea is that people can take concepts built into games ““ such as difficulty curves and reward systems ““ and implement them into real-world situations.

You could have a digital progress bar that shows you how close you are to a pay raise at work or an “A “ in school. These kinds of openly gamified models are only being implemented in rather progressive companies and schools as of now, but it’s possible that we could see subtle influences in traditional spheres as well.

Ways in which gamification is currently being used include Alternate Reality Games, such as UCLA Game Lab’s “Flatland.” This game uses a combination of real-world interaction on a large field and computers to create a mix of traditional sports and video games, with real-world rewards for virtual and actual actions.

More famous examples of ARGs include the advertising campaigns behind Nine Inch Nails’ 2007 album “Year Zero” and the “I Love Bees” campaign that promoted “Halo 2.” These games rewarded players with new songs and chances to play the game, respectively, which in turn gave clues that led to a new website or real world location, resulting in more rewards.

Both of these campaigns were run by 42 Entertainment, a company dedicated specifically to ARG-style advertising. This style of interactive promotion has only gotten bigger since: More famously, 42 Entertainment was in charge of the “Why So Serious?” ad campaign behind “The Dark Knight.”

Interactive experiences like these are the kind of real-world examples of gamification that have the broadest reach and draw in the most people, but there are more subtle examples. If “Flatland’s” concept ““ a computer tracking real-world movement ““ sounds familiar, it might be because you’ve heard of the Xbox Kinect.

The Xbox Kinect is a peripheral for the Xbox 360 that uses an RGB camera and two depth sensors to create a 3-D image of the player standing in front of it. It can track and monitor a person’s movement and motions and translate that data into in-game actions.

While this makes for some fun gaming experiences, the true power of this technology is being utilized in other fields. The Kinect is already being used to aid education in Africa , help stroke victims recover and improve surgeries.

Applications for the device are stepping well beyond the realms of interactive entertainment, but they still have their genesis in games. It’s important to remember where these technologies came from, because if we want to see where they’re going, we need to look at where they began.

Whether or not the Xbox Kinect represents the future of video games, it’s obvious that it is a valuable tool that can be used in other fields. This is just one of many ways that video games are being used in real-life situations, and it’s only the tip of the iceberg.

Whether it’s theoretical influences, such as using game mechanics to make education and work more interesting, or hardware utilization like the Kinect, games have huge potential to shape and change the way we live our lives.

To get more information on this topic or to discuss the future of video games, email Overstreet at [email protected].