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The age-old fault line that runs through the gamification debate

by — Nov 13 '13

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Those who forget their history may be doomed to repeat it, but Sebastian Deterding suggests that in the case of gamification, they may also fail to recognize the subtle ways in which games have an impact on society.

Sebastian Deterding

Sebastian Deterding

At the recent Gamification 2013 conference in Stratford, Ont., Deterding gave a keynote speech in which he invoked Ludi, the public games held for the benefit and entertainment of the people in ancient Rome. A visiting assistant professor at the RIT Laboratory for the MAGIC Lab at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Deterding will soon see the publication of The Gameful World, a book co-edited with Steffen P. Walz.

CommerceLab took a moment to discuss why remembering Ludi and similar historical touchstones is important for modern game designers and those interested in gamification.

For more from Deterding, see the complete slide deck from his talk at Gamification 2013.

Shane Schick

Shane Schick is the editor of CommerceLab. A writer, editor and speaker who helps people create value with information technology. Shane is also a technology columnist with Yahoo Canada, an editor-at-large with IT World Canada, the editor of Allstream’s expertIP online community and the editor of a U.S. magazine about mobile apps called FierceDeveloper. Shane regularly speaks to CIOs and IT managers at events across Canada about how they can contribute to organizational success, and comments on technology trends as a guest on CBC, BNN, CTV and other programs.