It’s no secret that gamification has a big potential impact on the success of corporate sustainability efforts. The recent Gamification Summit (G Summit) in San Francisco was a turning point in this effort. It marked signs of the movement's maturity, served as a ceremonial recognition in the continued integration between gamification and sustainability -- and presented a new challenge in how to move this integration to the next level.

Sustainability was named by G Summit Chair and leading authority Gabe Zichermann as one of three domains (including education and health and wellness) that the gamification industry should focus on based on its potential impact. And because of its increased viability as a tool to change behavior, gamification’s permeation into every business function, the increasing sophistication of gaming science and technology and the scope and size of companies involved represents a big boost for corporate sustainability efforts that have yet to be fully realized.

The importance of sustainability within the gamification industry at the G Summit was evident from its starring role. Discussions about the innovative platforms Recyclebank, Practically Green and OPower -- all of which employ game mechanics to make sustainability more fun and rewarding – demonstrated the momentum of green gamification and its recent success in advancing sustainability.

It’s not surprising  that new research predicts that the gamification industry will grow to almost $3 billion by 2016. After all, gamification exhibits enormous capacity to create sustained behavior change – especially in sustainability, health and wellness and education, the three areas referred to as “Gamification for Good” which aims to motivate people to solve problems and improve the world.

Photo of retro video game characters provided by Wilhelm Steiner via Shutterstock.

Next page: Rising to the next level