Gamification in the sports sector
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The sports sector is one of the most popular industries for gamification. According to a Nielsen study, 65% of people who play video games are also active sportsmen and women, or avid supporters of a team or athlete. It is therefore not surprising that gamification has been successfully implemented in many sports-related industries and experiences.
Sport also lends itself naturally to gamification, as this sector exploits, among other things, the competitive spirit, and also the learning of new skills and the improvement of performance over time.
The concept of gamification refers to the use of game mechanics and elements to increase engagement in typically less playful contexts. By making something into a game, or finding sport in something that’s typically thought of as boring or arbitrary, user performance can be increased. Even more classically playful activities that can be hard or challenging can benefit from gamification, such as exercise. It’s easy to be intimidated by sports and games when you get out of good habits, and is a major contributor to people entrenching themselves in poor habits.
Why link the world of sport to gamification?
Why not? Sincerely, what area is gamification better suited to? Competition, social engagement, discovery, progress – as much as these are tenets of gamification, they’re tenets of sports.
The sport sector is enormous, and could really mean a number of things. It could mean professional sports teams, which as well as a squad of 10 to 40 professional athletes incorporated an enormous business with support staff to look after, and merchandise to sell, and fans to cater to. It could also refer to businesses and brands that cater to specific sports fans: specialist retailers who source limited edition jerseys and memorabilia, or specialist retailers who sell equipment that caters to a specific sport. Finally, it could also be applied to the fitness and leisure space, in which we’re talking about recreational athletes and the sports and fitness goals of entire audiences.
In this article, we’re going to talk about how to apply gamification for both fan engagement, by sports teams and businesses connected to specific sports, as well as to the public in the market to improve their own fitness and lifestyle habits.
For sport
To engage sports fans and spectators
In the sports sector, gamification can be used to engage fans towards desired behaviours and actions.
By applying gamification to sports events, fans can earn points or badges by watching live events, sharing videos or photos (user-generated content), following teams online, and even participating in competitions. For example, there are game engines on the Drimify platform that allow players to take penalty shootouts, kick rugby conversions, as well as game engines offering similar simulations for basketball, ice hockey, American football, and even handball. Any of these could be customised to your team’s kit and colours, and they could be used to promote big upcoming events, or even as a regular promotion to reward and engage your fanbase with a sense of community. By customising how many shots, or how long players have to run up a score, you can tailor these experiences to however best serve your marketing goals.
For partner brands catering to specific markets
Here, we’re talking about retailers specialising in ice hockey and American football equipment, or football manufacturers, or official partner brands. Gamification is as much for the partner brands and sponsors as it is for teams. The fact is, if you’re a partner brand of a sponsor, you have a huge captive audience and partner ally in the form of the team’s media machine and their fans, and if you’re in the space, you have a passionate and keen customer base that can be easily appealed to with the right content.
As well as utilising the game engines simulating specific sports, you could customise a Photo Contest or Video Contest around the grounds. You could even have the theme of a Video Contest invite fans to recreate an iconic goal (or play, or basket) in the team’s history, which would create a lot of highly shareable user generated content for social media. You could also invite fans back to vote for the winning entry, giving you a further opportunity to engage them in your brand and in your customised digital environment.
With any of the game engines on Drimify, you also have the ability to boost your contacts list. This is useful whether or not you’re a partner brand, or a sports team. You can include a contact form where you ask for user details, like name, date of birth (dob), and their email address, with the option to opt-in to further marketing content or a newsletter. You could include incentives for users who provide these details, such as promotional codes, or the option to be entered into an instant win game for something like free tickets to a big fixture.
In the fitness industry
Motivate users through real-time feedback
The first thing to consider when using gamification in the fitness industry is motivation. Generally, users are in some way buying, or investing in motivation, either in place of or in support of their own self-determination. It’s the same reason most people will employ coaches or personal trainers: they’re adding a layer of accountability to their routine that they lack on their own. By applying game mechanics to sports activities, experiences or events, a person’s motivation and engagement is increased.
For example, sports wearables, such as watches and WHOOP bands are among the new must-have accessories for today’s recreational athletes. They provide users with a score and visual elements that reflect their fitness level: progress bars, levels, or badges, but often in more complex forms, like V02 max indicators, HRV scores, and training statuses. They give users real-time feedback on their progress and performance through the extensive data they collect, and filter them through game mechanics. This encourages them to maintain their exercise routine or fitness programmes and stay motivated in their goals. Demonstrating tangible progress and reward is a way of harnessing positive user emotions.
Encouraging competition and collaboration
The Nike+ fitness and running app is an excellent example of the potential power of gamification in sport. The gaming elements encourage competition between users who are pursuing similar goals in the app, resulting in more engaged users and athletes who are willing to go above and beyond what they would normally expect of themselves because their competitive spirit is awakened.
The application uses progress tracking, awarding points for each physical activity and workout completed. Users can unlock achievements by reaching certain goals, which is a powerful motivator for people who like achievements and rewards. In its first year, more than 3 million users signed up for the Nike+ Training Club, and logged 10 million miles on the app.
Work with gamification experts to bring a new dimension to your projects
If you’re looking for an innovative and fun solution to add real value, whether you’re in the fitness industry, or working for a sports team, or brand affiliated with a team, or even working in some other sports niche, gamification could bring a lot of value to your operation.
Try our demos now, and don’t hesitate to contact us for advice. The Drimify platform makes game creation easy and intuitive, but some projects will be more complex than others. Whenever needed, the Drimify experts are always ready to talk about your sports or fitness-based projects.
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