Gamification Books

Here are some books that can be read that discuss different elements of “Gamification.”

Total Engagement: Using Games and Virtual Worlds to Change the Way People Work and Businesses Compete by Byron Reevers and J. Leighton Read. Published by Harvard Business Press. This book primarily focuses on massively multiplayer online role play games (MMORPGs) and is focused toward a business audience.

Game-based Marketing: Inspire Customer Loyalty Through Rewards, Challenges, and Contests.by Gabe Zinchermann and Joseline Linder. Published by Wiley.  This book covers game-based engagement methodologies through the perspective of marketing. The book spends a lot of time describing how companies can create “games” to attract and, more importantly, retain customers. methodologies.

The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses by Jesse Schell. Published by Morgan Kaufmann. This book focuses on the steps for developing a game and provides detailed information on game design for video games. Great read and great information about games in general.

Fun, Inc.:Why Gaming will Dominate the 21^st Century. by Tom Chatfield. Published by Pegasus. This book is similar to Total Engagement book in that it describes the virtues of video games as they relate to society as a whole and points out the positive aspects of games.

Serious Games: Games that Educate, Train and Inform by David Michael and Sande Chen. Published by Course Technology PTR. This book provides great examples of how games are being used in a variety of industries to teach and educate but the book is written from the perspective of game designers.