If you’ve ever seen anyone other than Alec Baldwin playing Words with Friends on an iPhone, you’re seeing the new frontier that every communicator needs to understand: gamification.

Now, before I lose all the Monopoly haters and Xbox intolerants, let me say that gamification simply is the use of game thinking and mechanics to engage users and solve problems. Earning points, carving out a space on a “leader board” or achieving a certain status by completing tasks or answering questions correctly all represent some form of gamification.

Why do communicators need to understand this frontier? For starters, it’s one of the skills of the future workplace. My partner Jeanne Meister, in her book, Workplace 2020, says that social media skills are among the most critical core skill sets that will shape the future of the labor force of the next decade. Those social media skills will be embedded in how employees learn and collaborate, and chief learning officers across the globe are adding gamification to their repertoires now – in a very big way.

Second, businesses are learning that this gamification thing can work well beyond corporate learning. If it will work for employee learning, why wouldn’t it work for engaging employees in key work processes and strategic initiatives? Or help NGOs better understand sustainability efforts? Or aid government staffers in digesting company updates? Or reel in consumers to spend more time with the next product launch?

Sound far–fetched? Just watch what savvy communicators are developing in the next 12 months. It’s very real. So says Karl Kapp, a professor of instructional technology at Bloomsburg University. He recently spoke at a Future Workplace network meeting, and is an author and teacher on gamification. He recently told The Engaging Leader that – contrary to what many believe — it’s not just a young person’s game.  “We tend to think about gamers as being young.  Of course we know the average age of a person who plays games is in their late thirties and it’s actually getting older all the time.  The fastest demographic is women over the age of 40 playing games.  So, actually, game education works —if done correctly just like anything else — it works on almost every single level.”

Remember it’s not playing games for the sake of playing games. It’s integrating games into learning, problem solving and collaborating. It’s about getting your message(s) heard in ways that really engage targets who yearn for something more than just text, and abhor being messaged.  They want to have fun, they want to engage, and take pride in their performance. Gamification can deliver on all those fronts….and more.

As with any emerging trend, there isn’t a one-size-fits all solution. But others are learning a great deal, and they’re sharing what they’ve learned. How do you get on the gamification train? Here are a few quick resources to guide your immersion into the world of engaging stakeholders through gamification.

• Read all about it: Kapp has one book already published, and it’s a great primer on what he’s learned about gaming and learning. The Gamification of Learning and Instruction is his handy work. There’s also a quick primer on Slideshare you might like: http://www.slideshare.net/colincardwell/3-rdsense-gamificationmarch-2013
• Experience it: There’s a Wiki on gamification and it offers lots of examples with videos, including a few from game designers on how they think. While you can’t necessary play the games, you can get some added dimension surfing the examples on this Wiki: http://www.gamification.org/wiki/Gamification_examples_list
• Ask, and participate: You’ve got to play to win, as the saying goes, so ask your stakeholders where they’re spending their time on games, and why. Then download the app(s) to see what’s engaging players/learners. Chances are you’ll identify some specific triggers you can use to integrate your messaging with your game.

I must admit that I’ve missed the gamification boat with my first venture into the world of mobile apps. Grammar Guru by North Star (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/north-star-grammar-guru/id656564005?mt=8) is launching this week with 60 rules of grammar, punctuation and style, but I’m already at work to ensure the next release has gamification included. Lesson learned. I hope the same for you.