Game, bait and sinker

Gaming companies focus on health, recruitment and customer engagement to build their brands

While Pokemon Go was the most popular game in 2016 that got a whole bunch of people to get outdoors (albeit with their eyes glued on to screens), several game developers in India are eschewing the popular route by building games that help users acquire new skills, improve health and learn new courses. The nascent industry also has a name - applied gaming – and is looking at ways in which it can create a community of such developers and users. Importantly, game developers are looking for greater acceptance from companies that are keen to build their brands as cool and caring employers.

Applied game developers are also increasingly looking at opportunities within the country, developing fare that suit local needs and talent rather than bringing in versions of popular international games. For instance, Trakinvest is a company that has gamified the process of stock market trading. The Singapore-based company started by Bobby Bhatia, an Indian-born former AIG and JP Morgan executive, uses games to train individuals in stock market investment. On its virtual trading-cum-social platform users can create a portfolio, follow other traders and even copy their trading moves. 

Apart from thrill seekers, the game is being used as a potential hiring tool by brokerage firms. The game and platform simulate real life experiences and it becomes an engaging and effective way to recruit young people who still have to earn their trading spurs. It has been used to award about 50 internships in the stock market by various broking firms, says Bhatia. 

According to him, the gamification aspect instills interest and engages users. He believes that games are particularly suited for professions where a novice may flounder because she does not understand the way things work and is unfamiliar with prevalent jargon. Games are non-threatening tools that help users ease into the work flow. At the same time it allows companies to test behavorial and professional aptitude among potential recruits. 

Education and health technology players are also using gamification to identify critical gaps in critical care systems. Mylea Charvat, chief executive officer and founder of US-based digital cognitive assessment company Savonix, views applied games as a giant step towards opening up access to evidence-based care via digital medicine. 

“The lack of trained neuropsychologists globally means that technology like ours levels the playing field and allows people access to their health data and tools that was not possible even a couple of years ago,” says Charvat, also a clinical psychologist and translational neuroscientist. Savonix is a neurocognitive assessment test and mobile app for improving brain health and sees India as a potential market. In the case of such games, the market is wide open as it appeals to large hospitals and mental health institutions as well as individual users.

What is making companies look at gaming more keenly? Is it the desire to keep employees entertained or is there a deeper desire to find, nurture and retain talent. According to industry experts in India and abroad, games are no longer just entertainment. One of the often cited examples is that of PwC Hungary. It used a game called Multipoly (a play on the popular board game “Monopoly”) that let candidates check how ready they were to join the company. A simulated job interview was the entry point after which, candidates tried out different roles such as consultant, senior consultant, and manager. The company said that the game helped recruit people who were better suited to the needs and expectations of the firm.

Of course, one of its biggest advantages is that games are fun. Multimedia educational content firm Byju’s Learning app is also piggybacking on the user engagement factor of gamification. “If I can manage to get a kid to spend at least 45 minutes on the app a day, it is a great thing,” says Byju Raveendran, founder of Byju’s. Apart from kids, young adults in the 18-35 age bracket are major adopters of applied games.

Currently estimated at about $37-40 million according to Nasscom, the challenge for the industry is how to keep users engaged over the long term. The market is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 14-16 per cent till 2020.

Avinash Saurabh, chief executive officer of Zoojoo.be, a corporate health technology startup says that gamification is a powerful tool but is not self-sufficient. “It is very essential to understand that distinction. Games or applied games are just an engagement extension to whatever output that you’re offering,” he says. “If you can’t add value to the engagement factor then it loses its sheen.”

Zoojoo.be, which counts companies like MindTree, Unisys, GE and Happiest Minds amongst its clients, has seen a growth of 500 per cent in terms of revenue and user base in the past one year. 

Gamification alone does not fetch in users unless they see value in the time spent. As the market matures there is an understanding among companies and developers that unless one adds value or brings about behavioral change through gamification, it does not work. “Unless you get the inherent value correct, gamification can only give you a small spike in engagement, but is not enough in itself to create a long term sustained value,” says Saurabh.