There is a clean (surprising for me) title to this blog post. Another title might be borrowed from Terra Nova's observation; "Gamification is Bullshit?."  (modification all my own work), as an assertation, rather than a question.

First may I draw your attention to what attracted you to this post in the first place; The William Morris Tile Game:

Light the fire by placing the tiles in the right pattern. You can rotate and move them over and over again until you get it right! Click on the game to play! You can maximise the screen to play full-size.

Fantastic stuff. Why? First, what's not to love about a game of tiles; second this is altruistic innovation in the wild - a museum 'piece' that allows visitors to be both at the exhibition and (lo(!)) on their own turf behind the screen; third, did I mention the tiles; fourth is this a new era of digital engagement, and if so why does this matter?...No that's a redudant and boring question, perhaps better would be WHY this era of digital engagement at all?*...

What we have is a creative process that involves the incorporation of elements that encourage sustainable engagement and connection to visitors/users as they get to experience William Morris. Lovely.

Such applications are challenging and unpredictable, and glibly referred to as Gamification.

I wonder if we can Gamify other points of visitor interaction, consumer useage and events?... Yes, we can. HOWEVER, let us raise a proper question, how can the integration of such strategies (read stuff that is fun) be measured to enhance experience, features of interaction and integration?

This post remains unanswered, requires some additional commentary and research [forthcoming by me and friends at the University of Durham]

This post was bought to you by the keywords bullsh*t and Gamification. Sometimes it's hard to pull these apart.

For the academics amongst you, here is a not unuseful reading list:

*Something I hope will be being answered by the fine calibre of speaker/s at next weeks Social Business Summit