Greetings!
Twelve years ago, Snowfly, Inc. had the audacity to suggest that computer games could be introduced in a workplace environment in a manner that would not only improve employee morale, but would actually increase performance. To say that we were ridiculed would be an understatement. A typical reaction was "Listen pal, are you out of your mind? We pay people to work, not play games."
I have often thought of the German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, who said, "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."
Then destiny led us to Mr. Dwayne Tucker, who was at the time Sr. Vice President for a Fortune 1000 data processing conglomerate. He thought our game ideas were a perfect application for a large portion of his workforce who were employed in sedentary jobs with few opportunities for daily motivation. He was right! His company still uses Snowfly today!
Now, the concept of introducing games into a work environment is referred to as "Gameification." The concept has grown rapidly and now there is even an annual international "Gameifcation" conference that attracts thousands of attendees. A recent article in the Los Angeles Times reported that gameification expenditures will increase from 100 million dollars in 2010 to over 2.8 billion in 2015. A 2000% increase! Wow!
In 2011, Snowfly passed the 25,000,000 games-played benchmark. We are very proud to be a pioneer and active participant in the "Gameification" of America's workplace.
Brooks Mitchell
Founder-Snowfly Incentives |