Can Gamification Make You a Better Driver? Yes?!

Note: We all knew or played GTA, and thats not exactly the best way to learn how to drive in the city. However Gamification on the other hand is a different story…just don’t take the game too literally.

 via Seth Porges @sethporges, mashable.com | Image Source: : Link

It’s almost kind of funny: As driving video games become more and more like real cars, real cars are becoming more and more like driving video games.

Of course, just about everything from our nightlife (Foursquare) to our fitness routine (Nike FuelBand, Fitbit Aria) is getting a nice gaming layer molded on top of it these days. And while car companies have already tip-toed into the gamification trend, the introduction of new all-electric vehiclesis going to kick that trend into high gear.

First, some background. Humans like to win. Cash prizes are best, but virtual (monetarily worthless) badges and achievements will do in a pinch. We’re addicts, and we’ll take anything that can stimulate our body into rewarding us with that addictive drip of dopamine. And while online game companies have manipulated our brain’s reward system into causing us to spend countless hours cultivating virtual farms, this same system can also serve as a training device to teach humans to master a task. And for car companies, that’s the goal.

Let’s put it this way: If you can train a dog to do tricks by giving it a treat, you can surely train a human to be a more efficient and responsible driver by giving it some sort of reward. Even if it’s just a pixelated badge.

Take the new Ford Focus Electric, which is basically an always-connected online driving game (I’d almost call it a “simulator,” if you couldn’t take it on I-95). It’s the first car to use Ford’s new MyFord Mobile system, which adds a solid social gaming layer built on top of the driving experience. Hit various achievements — such as a certain number of oil-free EV miles — and the system rewards you with a badge. The vehicle even has an always-on modem that uses AT&T’s cellular network to ping Ford’s servers with your progress, in order to post your achievements to Twitter or Facebook. “It’s the modern version of somebody hitting a mile marker, like 100,000 miles, on their odometer and taking a picture of it,” says Joe Rork, Ford’s MyFord Mobile product manager.

Achievements? Badges? Of course, this will all sound very familiar to anybody who’s ever logged onto Xbox Live or Foursquare. And Rork is unashamed to say that Ford drew inspiration from these services. From Xbox, the company borrowed the long-tail rhythm with which accomplishments are distributed over time. The first few accomplishments involve little more than logging on and hitting the ignition. Others — such as racking up 100,000 oil-free EV miles — will only be earned by the most hardcore users. Meanwhile, Rork says that he also saw utility in Foursquare’s badges, which often pop up by surprise. “I like that. So with our system, every once in awhile they kind of sneak up out of the woodwork and say to you, ‘Hey, just to remind you, you’re doing a helluva thing by driving an EV, so don’t forget it,’ ” he says.

For auto companies — and drivers — car gamification presents a number of other clear rewards. First, it provides a back door to teach drivers reared on gas-guzzling combustion engines how to handle the intricacies of driving an electric vehicle so as to get as much range as possible out of a charge. “If I were to teach you all the behaviors you needed to use an electric car, I could probably teach an entire semester of a 101 class,” Rork says

Automobile gamification literally turns these lessons into a game. Built-in braking and acceleration coaches teach you how to be a more efficient driver on a day-to-day basis, while the social layer lets you broadcast your accomplishments to your friends (if you’re the type to do that). As you accumulate points and badges, your braking regenerates more energy, your acceleration becomes more efficient, and you last longer and longer on a charge.

In other words: It’s a game with no losers.

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