Gamification is a buzz word that is gaining a lot of attention at the moment, but surely it doesn't apply to the software tools we programmers use?  Gamification is what we do to the apps we create. We don't eat our own dog food, do we?

In case you have missed the idea, gamification simply means adding the element of competition that you find in games into serious applications. (There are other more academic definitions of gamification that needn't bother us as you know it when you see it). Now RedCritter has decided that it is time to apply gamification to the very act of software creation - it is probably better to avoid the meta question of was the development process used also gamified?

RedCritter Tracker is a project management system that adds badges, rewards, leaderboards and realtime Twitter style feeds. It also has the boring stuff like task level management, time tracking and estimation, etc. It is also aimed at agile methodologies.

Developers can earn any of up to 50 badges, some of which can only be held by one person - now that is a way to motivate competition. If you don't think you or your team would be interested in badges then you can opt for reward points instead. The difference is that reward point can be spent in your company's reward store. You can arrange for the points to have a value in terms of gift cards, special privileges or treats - the website suggests the treat of a lunch with top executives!

See the slightly over-slick video promo to see what it looks like:

Could this all work? 

Are programmers open to the manipulation of gamification?

Personally I'd say they were more susceptible than the average. Give me a badge any day over a decent salary or stock package.

The only way to find out if it works for you is to try the 30-day free trial of Critter's Tracker.

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RedCritter Tracker

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