When you begin to explore gamification, you discover that there are many paths. Gamification is a broad term and its methods can be applied in many directions; education (k-12, higher ed, adult learning, elearning), business (corporate training, sales goals),  marketing (airline miles rewards, credit card rewards), etc.The list below provides just a few of the pioneers, trend setters, and go-to resources on gamification. These are in no particular order.

• Sebastian Deterding – coined the term Gamification! One of his early papers, “Gamification: designing for motivation”, was the foundation for much of my research. You’ll find it on his Publications page.
• Karl Kapp – a professor, but with a focus on games in the business world. He has some good books, as well as a video course, “Gamification of Learning” on LinkedIn Learning.
• Jesse Schell – Game designer, author, and CEO of Schell Games, wrote an excellent book, “The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses.” You’ll find all his work on the website.
• Javier Velasquez – Gamification Designer and Consultant – His work is everywhere. The best place to sort through it is on his LinkedIn page (linked to his name above).
• Gamification in Education and Business – A Springer book. Excellent! A lot of great information to discover here! It’s available online. UA faculty and students should have full access.
• Studying Gamification: The Effect of Rewards and Incentives on Motivation. Published in 2015 by G. Richter, D. Raban, and S. Rafaeli. This is a highly cited article, therefore, the link provided here also provides many other research articles on Gamification.