How Gamification Can Help You Teach Financial Responsibility (Konstantin Rabin)

Whenever we talk about financial responsibility, the knee-jerk reaction is usually to roll our eyes and groan. It’s not the most exciting topic, but it’s important nonetheless. And gamification might be the answer if you’re looking for a way to make teaching
financial responsibility more palatable for you and your students. Gamification is the use of game-like elements in non-game contexts. Gamification can help you teach financial responsibility in a fun and engaging way. There are several financial literacy
games available online. Many companies now employ gamification as part of their marketing and customer loyalty programs, and there are hundreds of mobile applications available to help with this. Several financial institutions, including banks and credit unions,
have experimented with the use of games for the purpose of giving more information to their customers about personal financing and managing their funds. These games can teach players about budgeting, saving, and investing. Some games even let players experiment
with different financial scenarios to see the consequences of their choices. Gamification can be a great way to get people interested in learning about financial responsibility. Gamification may be the answer if you’re looking for a fun and interactive way
to teach financial literacy.

Examples of Games That Teach Financial Responsibility

Several different games can be used to teach financial responsibility. Some of these games are designed specifically for children, while adults and children can enjoy others. Here are a few examples of games that teach financial responsibility:

• The Stock Market Game: This game simulates the stock market and teaches players about investing

• Monopoly: This classic board game teaches players about money management and budgeting

• Payday: This card game teaches players about the importance of saving money

• Banzai. This tool offers free resources for students

• EverFi. EverFi has free resources for teaching financial literacy

• FDIC Money Smart

• Nearpod

• Play Money Magic

• Practical Money Skills

• Quizizz

How does gamification help us to improve financial literacy?

While the use of gamification in the context of financial savings may increase motivation, the question remains whether or not it really helps people save more money. There is some proof that it is effective. 

One of the most promising areas for gamification is the financial sector. One explanation is that monetary information is suitable for being measured and visualized. Perhaps more crucially, financial choices occur behind the scenes of practically everything
we do in the contemporary world, from choosing what to eat for lunch to choosing how to spend our time. 

One of the main examples of how gamification can help individuals to learn more about financial responsibility and managing funds is the banking sector. For example, financial-related games teach us how to save money. This can be useful in the case of a
savings account. When you open a deposit account in the bank, you are oriented on long-term outcomes rather than comparatively short terms. Both deposit accounts and games aid us to develop financial management skills and habits. 

It is also worth noting that a wide variety of well-liked digital products and services make use of gamification. On LinkedIn, for instance, you may see a progress bar that shows how much of your profile you’ve completed. If you want to know how many more
steps you need to take to reach your daily target, the Apple Watch’s “Close Your Rings” function can tell you. All of these help us to become more disciplined, oriented and focused on future outcomes.

Industries with built-in gamification 

Financial trading, especially trading of very high risk instruments like options or even binary options, has often been compared to gambling, and this analogy has some truth. Both activities make predictions about future events and can be quite risky. However,
options trading and gambling also have some important differences. For one, binary options trading is legal, whereas gambling is not. 

Financial traders are not subject to the same regulations as gamblers. Additionally, traders typically have more control over their investments than gamblers do. For
example, a binary options trader can choose to exit a trade at any time, while a gambler is typically committed to a bet until the end of the game. 

According to binaryoptions.com website, traders can lose all of their investment if they make incorrect predictions on the financial instruments when trading options, pretty much similar as it happens when playing
any other game of chance. However, there is potential for large rewards if traders are successful in their predictions. Binary options are similar to gaming and gambling in that they both involve making predictions price of an asset. 

Gamification and financial services

The traditional financial services business is already seeing competition from the gamification of financial services. However, authoritative financial services organizations’ embrace of gamification to maintain relevance has been gradual. Client acquisition,
retention, and product distribution will all be influenced psychologically as old business paradigms change. 

In 2013, BBVA, a Spanish financial institution, began incorporating gamification into its service offering, The BBVA game was introduced to increase client engagement with the digital platform, with the ultimate aim of enhancing customer retention and satisfaction
with service. BBVA decided to invest in Atom development after this first success (Atom development is the British digital bank that set a benchmark for every new player).

Atom purchased Grasp, a software society specializing in games and virtual reality, and entrusted them with the creation of their digital platform as a clear demonstration of their desire to engage their clients in something novel and original. Atom encourages
its clients to enjoy their selfdom in every imaginable manner by letting them personalize the banking software with the selection of a logotype, name, and color. 

When it comes to the gamification of financial services, the user experience should be fun and engaging, but not too similar to a real game. Doing so might damage the credibility of the financial services firm, as well as its bottom line. There is no restart
or do-over button when it comes to a financial services company offering. So, those financial companies that want to adopt gamification, should be careful, in order not to damage their reputation.