Whether or not all the world’s a stage, the people in the world are certainly game players. As technology expands and becomes an even bigger part of our lives, there are ways in which gaming reaches out from its box and ends up teaming up with other sectors. Today, we are going to take a look at some of the ways gaming is crossing over with the likes of finance, health, education, and more. 

Gaming and finance

One of the biggest crossovers gaming has enjoyed recently is with finance in the form of crypto gaming, which allows players to interact with cryptocurrencies and also earn and trade assets such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This also plays into the concept of the metaverse, which is still a surprisingly large gaming space with plenty of enthusiasts, even if not quite at the stage many thought it would be back in 2021. 

 

Since the Metaverse ended up being the go-to place for non-fungible token (NFT) collectors, there is still quite a bit of money tied up in it. Some games use the blockchain to issue rewards in a play-to-earn mechanism, which have earned them and their fellow P2E platforms some loyal and dedicated followers. Moving away – literally – from more traditional-style games, the likes of STEPN aim to fuse gaming with exercise and finance by rewarding users with crypto tokens and NFTs based on how much they move. 

 

Crypto games aren’t the only type of finance/gaming crossovers, though. For instance, some platforms, like Robinhood, have rather gamified user interfaces that can make investing more fun, especially for younger people. Even some online banks, such as Monzo, feature monthly challenges and money pots, while some financial sites and apps allow people to set conditions on their savings. For instance, they can get an alert to put $1 in a savings account every time it rains, or if it is a certain day of the week or date in the month. In fact, if we look at something like the United Kingdom’s Premium Bonds, set up in 1956,  the chance to win money just by investing isn’t entirely a new thing. It’s just that more and more start-up financial service companies are getting involved with it. However, something that is a bit newer are games which encourage good financial habits. These, often to be found in the form of mobile phone apps, are becoming ever more prevalent. 

Playing and learning

There is a strong argument that children learn by playing. Ever since the 1970s, however, kids have been learning skills through the medium of computer games. While the likes of Lemonade Stand and Rocky’s Boots now live permanently in Nostalgiaville – although Oregon Trail somehow seems to have made it out the other side and has a still-dedicated fanbase – the idea is still valid. Give people, particularly children, something fun to do, slide some educational content in there, and, hopefully, they’ll learn about things without even realizing that they are learning. And, more than 50 years after the first educational games hit the market, they’re still big business in schools across the world. 

 

For instance, Minecraft is one of the largest games of all time, with an open-world, sandbox theme allowing players to, pretty much, build what they want and interact however they like with the game’s universe. As well as merchandise and movies, the game has an educational spinoff. Entitled Minecraft Education Edition, the reworked game gives players lessons in mathematics, coding, history, and environmental science, all wrapped up in a platform that teachers hope pupils will enjoy. 

 

But there’s also the gamification of regular learning. Quizzes have always reared their heads in the classroom, and there are a range of apps, such as Kahoot, that create quizzes for learners, while Duolingo has become one of the world’s biggest platforms for online language learning, with more than 115 million monthly users, according to Statista. And let’s not overlook flight simulators, which have, in one form or another, been around almost as long as heavier-than-air aviation itself. While you won’t find many of them at a regular school, they are used to train both military and general aviation pilots across the world and are, when you think about it, a kind of gamified experience in and of themselves. 

Gaming for health

There is an argument that gaming is bad for one’s health. The idea is that people who play games live sedentary, isolated lives and choose to remain indoors. Now, that stereotype is, basically, untrue. And there are places where the world of health intersects with the gaming universe. One of the most notable examples comes in the form of gamified fitness applications. For instance, Zombies Run, which tells stories and gives people challenges while they run, claims to have had more than 100 million downloads since its 2012 launch, and, with a Couch to 5k spin-off, it can claim to have encouraged people to live healthier lifestyles through what is, at its core, a game. And if you remember us talking about STEPN earlier, that’s another fitness app with gamified features, only this time it features cryptocurrency. Even Google has jumped on the fitness gaming bandwagon, with a definite gamified approach to its step-tracking Fit app. 

 

Looking after one’s mental health is something which, thankfully, has become something people have become more and more aware of in recent years. Perhaps not coincidentally, the world of games and gaming has found itself taking a turn towards mental health awareness. For instance, 2018’s Celeste put fighting self-doubt and anxiety front and center and was based, in part, on developer Maddie Thornton’s experiences. There was also the following year’s Sea of Solitude, which dealt with themes of loneliness and depression. Moving on from pure gaming experiences, the SuperBetter app helps people develop resilience through challenges and power-ups. Perhaps most intriguingly, EndeavorRx is a game used to treat ADHD in young people. It has the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and can only be played with a prescription – and even then, only for as long as the prescription lasts. Regardless, there is evidence of video games helping with mental health, and the future looks like we’ll be getting more of that. 

Gaming and entertainment

Perhaps one of the most obvious sectors for gaming to match up with is entertainment. It probably won’t come as a massive surprise that there is quite a lot of crossover between gaming and the wider entertainment sphere. Video game crossovers and cash-ins have been a thing for a very long time, even if, in some cases, like 1983’s infamous Atari ET game, they have been things most players and movie buffs would rather forget. Luckily, things have got better since then. One great example is the Witcher series. Originally a set of novels and short stories by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, they inspired an award-winning video game franchise and a hit TV show. Every new iteration of The Witcher builds on what has come before so if you want to truly know the series inside and out, you’ll need to read, play, and watch. 

 

Meanwhile, music has become involved, with live concerts in games, such as Travis Scott’s Fortnite show, a major event, while the very act of playing video games has become part of the world of entertainment in and of itself, thanks to the rise of livestreaming. 

 

So, from learning to getting healthy to making money to just having fun, the world of gaming is taking over. It will be interesting to see where else becomes gamified in the not-so-distant future.