The applications of Gamification does not end with economics, of course. By extension, game play theory could be applied towards and improve almost any system you could imagine, such as education, civil engineering or even bureaucracies. Indeed, my game designer friends often marvel at poor design in nearly every facet of daily existence. Some are obvious, like maps, intersection designs, interior spaces, etc. Professionals who work in these spaces are at least trained to learn some fundamentals of design. There are also examples of poor design that abound in abstract systems that affect us every day, such as policies, procedures, correspondence and finance. These are all things that we must cope with every day at both the professional and personal level, yet almost nobody receives any training towards designing within these disciplines until they reach a decision to specialize.
It is in this context that I often marvel that a bachelor's degree does not require the study of design as applied to abstract systems. I imagine that if such a course of study was taught, I would no longer be subjected to e-mail with horrible cognitive structure, or company policies that encourage the opposite of what they are meant to achieve. Imagine a world in which ordinary professionals applied game design skills towards creating better systems in all aspects of life. I think if we taught the application of ideas such as 'efficiency of structure' and 'risk vs. reward', we would have a more engaged and productive society.
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