What’s in a name?

Business simulation, gamification and serious games. Are they different or just forms of the same process? The answer, unhelpfully perhaps, is both ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Gamification is billed as the application of game dynamics to non-game environments and in that respect both simulation and serious games qualify. Whether it is a business board game with strategic decision making to the fore, an enterprise simulation which models a specific part of a business, or a 3D game where future surgeons practise open-heart surgery the essence of gameplay is present in all of them.