The Gamification Revolution: How Leaders Leverage Game Mechanics to Crush the Competition

1THE REVOLUTION WILL BE GAMIFIED

Napoléon’s Winning Game

When Napoléon invaded Egypt after the French Revolution, one in seven sailors could expect to develop—and eventually die from—scurvy. This deadly form of malnutrition had been the scourge of travelers for thousands of years, and despite Napoléon’s successes, his military was still vulnerable to it. At-sea rations for the men tended toward the filling rather than the nutrient rich, and they were composed mostly of salted meats and weevil-ridden flour. For land-based troops, the problem was no less severe. War operations had the daunting task of securing rations for soldiers in enemy territory. This often meant paying colossal sums for food to opportunistic merchants and using other tactics ...