OK—fess up. How many of you play Angry Birds on your iPhone? What if you could play a game that improves the productivity, collaboration, compliance, or expertise of your legal practice? Within a few years, you may be routinely doing just that. Corporations like Cisco Systems and Google’s Motorola Mobility have embraced gamification, and analysts say the trend is gaining steam. Now, software vendors, law firms, and general counsel are starting to experiment to see just how gamification might play in the legal business.

Gamification is an awful word for an interesting concept. It means applying game design and mechanics to educate or motivate people. It adds an element of play to an application or platform to better capture and hold a person’s attention, so that she or he learns something or changes behavior. Usually, rewards are involved. Players get points and/or badges as they become more proficient. Accumulate enough points, and get cash, a new iPad, or just bragging rights with peers.

Companies initially used gamification to forge stronger bonds with customers, often as part of loyalty programs. Whole Foods ran a two-week game designed to educate and motivate customers to make healthy choices. A more sophisticated example is SAP’s Community Network, an online social network with 2.5 million customers and partners of the software vendor. Members earn points and badges for sharing knowledge and collaborating. Ranking on SCN has even become an IT status symbol. “People put their SCN status on their LinkedIn profile,” says Carter Lusher, research fellow and chief analyst of the enterprise applications ecosystem at Ovum, a market research and consulting company.

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