Gamification, as I've encountered it, isn't really tied to a particular interface style or paradigm. It's more about using social status, rewards, positioning, perception of progress, rank, etc to motivate individuals to accomplish goals. The wikipedia page isn't too bad on that front [1]. I usually simplify it and say it's all just banana stickers. My wife teaches ballet for a living and has a few classes with little kids. She has the classic end-of-class stickers of good listeners, and a progress sticker board. At work, we have patches you can get from members of management for doing something exemplary and pins for obtaining certain certifications or mile stones. Efficacy of either implementation aside, they're both just gamification. Same thing with a lot of medals and such in the military. Of course, some things come with monetary rewards, which is motivating in it's own right. Then there are online badges, karma, etc. etc.
I think you could use elements of gamification individually, but I think a lot of the strongest motivation comes from the social context, competition, etc. That said, you can definitely use psychological tricks that are basically gamification for the individual, as was mentioned in another comment, like building streaks, or publicizing your progress, etc.
Anyhow, two things:
1. I'm no expert in formal gamification, in so far as that exists. I just brought it up because my bosses get super hung up on the idea of an interface that looks like a game, instead of the idea that you're shaping behavior by creating rewards and social context. Just adding my experience here
2. I could be totally misreading what you mean by an interface paradigm
3. I really don't like the word gamification, even though I ended up using it all the time when I was developing training/progress plans and materials :)
I think you could use elements of gamification individually, but I think a lot of the strongest motivation comes from the social context, competition, etc. That said, you can definitely use psychological tricks that are basically gamification for the individual, as was mentioned in another comment, like building streaks, or publicizing your progress, etc.
Anyhow, two things: 1. I'm no expert in formal gamification, in so far as that exists. I just brought it up because my bosses get super hung up on the idea of an interface that looks like a game, instead of the idea that you're shaping behavior by creating rewards and social context. Just adding my experience here 2. I could be totally misreading what you mean by an interface paradigm 3. I really don't like the word gamification, even though I ended up using it all the time when I was developing training/progress plans and materials :)
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamification