What is gamification?

While gamification is a common topic of discussion, how people perceive it varies greatly. This makes sense—there really are multiple ways to gamify learning, all varying in scale.

At its core, gamification means using game-like mechanics to engage the learner. In practice, however, this can mean many things.

Why does gamification work?

It’s really quite simple: people love games. Every culture in the world across the span of time has come up with games. Why? Because it’s fun.

Although games rarely have consequences in real life, people tend to take them seriously. Think about playing Monopoly with your family; It objectively has no stakes at all, but many a Monopoly game has turned intense and ended in tears.

Or think about Pokémon Go, a mobile game that launched in 2016. The game’s popularity has only increased, at the moment reaching 81 million active users. People are going out and about in all weather conditions, just to catch imaginary animals and complete missions for no other reason than for the fun of it.

Playing games is part of who we are

Playing games has been identified as an intrinsic part of human nature and key part of social learning across animal species. Put plainly, this is just how our brains work, and it is this human quality that the gamification of digital learning taps into.

It’s self-evident that everyone prefers to do things that are fun. From an L&D point of view, having fun is not our primary goal. That said, games have many other benefits, from accelerating learning to creating a sense of belonging and attachment in a group.

When does gamification add value?

Sometimes mandatory trainings inspire an Ugh, this again reaction. To make learners want to complete the training and to view it positively, it makes sense to try to make it more attractive.

Gamification can make things fun. As has been established, the benefits compared to a dry and informational, text-heavy training are obvious.

It seems pretty straightforward that if game = fun and fun = engagement, a game is always the best choice. In reality, however, learning goals must be at the foundation of whatever form an e-learning takes.

What are you trying to achieve and how would gamification aid in that?

When you are considering a gamified approach, start with your learning objectives.

Game mechanics in practice

In-person gamification often takes the form of board games, scavenger hunts, or escape rooms. It often requires interacting with physical objects, like game pieces.

In e-learnings, where there is no such tangible interaction or movement, gamification can mean, for example, motivating the learner through challenges and rewards, using a scoring system and a leaderboard to introduce an element of competition, or having the learner’s choices influence the learning to give a sense of autonomy.

Storytelling is a popular tool, and when combined with interactive elements that engage with the story, the result is a gamified e-learning.

What does gamification require?

Since the nature and approach of gamification is different than traditional e-learnings, those designing the e-learning will also require a mindset shift. You can’t approach a gamified e-learning the same way as a traditional e-learning.

What’s the cost?

An impactful gamified training is an investment. The more ambitious you are, the higher the production cost will be. It is still possible to implement lighter gamification at a lower cost.

Our experience in gamification

We regularly use the subtle gamification tactics presented in this article, including scenarios, rewards, point systems, and mini games.

Creating a variety of activities is important to keep the learner’s attention and test their knowledge. Replacing repetitive multiple-choice questions with gamification can vary content and engage learners more.

Now what?

Do you want to learn more about gamified learning? We’re happy to help!