The problem with Gamification

I decided some time ago that I would tackle this sticky little subject.

So, I write this post in two minds about the topic. The first being that if someone wants me to put together gamification and spend months working on a complex set of multi path scenarios alongside the video and / or game components to run alongside – I should just be happy for the work and go along with the request.

The struggle I have with this though – is conscience.

I think I’ve only ever seen one particularly efficient piece of gamification in the business world. I’m sure more is out there somewhere, but I just haven’t seen it.

Yes, I appreciate and understand all the arguments for gamification and I understand all those “Fortnight” and “Halo” gamers end up with better hand eye coordination due to the way the game works. To translate that “good fun stuff” into a piece of learning on Microsoft excel though – is almost impossible.

If anyone was going to figure out how to do that, you’d think Microsoft would have!

I’ve seen people add game components to a piece of learning and then call it gamification. So you do the “fun” game bit, then you get a question on something you want to learn. Whilst I appreciate this may draw some learners back to the content, how many people have the time at work to sit playing games in order to get a snippet of information?

The numbers

When we look more closely at the numbers too – even they don’t seem to stack up for gamification. Do a little digging online and you’ll see some gaming sites advising that half of the population regularly play online games!

Now, even if we take this (slightly optimistic) figure as being correct – that means over 50 percent of the population don’t!

You’d logically presume that’s likely because online games are something they don’t enjoy doing (to any great extent). So that could leave 50% of learners feeling put out by having to play the game!

You’ll also find gamers being unimpressed with gamification too, as standards set within the gaming world aren’t met by gamification created within Online Learning Authoring tools.

So, what do we do for these learners?

• Do we create extra content, at extra cost?
• Or simply force them to play the game advising that they must enjoy it – it’s fun!

You will have fun! – You will have fun!

A quiz is not Gamification

In my mind, a quiz is not gamification. I appreciate you see a lot of sites with Articulate Quiz templates which suggest they’re gamification – but let’s face facts here, giving a quiz a score and badges doesn’t make it game.

Game: an activity that one engages in for amusement or fun.

The Dictionary

The scramble for gamification seemed to come about with the news that people actually learn new skills whilst playing video games. The realisation moved into the world of learning as individuals tried to use online learning authoring tools to produce games in an effort to make online learning more engaging and fun. During this shift, little thought was given to the learner, their preferences, the efficiency of the end product and restrictions of delivery.

High cost – questionable return

Gamification in learning design often rules out the “minimum viable product” or a “rapid design” approach.

In general, most of the gamification I’ve come across tends to be the type which places the learner into scripted work scenarios where multi path outcomes lead the learner to either a dead end / low score or Success / high score – have a merit badge!

Think Granny’s Garden for those old enough to remember that!

Whilst I appreciate this type of gamification can be engaging – it’s hardly the most efficient use of someone’s time to learn something. Do most people really want to go over a work scenario 4 or 5 times in order to gain feedback each time and eventually find the best route through the maze / scenario.

Add this elongated learning approach to the added design time it takes to create a piece of learning like this – and it’s no wonder we don’t see it very often. Think about scripting multi-layer scenario’s, correct and incorrect answers alongside filming each segment, setting up the path in your authoring tool – then doing the same again for the rest of your scenario’s which you’d like to cover.

You can literally end up with over a hundred individual video segments needing to be edited, published, added to the authoring tool and arranged in order. So, it can take many months to produce a single piece of learning content.

How do we learn best?

Anyone who has read my previous posts about learning and the mind will by now realise that habitual practice is the key to passing information to your subconscious mind.

Whilst gamification provides practice for scenario’s written – life has a way of providing different scenario’s than the ones we expect. So, for this reason people tend to learn best with support, actually performing in role. When you go to a classroom training session, you’ll rarely master a great deal on the day. The true learning comes when applying any newfound knowledge to your daily role and making sure it’s embedded day after day. The training session was only ever created to provide the knowledge to facilitate change.

It’s the ongoing support and feedback which is key in order to facilitate change in the workplace.

To read on and find out how Gamification works best, check out the blog post here:

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