The Benefits And Pitfalls Of Gamifying Training Simulations

Gamification is an ingenious new trend and everyone seems to be happy to get on the bandwagon. It motivates teams with rewards for accomplishments, allows them to share it with the world through social media, and much more. But somewhere through the excitement, organisations often forget that one-size-does-not-fit-all.

Along with the benefits of gamification of training simulations, there are certain pitfalls. And unless treaded carefully, achieving the best results may not happen for everyone.

Here are a few points to consider that might help keep your training simulation gamification in achieving its desired objectives.

Benefits of gamification

1. Stimulates interest

Simply handing over the tools and training material to your team doesn’t mean they will try them out. But with gamification, learning can be turned into a fun experience for everyone.

Instead of asking them to leaf through books and websites, get them to play a game to keep their interest in learning alive. Regular interaction to remind what was learnt through an exercise and applying it to real world problems can enhance the learning experience greatly.

2. Stimulates competition

Business is competition. A game too is all about competition. This inherent competitiveness can drive accountability in your team and reward favourable behaviour. Use leaderboards to identify the best members in your team.

However, do ensure that the competition is in good spirits. Never attempt something like the incident in China some time ago.

3. Rewards the best performers

Rewards are integral to gamified training simulations. And not only for the winners, but also for achieving various progress milestones through the course of training.

Consider investing in real, tangible rewards that encourage your team members to participate in the training programme. Have team managers observe players for success and identify those who might need help to improve their performance.

This will not only ensure better participation, but will deliver actual results and increase the return of investment of your training programmes as well.

 
This might interest you: Debunking The Top 6 Gamification Myths

Pitfalls of gamification

1. Too many and too frequent rewards

If rewards are given at each step of the way, they lose their intended value for the players. It is necessary to ensure that the players understand the value of each reward, irrespective of whether it is tangible or intangible. It doesn’t mean that over-complication of games is desirable either. A balance must be maintained at all times to ensure player engagement in the learning process.

2. Superficial motivation

Virtual motivation may not always be enough for gamification to succeed. A right blend of motivation and meaningful rewards that truly represent the achievements are a must. Even simple things like a team dinner, tickets to a movie or a game, or gift vouchers can make a lot of difference.

3. Make it look and feel like a real game

Pushing for gamification is never a good idea. Every organisation and every team has their own innate culture and values, and the gamified training programme must adhere to that culture. Even the user experience requires proper attention. One-size-does-not-fit-all, and customisation is always advisable for training module gamification.

Conclusion

A growing number of online and mobile gaming users, new technology, mobile devices and everything in between makes it the right time to adopt gamification in corporate training simulations. The only test is using it effectively to enhance skill development and learning experience of the participants.

However, it is not a difficult task. We only need some amount of planning, better understanding of desired objectives, and a forward thinking leadership to take charge of it.

KNOLSKAPE is an award-winning immersive gamification and simulation software company, and a partner with Leaderonomics on experiential and game-based learning programmes. To know more about these simulations, please email us at info@leaderonomics.com. For more Thought Of The Week articles, click here.

 
This article was first published on KNOLSKAPE and reposted with permission on Leaderonomics.com.