Different Types of Gamification and Choosing the Correct Strategy
Gamification vs. Serious Games
As a Training Leader you have the option to treat the content in multiple ways for your employee learning initiative especially when you are considering gamification. You can gamify your content or turn your content into a game. Sounds similar, right?
In this post, we will try to understand the difference between the two terms – Gamification in Training as a learning strategy at a deeper level so that as a L&D professional you are able to choose the right game strategy for your content.
There are more names that are in common use that represent the two different concepts.
Gamify your Content : Structural Gamification (coined by Karl Kapp), Games vs. Gamification
Turn Content into a Game : Content Gamification (Karl Kapp), Serious Games, Simulations
Both terms indicate a game-like experience with all game-like mechanics, game-like structure, points, scores, competition etc. The difference is in the treatment of content.
In a Serious Game, the content delivery is contextual to the application of content, for example, the board game of business which we all played as kids, the players learn the basics of real estate business by buying cities and making houses while playing the game, thus making their decisions and learning from consequences.
Examples of Content Gamification
An instrument manufacturing company can not handle increased Assembly- installation request from customers, they turn the complete assembly process of the instrument into a game that is fun . quick and effective. saves from sending engineer to do what they could get the customer do themselves.
Whereas in Gamification, the game progress is not related to the application of content. Think of the game- musical chair with a twist. Every time the music stops a piece of content is delivered and this content can be anything. So you see that the playing of this musical chair and absorbing the delivered content are not related, thus it qualifies as a gamified experience.
In the context of organization training – this form of gamification gives a game-like structure to the content. The content itself does not become the game, but the way it’s presented is game-like. The native content structure does not change. It mostly consists of template-based approach. It can plug and play with the native content.
Examples of Structural Gamification: Plug & Play Templates
Does this inspire you to design your own Gamification Experience? Learn how HERE.
Feasibility Check: How to decide your Gamification strategy?
The different components of execution to consider to decide your strategy:
- Development Cost
- Development Time
- Internal Resource Engagement
- Scalability and Reusability
Here is a comparison on how both strategies fare on key considerations:
Only instruction design required for making content more learning friendly
Major content rework and organization has to be done
Gamification Template can be used for any kind of training
Once developed it can only be used to for that specific learning objective
Cost of development
Easy on the pocket
SME time intensive costs much more
Time for development
Relatively easy to develop and quicker to deploy, minimum UAT required
Takes longer to develop, prototype UAT testing takes a longer time
Best Used For
Driving engagement for Mandatory /Compliance/New Hire
New Skill Acquisition
Further Reading On Gamification
1. Basics of Gamification- Get introduced to all things that make up gamification- right from gamification definition to the 7 key gamification elements that make the gamification experience enchanting and engaging.
2.Different Types of Gamification and Choosing the Correct Strategy- Both the terms-gamification and serious games are used interchangeably, but they are different. Learn what the difference between them is, what are their characteristics, and when should they be used.
3. Benefits of Gamification over E-learning- Get introduced to the TOP 10 reasons why training leaders are vouching for Gamification over e-learning.
4. Top 7 Key Gamification Elements and Employee Motivation- Do the 7 key gamification elements motivate learners in any way? Read what the research on motivation says.
5. Gamification Elements-Motivation-Psychological Perspective- What do the books of psychology say about motivation? How does this relate to our 7 gamification elements? Read to know the answer.
6. When to Use Gamification? Is gamification the magical elixir? Is it the solution to all the problems? Maybe not! Read the 4 situations that warrant the use of gamification.
7. How to Design a Successful Gamification Experience? What are the TOP 4 often overlooked gamification techniques that can make or break your gamification experience? Get the answer here to design an engaging gamification experience.
8. Implementing Successful Gamification Program- Get introduced to the “5-Step Method” of ensuring a successful gamification training campaign in your organization. Learn how to deliver right from planning, communicating, strategic partnership, to claiming success.
Types of Gamification – Gamification in Training – Games vs. Gamification