Six Best Practices for Gamification

Best practice #1: Identify the success criteria

Before embarking on the gamification journey, you need to identify what is it that you wish to achieve. Do you want hundred percent participation, or a measurable financial gain, or something else? If there is no pre-defined metrics, it will be difficult to measure success after implementation. The success indicators need to be identified and communicated to the people involved.

Best practice #2: Link it to the business need

Make sure that the gamified learning is tied to a relevant business need. It need not be revenue-based. The results can be in the form of lower turnover or enhanced engagement.  If you find it difficult to link it to a business need, then maybe you should forego the training or consider other methods of delivery. Gamification will work only when there is a strong business case for it.

Best practice #3: Use a compelling story

A good story will keep the learners hooked. Build the plot and the characters in a compelling manner so that the learner identifies with it. Make it relevant to their job role. Explain every step and create a context. Inform the learners why they need to perform a specific task. Keep it interactive to ensure learner engagement.

Best practice #4: Make scoring transparent

Avoid complex formulas in scoring. If the scoring system is made difficult, then the learners may lose interest midway. You must allow them to easily understand what they need to do in order to score well. Ideally, they should put their efforts towards those actions that result in progression in the game. Keep the rules simple yet effective. It is a good idea to have a ‘Help’ section to guide the learners on the rules of the game.

Best practice #5: Do not overuse badges

Badges can be tied to learning objectives. But, it should not be overused. If you award badges for every little thing they do, then chances are that the learners will not value the badge. Instead, make it increasingly difficult as the levels increase. The more they strive to get a badge, the more they will value it, and they will focus on the training to achieve the coveted badge.

Best practice #6: Do a dry run

Before releasing the program organization-wide, make sure you do a test run with a small beta group. You will be astonished to find the flaws they may encounter! List their observations and make adjustments to the game before releasing it on a large scale. The larger audience may find faults even after the pilot, but glitches will be minimal.

At Designing Digitally, Inc, we create immersive and educative gamified learning solutions for our clients that can hone specific skills of your employees.

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