Gamification is the application of game-design features from a non-game standpoint to achieve a goal or practice specific skills. Some of the skills can be coding skills for a software engineer, sales skills for salespeople, or soft skills (emotional intelligence). Gamification can be used in primary and secondary education but also in businesses. The traditional way of learning is to sit in a training room and listen to someone discuss the topic or learn from a book. As some people prefer learning the traditional way, others prefer to learn from a different perspective. Gamified learning allows a company to make training and learning a “game.” The employer provides specialized software to an employee to learn new skills from a game they can play and advance through TalentLMS found that 33% of employees prefer to have game-like effects in their training platforms. Instead of the employees taking some time to do some research and learn the new skills, gamified learning allows them to learn and understand the material through a system of progression in a game-like environment.

Who Pioneered Gamified Learning?

Gamification has been around longer than you expect. In 2010, gamification use spiked, but the earliest records are from the late ’70s. In 1978, Richard Bartle, a researcher at the University of Essex and a game designer, created a program with a text-based system that allowed multiplayer experiences. This game was called MUD1. This was essential to the future development of multiplayer games and the start of gamified learning. Over the years, the video game industry grew $15 billion in 1996. The rate at which games were created and published increased dramatically, but gamification for learning still hasn’t taken off. It wasn’t until 2008 when Bret Terril published a blog about gamification. The blog focused on the first recorded use of the concept. In 2010, gamification took off due to several conferences, where the speakers promoted gamification, and in turn, went viral. Over the next ten years, gamification was drastically increased with businesses as they adopted this new learning style.

COVID-19 & Impact on Gamification

The pandemic has made the world change our everyday lives by going to school, going to work, or doing daily activities. According to Gamelearn, 80% of all learning went online during the pandemic. Teamwork has fundamentally changed. We can not meet with the team members without following the guidelines given by each state or country. A virtual training that utilizes gamification can help fill the gaps of the team by building trust. For example, E-learning will allow employees to teach and learn from each other. In an article written by Stephan Baer, gamification is being implemented in a virtual setting using Zoom or Webex. These are common video conference services to connect students with teachers or employees with managers. One of the games that are being implemented is JEOPARDY. The employer can choose categories and ask a series of questions worth “money.” Another method is creating online trivia. Employees will be able to build stronger relationships by answering questions about each other. Since the beginning of COVID-19, employees have faced increased stress. 49% of employees have less energy. 44% of managers observe decreased employee morale (Baer). With this, employers have to boost productivity and innovation. This is where gamification comes into effect. Game-based learning needs to meet the standards of the business and its objectives. Gamification will allow employees to take a step back, clear your mind and get back to work with a different mindset.

The Effectiveness

Gamification is implemented to boost performance and productivity. As stated by eLearning Industry, gamification can increase company productivity by 50% and employee engagement by 60%. Gamification keeps employees engaged during the training. Aris Apostolopoulos, a publisher for TalentLMS stated that 49% of employees get bored in traditional training that is not employing gamification. When employees have a lack of interest, the training is not beneficial or attains key markers. Only 61% of employees received gamified training. For traditional training, 12% of employees are unproductive after. For gamification, this is only 3% of employees. C-level executives are struggling with figuring out how to motivate their employees. As stated by Review 42, 72% of employees are more motivated to work harder when gamification has been implemented. 71% of employees believe that gamification leads to higher energy levels. With higher productivity energy levels, employees will work more. Focusing on the future of the business is crucial for the company’s survival. Young employees/applicants will eventually be key additions to an organization. Young employees have a lot to learn but are a major asset for a business’s success. They are candidates for future management positions in the company. According to ResearchGate, 86% of young job applicants think that gamification is enjoyable in the workplace. Each generation of employees keeps changing and businesses have to adapt to the changes. What works 10 to 15 years ago might not work today with getting the best productivity from your employees.

The graph indicates the benefits of gamified software by the percentage of employees who love it. Other options are communication software, contact software, collaboration and project management software, and document software. 88% of respondents say that gamification makes them happier at work. If employees are happier, then they will be more productive. If the employees are not as satisfied at work, then the production will be down, and the quality of work will decrease. Another factor is stress in the workplace. More and more employees have the stress from completing training or assignments. 66% of employees say that gamification at work reduced their stress levels. When employees are not stressed, there is more enjoyment in the workplace and productivity is high. Another tactic for stress reduction in employees is Micro-learning; Micro-learning takes the big task and breaks it down into manageable tasks to complete. As a result, micro-learning will still be beneficial, and employees will be more engaged by up to 50%.

Significant Costs to Gamified Learning?

According to TrustRadius, some are inexpensive at $30 per user and some are more expensive at $70 per user. The current most used gamification software are Kahoot, Hoopla, Influitive, LevelEleven, and Microsoft Dynamic 356. Much gamified learning software is free, but they restrict the number of users able to access the software. Most small companies might consider using the free software due to the size and budgeting.

Industry Analysis

Companies across all industries are adopting gamification ideas to help with productivity. Aris Apostolopoulos stated that 89% of employees think they would be more productive at work if it were more game-like. Both Samsung and Google are prime examples of companies that employ gamified learning, but the companies are not exclusively technology companies. when a customer registers a product on Samsung’s website, they are automatically added to a chance to win other products produced by the company. Google implements gamification by incentivizing employee travel expenses. If employees do not spend all of their travel money, Google gives them the option to get paid the leftover money or have the money roll over to the next trip.

Domino’s Pizza is another example of a company implementing gamification. During the learning process, the employer will reward their employees who improve on their skills. Employees must master the pizza-making art, but also memorize the menu. It will take time for them to learn all of the skills. The learning process can take weeks or months. Cisco uses gamified learning in their social media training program. They introduced three levels-of-certification with each level being a new title for the employee’s skills list. Each employee can go for one of the three certifications. Sub-certifications help maintain a healthy atmosphere and environment and also help with collaboration.

Case Study

A case study conducted by SAGE Journals on Dutch businesses that have implemented gamification. Seven companies were chosen to participate in the study. The companies ranged from the maintenance of the energy infrastructures to public transportation, and agri- and horticulture. In addition to the companies, nine interviews are recorded from the employees of the businesses listed above. One result of the study showed that long-term employees were unwilling to change their traditional methods for gamified learning. “The [employees] will say: ‘I have worked here for 20 years, and now they say that I have to change the way I do my work?’ They will put their foot down.” A clear purpose has to be established to change the views of long-term employees.” In order for gamification to be effective, it should serve a meaningful purpose. There should be a definitive end goal. It also has to be challenging for the employees to get the most out of the training.

The conclusion of the study indicates many positive outcomes in each organization with the implementation of gamification. In one interview, the importance of incentives with gamification was discussed at length: “The most important types of intrinsic incentives according to the interviewees were fun, surprise, and storyline.” The storyline is to keep the employee engaged with the game. In the game, progression will increase the knowledge of the user. A good game has its challenges. Which can be reached, but when you fail, you can go back and complete the task. In the Public Transportation organization case, participants were rewarded financially by earning up to 25% of the fuel savings as a part of the gamified learning experience. Incentives can be up to 25% of the fuel savings. Some of the incentives can be a cake, for example. “This is very simple, the winning team gets a cake. It couldn’t be more simple, but the effect is huge. When I call the winner on Tuesday, then they jump for joy” (Van der Heijden, B. I., et al. 7). One question that a lot of executives have from implementing gamification is will gamification add additional work to their employees? In the case study, gamification should not cost the employees too much time. Employees should not have to take extra time outside of work to complete the training. In prior research, gamification is implemented in approximately 70% of the largest companies in the world, stated in the SAGE Journal case study. As a result of this case study, gamification is beneficial to companies and organizations.

Future Generations

Gamification has been around since the 1970s but did not receive a title until 2002. Its popularity has steadily been growing, but is expected to grow exponentially in the next few years.“The next two, five, even ten years will see even more substantial changes. As technology advances at an exponential rate, the evolution of gamification will leap forward.”

Figure 2: Growth Rates (Accessible in PDF Version) 

The diagram illustrates the growth of game-based learning worldwide. This is a prediction for the future. Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Africa are all above 40% growth rate of game-based learning. North America is only at 35%. In the future, past 2024, numbers are predicted to be higher than the numbers in this graph. For the future of gamification, the market size looks to grow from $9.1 billion in 2020 to $30.7 billion by 2025 as stated in “The Future of Gamification in Major Industries for Next Five Years. Between 2016 and 2020, analysts forecast the global education market to be gamified to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 66.22% (ltd, Research and Markets). Some vendors from this report are Badgeville, Bunchball, Classcraft Studios, and GoGo Labs. The website Fortune Business Insights, posted a graph about Gamification Market size in 2016-2027 (Gamification Market Size).

Figure 3: Fortune Business Insight (Accessible in PDF Version) 

The graph illustrates the North American market size growth over 12 years. The gradual increase of the market size from 2016 to 2019 changed in 2020 to the predictions up to 2027. According to Mitch Swanson, an author for Gamify blog, 69% of employees are more likely to stay at their job for more than three years when implementing gamification. As employees stay longer with a company, there will be more room for growth with skills needed to complete a specific task.

Gamified Learning in the Future

As a result, gamification will make an impact on any corporation or sole-proprietorship. Gamification can increase productivity and learn at a higher rate than traditional training. Companies and education centers will begin implementing gamified learning to maximize employee and student productivity while decreasing overall attrition. It is that gamified learning will revolutionize previously tedious experiences into enjoyable learning experiences. Companies can capitalize on opportunities that they could not reach without implementing gamification.