Gamification in personnel development
Great thinkers agree that play is essential for people and the development of their skills. We can also use this characteristic for personnel development. Find out here what gamification is all about and how you can use it to increase the motivation to learn in your organization.
According to gamification expert Roman Rackwitz, playing games primarily means "letting yourself slip and immersing yourself in an environment". The need for this is deeply human, just think of Friedrich Schiller's famous sentence "Man [...] is only fully human where he plays". According to Schiller, play is the only human performance that is capable of bringing out the wholeness of his abilities.
The principle of gamification attempts to make this usable for contexts outside the classic game. Learning and playing belong together by nature! Nature has already instilled in children an almost inexhaustible urge and enjoyment of play. Playing serves one purpose: learning. Through play, the brain learns to understand the world, process experiences and acquire mental and motor skills.
What is gamification?
The term "gamification" was coined by the British games researcher Richard Bartle back in 1978. It has only received greater attention in research and practice since the 2010s. Sebastian Deterding et. al. (2011) succinctly summarize gamification as the "integration of game elements and game principles in non-game contexts".
These are, for example, challenges that have to be solved in different levels. Progress indicators or points earned then show users how they are performing. Approaches from games are thus transferred to everyday life, learning and work. Real processes are designed in such a way that they promote people's intrinsic motivation. A distinction is made between gamification, game-based learning and serious games:
Gamification vs. serious games and game-based learning
Gamification is the use of typical game elements in a non-game context. We differentiate between so-called serious games and game-based learning. These work in exactly the opposite way - learning content is inserted into a game context.
One example of this is digital flight simulators, which are used to train prospective pilots in virtual scenarios and prepare them for the real world. Other examples include games that teach foreign language skills "on the side". Serious games are usually more elaborately designed and therefore significantly more expensive than gamified applications.
The learning context is crucial
However, gamification is not just about incorporating points systems, ranking lists and badges into non-game applications, says Roman Rackwitz. The founder of the first established gamification agency in the German-speaking world emphasizes: "It's no good just making the learning context more exciting. The most famous example is compliance training. I can make it as attractive as possible, but that's only half the battle. If the learners don't feel that the material is important to them, they won't care how exciting it is." It is therefore about creating a context in which it makes sense to learn something specific.
If this is the case, gamification can be used to design learning tasks or work processes in such a way that people want to get better at them of their own accord.
Where does gamification come in?
The use of gamification requires a certain image of people, which we in HR development can best describe as a "growth mindset". After all, a game is nothing more than a voluntary attempt to overcome obstacles, says Rackwitz. He criticizes the blatant contrast to this, which he observes time and again: "We try to design obstacles out of our everyday lives all the time. We want to make everything predictable and efficient - that's the opposite of games."
Gamification therefore does not serve to make a learning environment as efficient as possible. This would result in a loss of excitement. Rather, it is about designing the learning journey with game-like elements. With various challenges and levels, learners are guided in such a way that they themselves notice - and receive data-based visual feedback on - how they improve over time. This tickles the learners' ambition and sets in motion a positive "hunt for the better self". Therein lies the increase in motivation.
As a learning and motivational psychologist, I know that in addition to self-improvement, other motivators also come into play. Depending on the personality and environment of the learner, these factors, among others, have different effects:
- Self-efficacy
- People realize that what they have done (learning effort) has a quantifiable effect (they reach a new level).
- Self-esteem enhancement
- The increase in self-esteem comes either from comparing oneself with others or from the fact that someone fulfills their own performance expectations.
- Final motif
- This is a social motivation - learners want to belong to the club of those who have reached a certain level.
- Employability
- Obtained certificates are also visible proof that you can do something. They can therefore play a role in the next salary increase, a job change or securing your current job.
A good example of the motivating visualization of learning progress is the language learning platform Duolingo:
Designing learning incentives through gamification
In order to create long-term learning incentives, learning platforms and their content must be designed in such a way that they allow for continuous development. This can be achieved, for example, by requiring users to "unlock" more complex or in-depth learning content. They then function like levels in a computer game. Employees experience themselves as self-effective and their motivation to develop personally increases.
At the same time, studies show that the value-free measurement of a behavior alone has a motivating and performance-enhancing effect. The reward center of the human brain reacts to winning points, even if these points only have a symbolic value.
The role of gamification for self-directed learning
Today, a large part of learning in organizations no longer takes place formally through clearly prescribed seminars or training courses, the completion of which is a prerequisite. Instead, the importance of self-directed learning is constantly increasing. Modern learning experience platforms support learners in finding the learning content that is relevant to them. They receive personalized learning suggestions and knowledge can be acquired and directly applied at the "moment of need".
The relevance for learners is significantly greater in this case, as the learning trigger is intrinsically motivated. The basis for effective gamification has therefore been created: The material itself is important and meaningful to the learner. Nevertheless, in stressful everyday life, additional pushes are sometimes needed to support motivation. It motivates learners when they can see their progress thanks to gamification and, in addition to new knowledge and solved work problems, have something "in their hands" that makes the time invested in learning even more worthwhile.
Gamification and immersion - on the hunt for flow
If we look at the basis of gamification - namely games, sports and hobbies - it is clear that it is always about solving a challenge. "Life there shouldn't be too easy, otherwise it gets boring. If it's too hard, you get frustrated. Flow is the perfect balance between challenge and ability," says Roman Rackwitz. This can also be observed neurochemically. The more challenging a task is, the more information flows through the brain, the more neurotransmitters flow.
Applied to the context of personnel development, this means that gamified applications must not be too easy. A productive feeling of fulfillment only occurs when a challenge has been mastered. It is therefore not surprising that the fascination of the game also lies in the fact that the challenge is not mastered immediately. Instead, it is about repeatedly failing on the way to the desired result, but realizing that you are getting closer to it. That way, you can later say that you have gotten better at something. And "in evolutionary terms, we are only geared towards this one thing," says Rackwitz.
The use of gamification is also a question of corporate culture
In the professional environment, there are always reservations about "gimmicks". It therefore also depends on the corporate culture whether game-like elements can be used sensibly, says Rackwitz: "Imagine this: A company suddenly introduces a learning game, but from the employees' point of view, the company is not playful at all and their boss is the most uncreative and unfunny guy. Then they don't think it's a good idea to play the game."
In contrast to game-based learning, however, gamification has an advantage: the basic idea is to make reality better for people, not just to adapt the design. It's about the psychological mechanics behind games, not the visuals. According to Roman Rackwitz, the productivity potential lies "not in the fact that people say 'I've played and now I'm back to work', but that they realize that the job or learning has become more intuitive." Gamification doesn't necessarily have to look like a game to users. This way, no one is embarrassed to have to say "I'm serious, I'm not playing games here."
Conclusion: Gamification can promote motivation to learn
Gamification in the sense of using game-like elements in the learning context can promote the motivation of learners. Gamification is most successful when the entire learning process is designed in such a way that it offers a real challenge and enables progress in the sense of a "hunt for the better self". Points and badges then serve as a feedback tool for learners, allowing them to assess their personal development. In this way, gamification can tip the scales so that a person decides to learn something more often.
About Roman Rackwitz:
Roman Rackwitz is one of the pioneers of gamification in Germany. As the founder of Engaginglab GmbH, he heads the first established gamification agency in the German-speaking world. Using the "growth gamification" approach, he transfers success factors for personally perceived progress from games, sports and hobbies to the world of work.
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