10 Reasons to Use Serious Games

By: Justin Ferriman • December 18, 2014
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If you are involved in elearning (even traditional training), then it is likely that you have considered implementing some form of serious game into your course material.

Today gamification and serious games are being leveraged to help bolster learning and drive home key objectives. Gaming elements get people involved with the learning which has been shown to improve retention.

Beyond this benefit though, infusing games with course content also gets learners thinking about the material from a variety of perspectives and applications.

One common misconception about using serious games in elearning or training events is that it is difficult to capture relevant data. As it turns out, the opposite is true. Gaming can actually give you a wealth of relevant data about participants and their understanding.

If you are interested in more reasons why you should consider using serious games to help drive-home the key messages in your courses, then reference the infographic below created by Totem Learning.

While all of the reasons listed are certainly valid and worth considering, the one that I have seen have the biggest impact is number two: safe environment.

When you leverage serious games to supplement course material, you create an environment where it is safe for people to try without worrying about real failure.

This is extremely important when doing corporate training where people are hesitant to try something different because they don’t want to hurt their own reputation or the company.

In training programs I have helped design, we would employ gaming components (usually through controlled simulations) so people could practice without worrying about the consequences. If they did mess up, they could use it as an opportunity to learn – which is the ultimate goal of serious games in the first place.

Justin Ferriman

Justin started LearnDash, the WordPress LMS trusted by Fortune 500 companies, major universities, training organizations, and entrepreneurs worldwide. He is currently founder & CEO of GapScout. Justin’s Homepage | GapScout | Twitter