As cutting-edge methods of delivering and enhancing learning, gamification and serious games are finding their way into organizations across industries, geographies, and cultures. Gamification integrates game characteristics and mechanics into real-world training, with the objective of promoting engagement and behavior changes. Serious games use in the learning and development sphere aims to expose learners to new experiences and skills through simulations built around stories, goals, feedback, and play. 

The popularity of ASTD’s many books, articles, blogs, and webinars on gamification and serious games confirms keen interest among learning professionals eager to find stimulating and effective new ways of delivering learning content. At the same time, application of gamification and serious games in business enterprises has not yet attained mainstream scope. 

• Are these intriguing new approaches effectively changing the landscape of organizational learning?

• Are those learning organizations that haven’t yet adopted, or at least tried, gamification or serious games lagging far behind the competition?

• What should learning leaders know about gamification and serious games before they commit to either approach for their organizations?

• How are progressive organizations using gamification and serious games successfully to improve learning outcomes? 

ASTD teamed with the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) to examine those and other questions in Playing to Win: Gamification and Serious Games in Organizational Learning. The research explores definitions, usage, benefits, pitfalls, and future promise through survey responses and interviews with learning professionals who have hands-on experience with gamification and serious games. 

The collaborative effort began with a survey fielded in October and November 2013. There were 551 respondents to the survey, consisting of business and learning professionals who represent organizations across a variety of sizes, structures, industries, and geographic locations. Most hold management or executive-level positions. Of those, one in four participants, or about 138, confirmed that their organizations currently use gamification in their learning programs. One in five—about 110 respondents—said they use serious games for learning. 

Key findings of the study include: 

• While there is significant interest among learning professionals about the potential for using gamification and serious games, only one in four surveyed said their organizations currently use gamification in learning; and one in five, serious games. At the same time, 19 percent of respondents said they had no plans to pursue gamification, and 27 percent said they were not considering serious games use in learning. 

• Learning professionals who are using gamification and serious games are enthusiastic about the effectiveness of the approaches. Thirty-seven percent of those using gamification and 51 percent of serious games users rated the methods as highly effective.

• Learning functions are most likely to use gamification for all-employee training (all standard learning programs) and for new employees’ orientation or onboarding. All-employee training also topped the uses for serious games in learning initiatives, with high-potential employee development ranking second. 

• In the ambit of talent management, survey respondents said their top aims for gamification use were making learning fun and encouraging innovation and creativity. Those goals, along with employee engagement, also motivated use of serious games in talent initiatives. 

• While many survey participants choose outside suppliers to design and implement gamification and serious games for learning, about twice as many said they rely on internal staff to design, deploy, and maintain applications. Neither option was strongly related to learning effectiveness or market performance. 

To learn more insight, ASTD members can download the whitepaper, or access the full research report: ASTD member price, $199, nonmember price, $499.