We have been calling attention for several years now to the growing interest and success that corporations and companies large and small have be experiencing in regards to serious games. In fact, Designing Digitally, Inc. has been partnering with an expanding number of businesses to produce serious games for their various needs - employee training, employee engagement, sales assistance and marketing, education - and we’re proud of the gamification programs we’re producing for our clients. Serious games development requires a good deal of research up-front in order to understand the specific audience and industry of each client. There’s also scripting involved to determine the order and flow of the game’s actions and outcomes, graphic design for characters and backgrounds, and coding to make the game function on various IT platforms for all users - which can include mobile-based applications as well. All these tasks and the skillsets to master them come together in a successful serious game, although if we’ve done our job right, the player just has an enjoyable (and productive) digital experience that works towards the goal of the corporate entity that contracted our services. Many businesses are utilizing serious games today, and we’ve been devoting some blog space to chronicling some of them. Slalom Consulting in Washington State tapped in to the power of gamification in order to improve internal communications and morale, although they had to learn a few things about internal motivation first. As PC Advisor for United Kingdom audiences reported: "Seattle-based Slalom Consulting had 2,000 employees in offices around the United States. To improve internal communications, the company decided to create a mobile application that would help employees learn the names and faces of their colleagues. To encourage participation, the application included a "leaderboard" showing who had the highest scores, says CEO Brad Jackson. The tactic backfired. ‘We found that only 5% of the people truly cared about being at the top of the leaderboard,’ he says. The prizes - gift cards - weren't enough, either. ‘What changed for us is when we transformed to teams,’ he says. ‘Whether by organization, or randomly assigned teams, there was a dramatic shift in the engagement of the game. People didn't want to let their team down.’ Participation grew from 5% to 90%, he says, and recognition scores went up from around 45% accuracy to 89%. ‘In an environment where collaboration is so key, we saw some great wins come out of it,’ Jackson says. ‘I saw people getting on more projects they were excited about. Our new employees were called by name. And it's so wonderful when you are recognized when you walk into a company event - it increases career satisfaction.’" Read the entire PC Advisor article on gamification here. International dermatological laboratory Galderma used some basic gamification to increase its staff’s knowledge of Galderma products as well as to build better team cooperation across its facilities. As the online resource for "decoding the business environment" - Business Digest - reported on Galderma’s success: "Galderma is an international laboratory for the development and commercialization of dermatological products, which was created as a joint venture between Nestlé and L’Oreal. In 2011, Galderma presented its sales force with a relatively traditional game: players could work individually or in groups to advance their avatar along a path riddled with quizzes and situational role-plays. The purpose of the game was to reinforce staff knowledge of Galderma products, encourage people to share ideas and exchange good practices, and to build team spirit. Game participation was voluntary, but it was popular (nearly 92% of those targeted ended up participating). In the end, the game not only strengthened Galderma’s sales force, it also measurably increased company sales. Read more about gamification from Business Digest here. Lastly this time around, there’s the rather delightful tale of a chain of restaurants called Not Your Average Joe’s who were approached by a start-up called Objective Logistics regarding their software gamification product, Muse. The game works to track food service workers’ performance, but not in an Orwellian way as much as to help wait staff to improve their own income as well as that of their employers. As covered in the online magazine, Mashable: "The startup recently raised a $1.5 million round of funding led by Google Ventures and Atlas Venture, and it is beta testing its software, Muse, in a 17-unit chain of restaurants called Not Your Average Joe's. Muse uses data from customer payments, including sales and tips, to track each employee's performance. Employees who perform the best win the shifts they prefer. This simple beta version of the platform, says Objective Logistics co-founder Philip Beauregard, has resulted in a 1.8% increase in sales and an 11% increase in gratuities throughout the Not Your Average Joe’s chain." You can read more about this interesting software as well as Objective Logistics in the Mashable article here. Designing Digitally, Inc. is excited to be in this space in our industry and proud to show our visitors what others are doing to advance Serious Games. It’s a big, wide digital world currently and there’s plenty of work to go around for hard-working, dedicated companies that stay on the cutting-edge of technology and gamification strategy. Please come back and read more of our posts as we cover the exploding world of serious games.

If you’re looking to create any kind of online training, you undoubtedly will encounter the term "gamification" at some point. Gamification, or the process of using elements of game design to enhance non-game content and make it more interesting for learners, is one of the great tools for creating engaging content. Gaming elements are appealing because they encourage learners to engage in a specific challenge in which a feedback system will lead to a quantifiable and measurable outcome, allowing instructors to determine whether or not their audience is achieving the desired results. So, how exactly does gamification promote learner engagement? Why It Works Traditional training methods don’t always give learners many options for interacting with the content. Usually, they can simply read the material and answer questions about it, or if they’re lucky they might be able to listen to a narrator read it to them. These are both passive methods of learning that aren’t able to effectively grab a learner’s interest, ultimately leading to less knowledge retention. Gamification alleviates this by offering rewards and incentives within the training itself. By including virtual reward systems such as achievements, points, or badges, gamification enables learner to actively engage in their training rather than relying on them to passively absorb it. But gamification isn’t limited to basic reward systems. Depending on the training, learners may also encounter more familiar gaming elements such as quests, puzzles, or other challenges that will help them get a better understanding for the material than they would have received from just reading or listening to it in a more traditional format. The more they can interact with the content, the more likely they are to not only remember critical information but also apply it properly in real life situations.   Virtual reward systems, levels, badges, leaderboards, and scoreboards are all different methods that can be used to both encourage learners to engage with the material and give them the opportunity to compare their performances with their peers. Sometimes a little friendly competition can help to spur interest in learning more. For example, learners can view the leaderboard, see where they fall in comparison to others, and make a conscious decision to try harder, soak up more information, and do whatever else may be necessary to surpass other learners. As they return to the material to improve their scores or gain more achievements, they receive the additional benefit of reinforcing their training, which they might otherwise have forgotten in a less interactive context. The Bottom Line Gamification works because it encourages learners to actively interact with their training and provides a platform for competition. Game elements help make learning both meaningful and satisfying for learners. By incorporating gamification, developers and trainers can use their creativity to achieve active audience participation. Because the game-based mechanics and elements (such as scoreboards and leaderboards) give instant feedback, we are able to adjust the learning as needed to keep users engaged and wanting to learn. Gamification is an essential addition if you’re looking to convert disconnected and bored learners into engaged and willing participants. To learn more from our gamification experts, and how your company can utilize gamification in your training, contact us today!

Gamification is being used more and more in the workplace to engage professionals at every level. Characterized by the various elements of game playing, such as scoreboards, a reward system, or point scoring, gamification works by encouraging participation in many different ways. As one of the main challenges for enterprises is to keep employees engaged and motivated, using measurable gaming elements is a great way to increase interest, and it allows you to keep track of what works and what doesn’t. When used in the workplace, gamification is an important tool because it brings behavior-motivating techniques and elements to an inherently game-free environment. From the human resources department to employee training and performance management, gamifying your workplace is a great way to increase growth and interest from your employees and customers alike. Benefits of Gamification in the Workplace While it can be hard for many business-minded people to take a step back and look at how gaming can be beneficial in the workplace, it is important that they do so. Gamification is not only benefiting and playing a role in the overall growth and success of an enterprise, but it is a tool to effectively engage both customers and employees. Gamification has had a positive impact on improving and enhancing customer engagement, which is an important piece to any business plan. In the work environment, gaming elements are being used to make mundane tasks more interesting for employees. By incorporating gaming principles into daily work tasks and training practices, you will be giving a boost to these routine tasks that many people find boring and hard to get excited about. Not only will your employees notice the difference in the way workplace tasks are being presented, but they will want to be a part of it. As gamification is essentially an art that works by applying game theory to non-game contexts, it is helping to create a work environment that fosters creativity, engagement, and collaboration. How Gamification Can Be Used In The Workplace In order to be successful in using gaming elements to encourage and engage employees, it is important to place a lot of emphasis on the design and development phase of the process. Coming up with a player-centric design is an integral aspect of bringing gamification into your business environment. Using gaming elements to get at business and player/employee objectives is the best way to find success with this technique. An example of how to use gamification in the workplace is to use gaming elements to reward project completion. With this, implementing certain game-like features, such as awarding badges or points, are used to reward employees for completing certain tasks. This strategy aims to incentivize employees to work their way through many tedious and challenging tasks that often create disinterest and procrastination in people. Gamification encourages employee engagement, and it helps people feel as though they and their job have a purpose. Gamification can cut across generations, levels of organization, and the many different approaches that people typically take with workplace tasks. Gaming elements are impactful to customer engagement as well as in motivating employees. Gamifying the workplace is helping to alleviate the traditional isolated approach towards achieving goals that we are used to. It breeds camaraderie, healthy competition, and a desire in employees to want to do well and participate in various trainings and routine, everyday tasks that are necessary to the operation of any business. Contact us today for information regarding Gamification for Business!

One of the strongest motivators in learning is challenge. The term "challenge" refers to a task, which while sometimes difficult, is achievable through hard work. As human beings, we are attracted to challenges because they A) Include a degree of randomness or excitement, B) Usually include multiple subgoals, and C) They are highly-variable depending on the actions you take. So, why is this important? Experts suggest that challenges should be incorporated into education as a way of engaging learners. Learners who are reluctant might be encouraged to participate by a set of challenges. Utilizing gamification elements in your learning can do a great deal to encourage and engage learners, while challenging them to succeed. Let’s learn a little more about how gamification plays into the learning process. Gamification Incorporating game based features such as points, badges and achievements can assist in engaging and challenging your learners. The challenges, goals, and reward structure must provide a sense of difficulty, but still be achievable to truly maximize their effectiveness. If the learner doesn’t experience enough of a challenge, or too much of a challenge, they may not be interested or become discouraged. Gamification elements such as achievements and badges provide motivation to the learner by giving them something to strive for. An example of a challenge through gamification could be receiving a badge for completing the first level or section after successfully passing a knowledge check. By giving the learner something to strive for by overcoming challenges, you can increase the likelihood your learners will stay engaged and reach your learning objectives. An interesting example of gamification is a program called FoldIt. FoldIt is a science-based module that rewards players with points for understanding the function of specific proteins. A testament to the project’s success: a group of users were so engaged they discovered a crucial protein involved in HIV! Gamification Flips Modern Day Learning Models to Be More Fun What can we expect from gamification and learning in the future? Well, the possibilities are almost endless. Incorporating game based elements challenges users to remain engaged and work through your web based training. Companies can use gamification in training employees while educational facilities can present information to students in new and exciting ways. Parents can utilize gamification with their children as a means to keep them engaged and entertained, while educating. Overall, gamification is a great way to encourage learners to succeed. Check out this neat video on gamification in real life, created by Designing Digitally, Inc. Also, contact us to learn more about how your organization can utilize gamification in your web-based training.

FRANKLIN, OH- Aug 15, 2014 - Designing Digitally, Inc., a full service, interactive E-Learning development company, has been selected by the United States Legislative Branch to develop innovative online training using gamification and serious games. "We are very excited and look forward to building a long lasting partnership and educating, engaging and entertaining the staff of our United States Government Legislative branch," says Andrew Hughes, President of Designing Digitally, Inc. "It is an honor to have the opportunity to work alongside the United States government." Bringing education and innovation to the forefront, this partnership will approach adult learning with an outside-the-box mentality. The creative team at Designing Digitally, Inc. will produce learner centric, staff centered learning modules to educate, engage and entertain the audience. About Designing Digitally, Inc.: Designing Digitally, Inc. specializes in creating educational, engaging, and entertaining learning experiences that incorporate gamification to enhance learner retention. Designing Digitally, Inc. is a full-service E-Learning development firm and serious game developer. Located in Franklin, Ohio, Designing Digitally, Inc. has developed a number of serious games and simulations, virtual worlds, and E-Learning solutions for companies around the country and the globe. Designing Digitally, Inc.'s overall goal is to add value to the clients that they serve by creating engaging, educational, and entertaining learning solutions. For more information on our e-learning, serious games, or simulated learning experience consulting contact us today!

Incorporating gamification into your organization’s learning experiences can be a great way to increase learner engagement. To receive the full benefits of gamification, you’ll want to be sure the gaming elements are used in a way that supports your end goal and objective. With proper execution and design, your learning goals are far more achievable. Take a look at some factors to consider when implementing gamification in your training: Be sure to customize Every organization is different, so the gaming elements you use should mirror your workplace culture, mission, audience, and objectives. If you deviate too much, you risk failing to motivate your employees by creating a learning experience that does not appeal to them. By customizing the user experience you will be able to build a model that meets your needs, specifically. Implementing various gamification elements that are carefully considered based upon your business goals and objectives is an important step towards building a successful model. Make it enjoyable Gamification allows you to create a dynamic platform that fosters creativity and company investment by using mechanics to create something more interesting to your audience. It gives employees a new and fun way to complete training, which will help bolster their enjoyment of their work. The benefits don’t stop with educated and entertained employees—gamification also boosts retention rates, as employees will engage with the material in a more interactive way. The more your employees retain, the more likely you are to see improvements in their job performances. Be supportive In order to find success with gamification in the workplace and to change employee behavior for the better, it is important that it is supported by all levels of your organization. Gamification cannot just be used as one of many attempts to engage employees; it should be implemented as something that all managers, trainers, and leaders alike support and believe in. Employees engage with training material more thoroughly when they feel their professional growth is important to the leadership of their organization. Be sure your gamified learning experience has the leadership support it needs and deserves, and you will be much more likely to accomplish your training goals. Gamification essentially provides leaders in the workforce with a whole new, richer set of techniques that are designed to motivate people. People love games and social interaction, especially if done well and in a manner that they can relate to. From customizing for your specific audience to ensuring the gamified learning experience you are implementing is supported on all levels of management, the tools for planning out your strategy and successfully putting it into action are now in your hands. To learn more about how gamification can aid your training efforts, contact us today.

Gamification is more than just a fad or a hip new way to motivate your employees, it has given corporations an effective means to engage employees and see real-time benefits. Gamification uses various game-based elements of community, rewards, and social interaction in non-game contexts. Additionally, gamification helps encourage employees to participate. As the workforce continues to get younger and the role of technology bigger, enterprises must adjust if they want to succeed. Whether you start small or jump head first into gamification of learning content, the fact of the matter is, gamification is effective and cannot be ignored.   Top Reasons Why Gamification Is Important to Your Business Gamification is a great way to get your learners interacting with your training. Take a look at some of the top reasons why gamification has the potential to empower business and motivate employees: Gamification Increases Engagement The bottom line is that employees yearn for social interaction, and fun in the workplace. From forming a work softball team to going out to lunch together, employees want to feel like they have a place and a professional circle that is a positive atmosphere. Gamification does this in a virtual sense; providing employees with friendly competition and engagement with peers by way of leaderboards and achievements. Getting employees engaged is a first step in reaching your learning objectives. Gamification Boosts Knowledge Retention Hearing information and retaining it are two very different situations. All your employees (or at least we would hope) are listening in your training sessions. However, the number of employees that are retaining that information long-term is drastically less. By incorporating game-based elements in your web-based training, you are providing a way for your learners to become engaged and interested in you material. When your learners are more engaged they are more likely to retain information for much longer. For example, think of a time when your significant other made you watch a movie you were not at all interested in; do you recall all the character’s names a day later? Compare that to a movie you were engaged and interested in, you likely recall every detail. When you are engaged, you are more likely to retain that knowledge. Gamification Enhances Achievement When it comes to the workplace, people are judged based on their knowledge of the business, skills, achievements, and corporate reputation. Giving your employees a platform to not only become masters of their skill, but to interact and share with others, is a wonderful way to enhance achievement overall. Gamifying your learning content will establish a community that serves as a platform for employees to recognize one another’s achievements, which will help grow your team camaraderie and, in turn, your business. Adding game-based elements to your web-based training is a great way to increase employee engagement and knowledge retention. Gamification creates a learning environment where friendly competition and status can fuel a desire to succeed. Simply, gamification can no longer be ignored by those responsible for training. For more information on how gamification can be implemented into your organization’s learning plans contact Designing Digitally, Inc. today!

Gamification and game-based learning are both buzzwords in the education and training industry. Although both are innovative ways to train your learners, they cannot be used interchangeably. While both may relate to education, how they do so varies. So, what is gamification? Gamification is adding game-like mechanics to non-game experiences to encourage a specific behavior and motivate learners. This does not mean you are having your learners play games. What it does mean is you are taking motivational elements from games, such as badges or achievements, and incorporating them to encourage your learners to perform a specific behavior. An example of this in a web-based training application would be awarding learners badges for completing sections of training, and posting their scores to a leaderboard. These actions encourage learners and keep them engaged. A more "real life" example would be boy scout badges the scouts receive upon completion of a specific task. The game-like mechanic (the badge), encourages and rewards the scout to perform a specific behavior (say, the ability to tie a certain knot). Gamification is a great way to do the following: Encourage existing behaviors Change behaviors Provide immediate feedback & gratification Track progress and effort On the other hand, we have game-based learning (GBL). Game-based learning is using games to teach specific content. This can be through a game created for education (serious games), or a non-educational game for educational purposes. For example, using the game Angry Birds to reinforce X and Y intercepts or Cooking Dash to introduce what it is like working in a restaurant. Immersing your learners in a simulated experience in a game is a great way to reinforce learning. Take the game Civilization, for example. The player is immersed in the simulation and must understand ideas like politics, tactics, and democracy to succeed. Game-based learning gives students the freedom to fail and focuses on using the game to reinforce the learning material and provide context. In essence, any variety of game encourages the player to practice, learn from their mistakes, and many other important skills. Using games to teach can do the following: Provide context Engage and encourage students Provide instruction in a new, more interesting way While gamification and game-based learning are buzzwords in the training realm, and are sometimes used interchangeably, they vary greatly. Gamification is using game-like mechanics, such as badges and leaderboards, in your training. It is not playing games or using games to teach. Whereas, game-based learning is using games to teach and reinforce educational objectives. Incorporating either one of these elements into your training is a sure way to catch your audience’s interest and teach them your material. Contact gamification experts, Designing Digitally, Inc., today to learn more about utilizing gamification and game-based learning in your organization.

Designing Digitally, Inc., a full-service, gamification and interactive E-Learning development company, has been selected for the 2014 TrainingIndustry.com Top 20 Gamification Companies List. The selection of Designing Digitally, Inc. spurred from a demonstration of excellence in the following areas: company growth and potential to grow, capabilities, quality of clients and more. "We are honored to be selected by TrainingIndustry.com as a Top 20 Gamification Company. It is satisfying to know our efforts have been recognized and the dedication to our clients rewarded," says Andrew Hughes, President of Designing Digitally, Inc. Andrew comments, "We strive to provide effective training solutions and will use this recognition as motivation to continue to develop stellar gamified learning for our clients. By consistently looking inward and improving our processes we are able to produce gamification experiences over a broad realm of topics that really stand out. It's a privilege for such as prestigious agency in the industry to select our firm for this award, and I really want to express the gratitude I have for each and every team member at Designing Digitally, Inc. The employees working on the efforts and providing this innovation to our clients are the true winners of this award." About Designing Digitally, Inc.: Designing Digitally, Inc. is an award winning custom content development firm focused on Gamification, Serious games, and E-Learning development for corporate behavior change. Located in Franklin, Ohio, Designing Digitally, Inc. has developed a number of serious games and simulations, gamified learning, and E-Learning solutions for companies around the country and the globe. Designing Digitally, Inc.'s overall goal is to add value to the clients that they serve by creating engaging, educational and entertaining learning solutions that exceed expectations.

Since the beginning of time, or at least since the marketplace developed as a center for commerce and trade, businesses have sought methods for getting a "leg up" on the competition. For most companies, this advantage usually translates into a lower-cost method for doing business, or some tactic for increasing sales. Even for those agents of industry who develop a revolutionary new product, there comes a point where imitators are making it cheaper, or with a twist or innovation to the basic product- there goes the leading market share for the original creators. Gamified learning, also known as gamification, uses game mechanics like badges and leaderboards to engage and motivate learners during training to create a behavior change or knowledge retention. Innovative companies are using gamification in their training to get a "leg up" on their competition. Through gamification, employers are able to better engage their audience and create the desired behavior change in their organization. For instance, using badges to reward a learner for completing a certain task or performing above a specified standard. When the learner receives the recognition and status associated with a given badge/reward, they are more motivated to continue and perform well. Much of the reason so many businesses are engaging with gamification, outside of increased engagement and motivation, is because the metrics generated enable training and HR professionals to monitor training progress as well as performance in the module from a productivity perspective. As Michelle Greenwald explains in a September 2014 Forbes article, "It’s often accompanied by progress tracking metrics. The objectives are to engage users and change their behaviors in ways brands and organizations want. The extremely broad and expanding range of ways gamification has been successfully utilized in recent years provides insights into other ways the tactic can achieve strategic objectives." In other words, improvements and adjustments in the serious game can make employees learn more or increase productivity, or motivate customers to engage more with the business or product. Greenwald goes on to illustrate the vast diversity of applications that are inherent within gamification for employees and customers alike for business purposes. Some of her examples include the following: For health care, "Alvio makes breathing and lung exercises more fun for kids and individuals with asthma and other respiratory problems. It’s a win-win. A win for Alvio’s sales and a win for patients who get better and significantly reduced needs for inhalants, because they’re more likely to do the exercises and can more easily measure how well they are doing them!" For automobile manufacturing, "The Ford Fusion hybrid dashboard has gamified driving, to help drivers maximize the fuel economy of their vehicles. With the EcoGuide, developed in conjunction with Smart Design, ‘efficiency leaves’ appear on the dashboard and grow and proliferate the more efficiently the car is driven. This helps drivers adjust their driving speeds and rewards them for ‘good behavior.’" Sustainability initiatives and behavior modification, "On RecycleBank’s website, users earn points by answering a tiered series of questions about green living, and by pledging to adopt greener habits. At home, they earn points the more they recycle, by measuring the weight each time. Participants redeem points for merchandise, discounts on brands like SC Johnson and Unilever, and at hundreds of retailers including Macy’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Whole Foods." For brand loyalty and increased sales, McDonald’s "classic" Monopoly campaign is gamified, albeit a non-digital variety. "McDonald’s Monopoly game, which started in 1987, encourages customers to come to the restaurant frequently, for more chances to win, and to visit the website often to see if they’ve won. The results are increased sales, brand engagement, and time spent with the brand." Employee training, "Gamification of employee training has been a huge and highly productive area. Far more fun, interesting & engaging than a manual or lecture, video and board games have been created to teach everything from portion control at Cold Stone Creamery, to customer service at Starbucks, and housekeeping and reception desk skills at Hilton Garden Inn." Function over Form A disheartening, but sometimes true fact- gamification does not always provide the ROI companies are looking for. Adam Hollander, explains in a Fast Company article, "Another statistic from Gartner shows that 80% of those same gamification implementations will fail to meet their business objectives. I’ve heard many companies talk about using gamification solutions because they look fun. This is the wrong reason to use gamification. Gamification in the enterprise is not about fun or even engagement--it’s about driving business results through changes in employee behavior. Gartner says that the reason most gamification implementations will fail is because of poor design. In my experience, poor gamification design is a direct result of not identifying (and being able to measure against) key business problems a company is looking to solve." Some companies get caught up in the idea of gamifying their training and lose focus on what is really important, the learning. Sure, you can hand someone your training powerpoints and tell them, "gamify it," but chances are you will not be in much better shape than before. Before contracting a company to gamify your learning, make sure you flesh out your true training needs and pain points. What behavior change or knowledge do you desire? The last thing you want is to invest resources in a training course that looks better than it teaches. Fortunately, at Designing Digitally we treat the learning as priority number 1. Our partnership begins with a detailed Training Needs Analysis to really flesh out your learning objectives and pain points. We identify how to best convey your vital information to your audience and how gamification elements can complement the learning and boost engagement and motivation. Here at Designing Digitally aesthetics come after learning to ensure your learners reach the training objectives and the desired behavior change occurs. Are you curious about what a gamified learning experience could do for your company? Contact us today to learn more. Or, request a free quote. We’d love to hear from you!