In Search of Fun

by Monica Cornetti
CEO, Sententia Gamification

Is it possible to make dull, difficult, tedious, or challenging tasks just a little more fun? 

What if you could make your employee learning experiences interesting, challenging, and FUN -- perhaps more game-like?

The reality is… you enjoy playing games. You’ve been playing games since the days of cavemen, and it is your nature to compare yourself to see how you measure up to others. Games drive emotions, build loyalty, and create character. 

Watch people immersed in gameplay and you’ll see their whole being is involved. They’re using their skills to the utmost. Time becomes meaningless and minutes, even hours, fly by. What if you could deconstruct games to understand what causes people to play games for hours, being completely involved in an activity for its own sake?

Because FUN is a completely subjective concept, to create courses that learners find relevant and fun is the pursuit of every innovative, committed, progressive Instructional Designer and L&D professional. If you ask 100 people on the street what they think is ‘fun’ you will get 100 different answers, and sometimes they don’t even know themselves what they might consider fun.

If your learners don’t even recognize what they might find FUN, how can you? How can you really learn about the audience since there is not one common element that will appeal to all members of the group? You have to work hard to get inside the heads of your ideal learner and figure out what makes them tick. What inspires them? Who is their favorite author, director, or popular personality and why? What was the last thing that made them laugh… really hard? 

Preferably, you will uncover this by actually talking to a sampling of your learners. After all, the true Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) of “things that appeal to your learners” are your actual learners. A solid understanding of your players and what makes them tick is key to creating a course that resonates with them. 

As YOU explore how Gamification can help you and your organization, here are two factors to consider:  

1. Think of the Audience as Players not Puppets – Slapping some meaningless points, badges, and leaderboards into your event or marketing strategy does not mean that you’ll be able to get people to do what they’ve been unwilling to do before. Engage the target audience with meaningful incentives. 
2. Design for Player-Centricity –The sweet spot for Gamification is where the business objectives and player objectives overlap. Gamified applications must be designed to motivate players to achieve their goals. 

In the gamification of learning we are steadfast in our search of ways to create learning that changes behavior, which our learners will find addictingly FUN. Gamification does NOT equal technology or playing video games. It is an important and powerful strategy for influencing and motivating people. Simply defined, Gamification uses game mechanics and rewards for non-game applications in order to solve a wide range of business problems.  

At Sententia Gamification we believe its time for FUN to be taken seriously in corporate training and adult education. If you agree, that making business processes compelling by making them fun is a challenge you accept, please join the conversation and share your ideas. You can follow me on Twitter or comment here. We’d love to learn more about you and your work!

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