Are You Using Gaming for Learning?

According to Xerox research, consumers see about 3,000 media messages a day, pay attention to 52 and only remember four. With those stats, odds are slim that learning messages will make it to the employee’s final four. For this reason, many learning organizations are embracing gaming as a way to break through the clutter.

Gaming is prevalent online, and elements of it can increase the likelihood that learning will be effective when paired with adult learning principles and gamification research.

An April 2011 press release from technology research organization Gartner said half of all organizations that manage innovation processes will gamify them by 2015. In 2010, Scientific American reported in its article “Innovations for a Bright Future: Better Living through Gaming” that gaming is one of 10 world-changing ideas. In 2009, Tom Chatfield of The Observer reported that games outperformed Hollywood movies as the primary source of global entertainment. Essentially, gaming is here to stay, and it has implications for the workplace.

Why Gaming for Learning?
A report by the Pew Research Center, “Adults and Video Games,” said 53 percent of American adults play video games. Virtually all American teens are engaged in gaming, according to a separate but similar report also from Pew, “Teens, Video Games and Civics.” The survey finds almost all youth ages 12 to 17 play games, and at least half play games on a given day. This next-generation workforce is comfortable playing games, making them more willing to accept or expect gaming in the workplace.

Many employees now in the workforce also grew up with electronic gaming — starting with “Pong” in 1972. “Pong” was the first commercially successful video game and is credited with starting the video game revolution. Iconic games followed: “Pac Man” in 1980, “Halo” in 2001, “World of Warcraft” in 2004, “Farmville” in 2009, which lead to “CityVille,” and now “Angry Birds,” which has been downloaded more than 500 million times, according to Reuters. Baby boomers, Gen X and Gen Y comprise the majority of the workforce and are the target audience for organizational learning, and most have experience with some form of online gaming.