Category: Learning Experience Design

Anybody out there a closet McDonald’s® MONOPOLY™ player?

I’ve been out of the Midwest for several years now, but nothing beats a fresh brewed iced tea and a good one is hard to find on the West coast. While I’m not a big McDonald’s fan for a variety of reasons, come MONOPOLY season, there is no other place I’d rather buy my large unsweetened iced tea.

Like them or not, it’s interesting to take a look at what makes McDonald’s MONOPOLY so effective, and as learning game designers, what can we learn from this popular game?

#1 – Keep the game simple.

We are all busy and have demands on our time. Your average learner does not have time to learn the rules of a complicated learning game and then apply them. One thing that McDonald’s does brilliantly is keeping the game very simple for consumers to understand. Want to play? Buy some fries. It’s as simple as that.

#2 – There are rewards aplenty.

One out of four players in McDonald’s Monopoly is a winner of some kind. Everyone else receives a MONOPOLY playing piece to use on their game board. This means every time you make one move in the game, you have something to show for it, whether it’s Baltic Avenue or a chicken sandwich.

#3 – Have a clear start and end.

The fact that McDonald’s only runs its game a few weeks out of the year creates a sense of urgency among players. Better hop on over to my local Mickey D’s™ ASAP and buy that large iced tea, so I can win a game piece (which I will most likely not keep) because this is a limited time offer! By having a clear start and end point to your game, learners have a sense of urgency to quickly become involved in the learning game.

#4 – Keep it fresh.

Just like their French fries, McDonald’s knows things are better served up fresh. This is why each year, while the general theme of the McDonald’s game is consistent, how players win prizes changes. Each year game pieces have new values, and new prizes are added. Investing in building learning games can be easy (think homemade trivia for instructor-led training) or complex (3-D character-based simulation games). In particular, where there is a large financial investment made, it’s important to develop a learning game you can refresh year after year, perhaps by re-skinning or re-populating with new data, which provides a fresh experience for learners. Work with your vendor partner early on when developing the learning game to ensure it has a shelf-life that lasts as long as you need it to. (Extended shelf life = enhanced ROI.)

It’s a good thing it takes me 30 minutes to get to the nearest McDonald’s because I am seriously craving some fries and an iced tea right now!

Routinely in my role as Creative Director at SweetRush, I’m asked, “What makes a good game?” While I could give examples, quote research, and talk until I’m blue in the face, I first ask the question, “Do you play games?” If I’m lucky, I move to, “What are the characteristics of games you like?”

What makes a good learning game isn’t all that different from what makes any game enjoyable. Whether you’re a fan of Tomb Raider™, Parcheesi™, or looking to rack up mileage points, good games share several characteristics. Take a moment to identify your favorite game. Got it? Great, read on.

Good games have the element of chance.

Winning the lottery requires luck, other games require skills, but all good games have an element of chance. Sometimes chance is an unknown surprise (as in THE GAME OF LIFE™) and sometimes it comes from actions taken by other players (as in MONOPOLY™). Games are great at mimicking real life, where we also do not have complete control over all the variables.

Good games are competitive.

Competition can be with oneself, other individuals, or teams. In a successful learning environment, competition must be instructive and productive. Recently, we launched a game for a very large audience of learners spread across the U.S. and Canada. In our solution, learners engage with their peers across the country in a points-based quiz game that tests their knowledge. New sessions welcome learners with a smart leaderboard that displays their points, alongside other local competitors, which enhances the competitive spirit.

Another great example of competition is in a game we recently launched, where in contrast to the prior example, learners compete against themselves. As learners complete tasks and quests, their points tally increases, dangling the carrot of greater awards that can be collected if they take on optional challenges.

Good games have rewards.

“Johnny… clean your room and as a reward you can watch an hour of TV.” Sound familiar? Whether you call it bribery or rewards, our brains are wired to seek them. Rewards give us a sense of accomplishment, keep us engaged and motivated, and just feel good. Building a reward system into your learning strategy can create a sense of accomplishment for your learners, thus increasing retention.

Disclaimer: Slapping on a leaderboard (even with blinking lights) or other gaming elements may bring a dose of gamification. But, buyers beware: not every solution requires or is even appropriate for a gaming solution. Ah, but this is a subject for another blog. Stay tuned.

Learners today want to learn by playing. They want chance, competition, and rewards. Don’t you? Would you rather be learning about tennis, or playing tennis? Time to get your learners’ game on!

Photo Credit: CarbonNYC via Compfight cc

Is the supply of learning professionals who understand game design ready to meet the demand for game-based learning? Do we search for fictional Bigfoot — or get creative with our roles, teams, and processes?

It’s a law of nature: things change. Advances in technology and our understanding of psychology foster new ways of communicating. Ten or fifteen years ago, e-learning transformed instructional design. We’re seeing it again with the gamification of performance improvement. We are past the tire-kicking stage. As a creative director, I’ve gone from pitching ideas and hearing “people won’t get it” or “no budget,” to having my clients leap on creative ideas for game-based learning.

A Perfect Storm: Building Demand

Don’t get me wrong: corporations and companies such as mine have been developing higher-interactivity and scenario-based e-learning for years. The difference is that these types of projects would typically be a flagship effort — a shining star amidst a lot of basic interactivity courses. Now e-learning is expected to be enriched with innovative ideas and techniques from game design — from motivational elements, such as timers or badges, to connecting with learners through more-interactive storytelling. This is quickly evolving to be the new norm, and not an isolated custom event.

I’ll be happy to share my thoughts on the efficacy of game-based learning, but I’ll save that for another time. We’re in a perfect storm that’s building demand for integrating play and learning. Millennials are entering the workforce, and we need to train them the way they grew up learning — through play. The broader industry of gamification is booming, revolutionizing everything from brand loyalty to corporate wellness. And we have our own pioneers — Karl Kapp, Julie Dirksen, and more — sharing the why and how to introduce game dynamics into learning.

Game-Based Learning: Changing the Rules

Why is producing game-based learning different from standard e-learning? It used to be that the instructional designer (ID) led the design process. The ID conducted analysis, defined the learning objectives, and envisioned the interactivity (often choosing from pre-determined templates). The creative director defined the visual approach, and collaborated and brainstormed on the more-interactive elements, but the ID was steering the bus.

Enter game design. Ask yourself who has the expertise to conceptualize the game concept — a puzzle, a race, or an office simulation — and define the rules. The ID? The creative director? Your kid brother? It’s not as easy as saying, “Hey, let’s throw in a timer and some badges.” Someone has to understand and embrace the business/learning objectives, how adults learn via a gaming experience, and how learning is enhanced through the gaming elements. Someone has to define the actions, the game elements, and their behavior. Someone has to communicate the concepts to the developers, and help the project manager understand if it can be delivered on time and on budget. Someone has to present the ideas to clients and get them fired up.

Now do you get me about the Bigfoot thing?

At this moment, the shift is a tall order. It’s required a new level of up-front collaboration, and more participation by my interactive design team. The ID needs to embrace game design, and the design team needs to embrace ID principles. Are we seeing a new way of collaborating — or even a new role altogether — emerge? I’d love to hear how your teams are grappling with this issue.

Hope for the Future, Solutions for the Present

Over time, the talent pool will catch up with the demand. IDs will study up (they are good at that) and pursue continuing education in game-based learning. Game industry professionals will cross over, just as many of us started in web design and made the leap. Project managers will gain experience with the changes to process and budgets. And remember all those Millennials entering the workforce, who have deep experience as gamers. Similar to the transition to e-learning, people will learn on the job, attend schools with gamification programs, and add skills that will make them more highly valued and relevant than their peers who did not advance to the next level.

In the meantime, if you lead a team, what steps can you take?

• Think before you leap. Simply throwing in leaderboards and badges does not successful gamification make. Who is your audience? What are your objectives? Will gamification meet them or is there a better way?
• Don’t be held back by old rules. Designing a creative user experiences requires breaking out of your current framework. Get your A-team together and assess strengths within your existing team. Do you have IDs or developers who get it? If not, start looking for them or accept that you’ll need an outside vendor.
• Add time in the process for collaboration. The detailed design stage is ideal for collaborative brainstorming between your creative director, instructional designer, and lead developer.
• Support those interested in game-based learning by approving continuing education, books, and conference attendance. Empower a champion and allow her to become immersed in the field and bring ideas back to your team.
• Be realistic. Embrace the future. It’s okay, shift happens.
• And, for goodness’ sake, play some games!

And let’s keep looking for Bigfoot. If you catch him, you might even see your name in lights!

This blog originally appeared on Trainingindustry.com. Photo Credit: Lizette Greco via Compfight cc