Business simulation, gamification and serious games. Are they different or just forms of the same process? The answer, unhelpfully perhaps, is both ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Gamification is billed as the application of game dynamics to non-game environments and in that respect both simulation and serious games qualify. Whether it is a business board game with strategic decision making to the fore, an enterprise simulation which models a specific part of a business, or a 3D game where future surgeons practise open-heart surgery the essence of gameplay is present in all of them. It’s likely people will participate in teams, they will outperform each other and the game will make that clear. We will know who wins and who loses. Since our particular interest is Business Simulation games we would point to examples of games that develop business acumen as just another form of gamification: they involve a fun, challenging and dynamic world, typically modelled on reality and with standard gameplay items such as a leader board, virtual competitors, a score and a clear goal. These are all gamification elements in the purest sense.
Gamification developments have tended to emerge most prominantly in areas such as customer loyalty – from an external perspective and engagement – from an internal perspective. Want customers to keep coming back to your business? Think gamification. Want your staff to read the stuff you keep posting on that intranet they ignore? Think gamification. On the surface it may appear that the clearest distinction between these approaches is that gamification seems to be aimed at motivating people by stealth to do things they would rather not do. At the very least, in the environments with which they are already acquainted. That’s an unfair description, though. Gamification has helped make aspects of commercial activity fun for the customer and if they had no interest in the company or products they wouldn’t be near their website or app in the first place. Moreover, we already acknowledge that most training and development programmes – with the clear intent to develop talent – find it difficult to engage all participants for the duration of a course. Perhaps we should be considering what they share rather than what makes them different.
But first…
Consider this: ask someone for an example of gamification and they’re likely to throw back the Nike+ app. No argument there. It’s an incredible achievement and a slick product but – and here’s an important distinction – Nike didn’t gamify running in the way that a simulation gamifies business. The practice of running form a physical perspective remains unchanged. People can – and do – improve their distance, their time, their splits. They challenge each other and reach milestones and win prizes. They admonish and support, boast and complain, in equal measure. But have they learned anything about running? The answer is typically, no. They have more data to track and measure performance for sure, but in terms of skill or applied technique? Probably not.
Simulation and Serious Games are typically different. These are immersive learning experiences. In business simulation the business environment or specific parts of it are simulated to create an environment which is modelled on the real world. Activities mimic those we experience in our daily lives and function as a developmental educational experience. An experiential one which research tells us is more likely to lead to deep learning and improved outcomes.
Consider the experience of a construction company developing its top talent. Players work in cross functional teams in a simulated business environment where they must bid for jobs taken from those the company already knows are upcoming or those it missed out on in the past year. In the simulated model teams compete against each other and attempt to win contracts which they must then manage. They have control of key parameters and must deal with exogenous shocks or disruptions common to the industry – supply chain failures, unexpected adverse weather conditions, client design changes and so on.
In each of these scenarios the players face challenges they are familiar with and which closely mirror their day-to-day experience. Add in the observation of senior management teams evaluating how well individuals and teams cope – and the quality of their decision making processes – and you have an environment which is hardly free from pressure. Running your business into the ground? Making suggestions that are always ignored? Failing to play an active role? In a dynamic environment such as an online simulation game there’s nowhere to hide and no time to backtrack. Just like the real world.
It is this immersion which makes games so effective as a training proposition. Players get to create – and destroy – real company value but in an environment they can learn from without jeopardising their position or that of their firm. Did you kill the patient in your last open-heart procedure? Let’s be grateful it wasn’t real and you get a chance to go back and perfect that technique. Now let’s see how you cope when their blood pressure drops off the chart unexpectedly. See? That’s a real world issue in an environment that feels real enough to raise your temperature and demand all of your attention.
Now let’s consider gamification again. We know already that it’s a great way of making mundane or psychologically challenging tasks such as exercise more enjoyable, but it’s also proving adept at changing behaviour across a wider and more applicable business setting than was first imagined. Creating an online environment where salesman can monitor their sales, compete against their own past performance or those of their colleagues locally, nationally or internationally has fundamentally altered behaviour and driven motivation to new heights. People are rewarded with points and fake (sometimes real) bonuses but what matters is the competition. It was always there and, in many respects there’s nothing new here. But the gaming environment just makes it better.
And that’s the rub, ultimately. What games do, be it through simulation, gamification or serious games is drive engagement. They make the worlds of learning, training and day-to-day business performance a more enjoyable place to be. So who’s ready to play?
The Business Simulation Blog 