Simulations and virtual reality are often used as the tools to create lifelike conditions, so players can learn their art or improve their skills based on situations that are as real as possible. In other forms of learning or training, on boarding this is rarely included. Partly because for years the technology to enable mimicking conditions wasn’t there or at least that was the excuse.
However I used to create life like conditions in a training scenario, whether it was through time challenge, increased difficulty levels or scenario’s from treasure hunts to actual negotiation tactics, unusual ways of explaining regular things, etc. In effect I was using game mechanics to create the dynamics one would find in real life leadership or sales conditions. So I know even from those experiences that building in an element of reality or life like-ness gives the learner the chance to experiment and equally reflect on their performance in those situations.
In some of our recent gamification work we are using time pressure, difficulty levels and in one case we even contemplated having a water level gauge for tablets involved. The purpose in each case was to actually train the employees in the conditions they were very likely to experience in reality.
Training and on-boarding if done before a person joins in reality or to improve their skills level, needs to be relevant and where possible give the person insights into where they may require to adapt behaviour.
What have you use to create life-like conditions in your gamification work?
