

Games
(GAY-mz)

Radioactive
What is a Game in Learning & Development?
A game is a learning activity in which game elements are used to accomplish specific learning objectives.
Other Common Names
Other common names for games include:
- Play
Key Properties
In her book Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, Jane McGonigal discusses the plethora of benefits that game play can bring to the world and identifies four core properties of games:
- They have a goal
- They have rules
- They have a feedback system
- Participation is voluntary

Resources From The Train Like a Champion Blog
- Using the Newlywed Game for Coworkers
- Creating Training Games Like Family Feud with PowerPoint
- New Employee Orientation Game
- “Play is our brain’s favorite way of learning.”
- 5 Ways to Incorporate More Play into your Next Presentation
- Board Games for Training Inspiration
- A few considerations when designing a game for your next training
Some Playful statements from Brian's book What's Your Formula
- "Several years ago, I worked with some colleagues to try to develop our own game for a training program on nonprofit board development (The Nonprofit Board Board Game!). We bounced ideas around, discussed them as a team, reviewed some of the content with subject matter experts, and thought we were ready. Then we piloted it, and it was a disaster. When our team debriefed this experience, we realized that creating a Board Board Game was a fun concept, but given the time we had for the session we were asked to develop, the game was too complex and there were some simpler, more straightforward and effective ways to introduce the concepts to accomplish our objectives."
- "Games can be hazardous to your training program when they are integrated more in the name of fun than in learning. Just because you’ve added a game to your program does not mean that you’ve magically gamified it. Games and gamification are different, which is why they are two separate elements on this periodic table."
- "In an environment such as sales, where competition is part of the job description, a well-designed competitive game can simulate the real-life environment in which learners are navigating on a daily basis. If your training program is focused on skills such as team building, problem solving, or leadership development, a cooperative game may be more appropriate. Be prepared for some learners to naturally be more concerned about the rules, fairness, and winning than they will be about learning. Whichever direction you choose— competitive or cooperative game—be sure your learners understand that the game is a learning device and in the grand scheme of things, winning your game doesn’t really matter."