Enterprises are always looking for more efficient and effective ways to train their employees. Over time, the traditional classroom training methods have been replaced with digital learning technologies. And now, it is time to look for a more exciting way to educate, train, and inform Gen Y as well as Gen Z employees, using entertainment principles, creativity, and technology.
Serious games are one of the most effective learning methods for corporate training. This game-based learning method is innovative and can make the training sessions more engaging. In this process, the concept and the skills you want to impart to your learners are provided through online games instead of face-to-face classes or reading materials. This unique training method can be fun as well as practical at the same time.
What are serious games?
Serious games are specially designed games whose primary objective is not entertainment or fun but learning or practicing a skill. As they are engaging, entertaining, and immersive, serious games have become a popular training tool in defense, healthcare, aeronautics, science, and other industries.
Serious games are designed to teach employees industry-specific problem-solving skills in an engaging manner. These games involve challenges and rewards to keep employees excited enough to complete the game as well as the training program. A well-designed game uses the entertainment and engagement components to make the learners grasp complex concepts and develop new skills.
What are the benefits of using serious games in employee training?
Serious games have already shown great results in different industries as an effective learning tool. Here are the key benefits of leveraging serious games for corporate training.
1. Stimulates the learners’ thinking abilities
Game-based learning offers physiological benefits. It can stimulate brain activity as well as thinking capacity. Serious games help in practicing decision making, improving cognitive skills, and applying the learned knowledge in real-life scenarios.
2. Teaches employees to deal with real-world situations
Well-designed serious games for training enables learners to pick up new skills and concepts. Here, the learners not only get knowledge and skill training in an interactive environment, but they also get the chance to implement their knowledge in virtual life-like situations. Serious games enable employees to practice their skills and compete in a gaming environment, making the learning process engaging and effective for them.
3. Game-based training aids learners to master tasks
Like any other video games, serious games are also designed with multiple levels and objectives. These elements encourage learners to play the game over and over to achieve higher levels, and keep them motivated to get better at a task or skill. There are several proofs that when employers implement serious games as a training tool, trainees endeavor harder to master those skills or tasks. With game-based training programs, learners get multiple chances for trial and error and to learn from their mistakes.
4. Provides immediate feedback
In the case of game-based learning platforms, learners get immediate feedback on their performance. They can instantly know whether they are making progress towards the goal or falling behind. This constant monitoring system helps learners to stay focused towards their goals and also drives them to learn about the concept or task in depth to achieve mastery.
5. Promotes multi-tasking
Most training games are specially designed, where players have to juggle multiple inputs at once to move forward. This feature of the games makes the players more alert and attentive to handle various tasks at a time.
Multitasking is one of the most crucial aspects of corporate positions in today’s world, especially with companies focusing on an agile work culture.
And serious games are one of the vital tools to promote multitasking; when carefully designed, they mimic contemporary workplaces and allow trainees to gather multitasking experience through a pseudo real-life scenario. These games can upskill learners with multitasking in a highly engaging and interactive environment.
6. Interactive nature
Games are interactive in nature – different gaming elements like levels, rankings, achievements, rewards, competition, etc., make them all the more engaging for the players. When games are used as a training method, every trainee must participate actively in the training program. The interactive nature of games keeps learners engaged as the playful elements of serious games make learning effective and entertaining. Interactive games also contribute to improving communication and coordination, which facilitate better collaboration.
7. Promotes innovative thinking
A well-designed serious game can put trainees in adverse situations similar to real-life crises, where the learners have to deal with multiple variables to respond according to the situation’s demand. Creating such scenarios in a game encourages players to think ‘out of the box’ and find a solution. Serious games thus help learners sharpen their innovative thinking and problem-solving skills.
In Conclusion
Serious games allow learners to interact with the subject matter, face real-world challenges, implement their innovative thinking capacity to resolve the problem, and master the necessary skills, by playing the games over and over. Game-based training programs are becoming increasingly popular as soft skills (communication skill, critical thinking, leadership, decision making, people management, etc.) are in high demand in multiple industries. Serious games are the most suitable way to practice problem-solving skills in a virtual environment without any real danger. Therefore, corporate enterprises should consider serious games to train their employees and improve their skills.
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