Play-to-Learn
What’s happening?
Play is crucial for human growth and development. It allows us to explore and expand our creativity, connect with others and nurture our intrinsic motivators through getting in tune with an inner sense of purpose.
One of the most effective and popular methods of play is through games.
Games in learning work great in practical terms. They offer a host of possibilities to get better at problem-solving, test hypotheses, and learn new skills without the risks and costs associated with real-life experiences (pilots learn to fly planes in games and simulators for a reason!).
In Education
Schools and higher education institutions have been using games in one form or another for a while, from the earliest version of a Montessori classroom to universities using Risk to teach strategy and simulators to encourage entrepreneurial thinking (e.g. Acton School of Business).
In Business
Meanwhile, in the business and brand world, gaming is huge and getting bigger, but often needs better structure along with education on how to approach it while keeping it contextual and non-intrusive (yup, very meta).
Brands have been trying their hand at gaming from a variety of different angles. The likes of Mondelez have been associated with gaming for some time, and are now looking at how they can use it as an active source of engagement and not just place its products in games.
With brands increasing their focus on collecting first-party data, games may provide an unlock that also enables brands to become neo educators.
What’s different now?
Products like Duolingo have used play to learn mechanics since their inception, games like Sim City had educational undertones, and ‘choose your adventure’ style approaches have been used to augment a variety of entertainment properties.
Up until relatively recently, using games to help people learn was either expensive or clunky (or both). We see two shifts happening.
1. Getting Serious
The first is the top end of gaming has become really good. As we explored in Act 2, Serious Games continue to increase in popularity, and with increased levels of complexity, flexibility, and realism, there’s more opportunity to create edutainment that doesn’t feel like Chocolate Covered Broccoli (and do we really need any more kill-everyone-loot-everything games...?)
2. Democratization
The second shift is at the opposite end of the spectrum. The barriers to entry on building games keeps decreasing. Whether it’s open sourcing the components of a board game, or new digital tools like Breshna that enable us to create our own games directly on our web browser or phone - there’s greater opportunity to bring Play to Learn into our projects.
As our friend Matteo Menapace puts it:
Games have a huge expressive potential. They can make complex systems understandable, and empower people to engage with tough questions. It’s more than just playing games. We can have the most transformative learning experiences when we make games.
Play-to-Learn can be as advanced as fully immersive metaverse experiences (more on those in our Emerging Trends), yet also as simple as weaving basic gamification techniques to elevate a piece of content or activity.
Why this trend matters
Games are an incredibly powerful medium to foster engagement, connection, and cultivate skill development. And with the gaming industry worth well over $150 billion, companies and creators need to take advantage of this Edutainment experience.
Just keep in mind that the best gamification is work masquerading as play, so create the right balance of learning and leisure.
In Action: Play-to-Learn
Key Themes for Edutainment 3.0
Constant Participation
The success of a gaming application means having people hooked to your application which leads to increased usage.
Community Enhanced
Peer exchange and healthy competition can be a big motivators to encourage people to go further.
Rapid Feedback Loops
This game design concept can keep users far more engaged than just expecting them to repeat an action over and over again with no feedback or a possible ‘win’.
In Action: Ones to Watch
Guidelines for Greatness
Goals matter
Be clear about the goals of the game. A gamified experience should have one clear goal, not two or three. This simplicity will result in clear dynamics, increased engagement, and a higher probability of achieving learning outcomes.
Play roles
You need to be clear about each role involved in a game to define dynamics, expectations, and instructions.
Elements
Think about the elements that give life to a gamified experience and design accordingly. Head back to Scene 2 of Act 1 for a handy framework you can use.
LXPs level up
For companies, a new wave of Learning Experience Platforms (LXP) offers the opportunity to create challenges, roleplay scenarios, and leaderboards. This, along with rewards, helps incentivize a culture of learning, mastery, and friendly competition. Connect the process of learning and mastery as the reward by linking it to professional development opportunities for the player.
Grow your own
A slew of open source tools and guides are opening up game design to more people. It’s never been easier to spin up a prototype.
Culture, values, and customs
This can influence what a game looks like. Even “universal” games have cultural flaws. So take note of cultural norms when designing a gamified experience.
When and how does the game finish?
Adjusting and transitioning the experience are important. But so is knowing when the game has lost its appeal and usefulness. Be mindful of the endgame so you can entice players to participate in the gamified experience later on.
Beware The Hook
We want people to play the games we create. But what we don’t want is for them to get hooked in the wrong ways. Games should feel compelling and rewarding, but not at the cost of someone’s wellbeing. This is one of the big issues facing the Play to Earn movement, which we dive into in one of our Emerging Trends.
Spark Your Creativity
Ideas to jumpstart your imagination and help you include Edutainment 3.0 in your endeavors.
- Which games did you most love to play as a kid? What made them so appealing?
- Invert your thinking. Which elements of your project definitely should not be a game? Why not?
