Gamification is one of the most important components of e-learning. It’s important because it provides learners with a sense of accomplishment that retains their interest in the course.
There are two kinds of motivation due to which learners feel so excited when they play games in e-learning.

• Extrinsic motivation

This kind of motivation as the name indicates is in the form of points you get for completing a quiz. Most of the eLearning quizzes don’t allow the learners to move ahead until they have answered the questions correctly. And when they give the right answers they get points for doing that. So, that’s how they are motivated to complete a quiz correctly
The quiz might also be attempted at the same time with their peers. Due to this, it becomes important to check who gives the right answers first.

• Intrinsic motivation

Employees also want to check how much they have learned from an eLearning course. It’s important to develop a certain sense of confidence.
There are other benefits of including games in an eLearning course

1. People spread a positive word about it: It is quite likely that people will tell others to browse through an eLearning course if it is gamified. A survey has indicated that 81% of users spread positive word-of-mouth publicity about a course if it’s gamified.

2. Gamification addresses employment issues: Gamification ensures that learners playing the games take the same decisions as they do in employment situations. Games teach about the most ideal decisions in tough and real situations. This way, they retain such knowledge and can handle the job-based scenarios pretty well. Its because E-learning games are simulations of job-based environments and situations.

3. Gamification makes the eLearning courses fun: Games like Drag and Drop add an element of fun to the learning activity. Since the learner learns through their response and outcomes in the game, they enjoy it. This is much more enjoyable than reading a book on management and learning the best possible responses in situations.

4. Gamification is crucial in microlearning: Each microlearning nugget takes about 3-5 minutes. When games are included in such nuggets, the learners feel motivated. Since these nuggets are short and are quite entertaining for the learner, games are included in them to enhance the fun. They don’t take much time from the learner. Learners become more productive after learning their goals through these nuggets.

5. Gamification informs employees about the rules: The employees show an actual alteration in their behavior. You might tell employees about a modification of the rules, but they learn about them better through games.

Since learners are punished negatively for showing the wrong behavior in a game, they are likely to persist with the right behavior in real situations through gamification.

How are games designed in e-learning?

• Avatar

Through the use of an avatar in an eLearning game, employees can see themselves better in a job-based situation. When someone needs to get some training an avatar is of a lot of help. Videos about recruiting new employees also use avatars, to enhance an understanding of how many kinds of potential employees can come up in an interview.

• Tasks in gaming

Tasks in games are important so that there is a practical approach. Through such tasks, learners can be taught how to do something. In such kinds of games, users are given something to complete. When they do it successfully they proceed ahead, otherwise, they revert to the start of the game.

• Games used as assessments

Companies also need to verify the knowledge level of their employees. So, MCQs are given to check the knowledge of their employees and help the managers design further training. Managers can also talk to the employees based on what they lack in their performance in the games.

In the future, there are likely to be more changes in the games included in eLearning. Virtual Reality which takes the user to a different environment will also become part of e-learning. Hence the users can be deported mentally to challenging job-based scenarios and made to learn better. Since the users are taught only mentally, the organizations don’t have to bother about setting up job-like settings to make employees learn better.

So, the eLearning programs have a return on investment. It’s because they show a change in the behavior of employees.