Present or Play: The Effect of Serious Gaming on Demonstrated Behaviour

Serious gaming is one of the newest developments in the world of learning and is gaining increasing attention within the business environment. Although many practitioners claim that serious gaming has more impact on demonstrated behaviour of trainees when compared to common presentations, little evidence exists. In this paper, the authors present an experiment that builds a foundation for proving that serious gaming is more effective than presentations in ensuring people demonstrate a specific set of behaviours within a training setting. The experiment involved addressing the same content a number of times by either holding a presentation or playing a serious game. Consequently, participants' behaviour was measured within a business simulation environment. Results demonstrate that experiencing failure is an important element of learning and that most learning occurs during a game debriefing when participants reflect on their experiences. The importance of learning elements like goal setting, feedback and challenge is demonstrated as well.