Interested in implementing gamification to your eLearning? We share what it is and the best examples to try in your LMS.
The way we are learning is changing.
Gone are the days of boring “death by PowerPoint” presentations and lines on a whiteboard.
The quest for engaging and effective online learning solutions has brought gamification in eLearning to the forefront.
Integrating game mechanics and elements such as quizzes, points, levels, and badges into eLearning solutions can not only enhance the learning experience, but also foster motivation and engagement among learners.
The eLearning market is projected to reach up to 400 million USD by 2026.
So, incorporating elements of competition, challenges, and rewards into educational content seems like a no-brainer, but how exactly do you do it?
Spoiler alert, we have the answers in this blog post.
We’ll cover:
- What gamification is
- The many benefits of using gamification in eLearning
- Gamification in eLearning examples
Let’s dive in!
What is gamification?
Gamification is the use of game-like elements and design techniques in non-game contexts to enhance:
- User engagement
- Motivation
- User experience
It leverages the psychological appeal of games to encourage specific behaviours or learning, making tasks more fun and rewarding.
In eLearning, gamification can take a few different iterations .
But the principle is the same.
Goal
The user has a clearly defined goal to achieve before beginning learning. This can be serious, or silly as part of a wider story to enhance gamification.
For example, your learner could be a knight battling monsters in order to collect a key. The key is a tool to open more learning as your user progresses through the story.
The monsters? Your learning content! Beat the quizzes in order to obtain points.
Motivation
The best part of playing games is the instant gratification you get from doing well.
Look at Duolingo.
💡 Related: What Duolingo gets right with eLearning
They offer instant feedback, as well as points, leaderboards and badges to reward the users for returning to the platform, completing content and doing well in their learning.
Obstacles
There needs to be obstacles in your learner’s way in order to give extra gratification when they overcome them.
In a learning environment, this could be the need to unlock content, or the need for a certain number of points to access new content.
Benefits of using gamification in eLearning
There are plenty of benefits of using gamification in eLearning, which when combined, can have a transformative impact on both learning environments and learner outcomes.
Here are some key advantages:
Stimulate healthy competition
Stimulate healthy competition by creating just that: competition!
💡 Related: Competition in learning
For instance, timed challenges or head-to-head contests can inject excitement and a competitive spirit into learning.
This not only motivates learners to strive for excellence but also fosters a sense of achievement and accomplishment, tapping into the innate desire for competition and driving learners to push their boundaries and reach their full potential.
Keep learners interested
Gamification introduces an element of fun and interactivity that is not typically present in traditional learning environments.
By incorporating game elements like challenges, points, and rewards, learners find the content more engaging, which naturally leads to improved retention and understanding.
💡 Related: Complete guide to learner engagement
For instance, eLearning modules have shown a 9% increase in retention rates for adults, demonstrating the effectiveness of gamification in sustaining learner interest and memory.
More commitment to learning
Gamification fosters a sense of commitment and dedication among learners.
The element of competition and the desire to earn rewards and achieve milestones encourages learners to invest more time and effort into their educational journey.
This increased commitment leads to a deeper level of engagement and a greater likelihood of achieving educational goals.
Examples of gamification in eLearning
So we know why gamification in eLearning is important, but how can you implement it yourself?
Well, if you’re using an LMS, then hopefully your LMS provider will have some form of gamification available natively in their platform.
If not, you might need to invest in external gamification software.
Here are some examples of gamification that you could find in your LMS:
Roleplay
VR or AR is one of the L&D trends for next year, so consider how you could use it within your training.
💡 Related: L&D Trends for 2025
It’s an added layer of engagement, but it’s also extremely useful for more difficult scenarios like medical treatment or customer service.
Simulating real-life scenarios that allow learners to experiment with different strategies and learn from the outcomes is a great way to learn, and is also a great form of gamification.
Quizzes and puzzles
Quizzes form a core component of an LMS and eLearning content, but think about how you can improve their content.
Look at real games and puzzles to see what features you can carry over to your content.
Whether it’s story-telling, new interactivity, or just new ways to challenge their skills, this can be a really easy way to add an element of gamification to your learning.
Points and rewards
People love achieving a reward. And something like points is a simple, easy and free way to incentivise your learners.
Assign points for completing tasks, from logging into the LMS to completing course content.
You could even allow learners to convert their points into rewards, or build out progress levels so users can climb the ranks of knowledge.
In the BuildEmpire LMS, you can assign points to your learners and easily configure point allocation in your settings. This feature comes as part of our BuildEmpire Edition.
Badges
Visual representations of achievements are a great thing for learners to collect and also helps to foster a sense of accomplishment.
Totara offers badges as standard in its LMS. But in our version of Totara, we go beyond achieved badges.
Learners will unlock badges when they’re enrolled onto a course, so that they can see available courses to obtain. This gives them a greater sense of motivation.
Leaderboards
When you’ve got your points set up and running, the next logical step is leaderboards.
Foster a healthy competitive environment by displaying rankings based on points or badges.
This will encourage learners to continue progressing and improving their performance.
In BuildEmpire, you can apply leaderboards across teams and courses too.
Challenges and levels
Lock learning content that can only be accessed when learners advance to higher levels.
As the levels progress in difficulty, learners will feel more inspired to continue to develop and achieve better scores.
Wrapping Up
Through the integration of gamification in eLearning, it’s clear we are witnessing a transformative shift in the educational landscape, enhancing the way knowledge is acquired, retained, and applied.
Adding points, badges and so on into your learning environment stands to boost learner engagement. And not only that, but you’ll likely see a general uplift in skills among your learners too.
BuildEmpire is a platinum partner of Totara which means we create truly user-centric solutions.
We’ve created a platform that has all of the features and elements that you need.
You get a robust LMS that allows you to track compliance, report on impact, link in performance management.
But you also get a platform that allows you to add gamification elements.
We’d love to show you how it works so book a demo with our team to see if it could be a good fit for you.