Serious games are becoming increasingly popular in companies, schools, and training organisations. But what are they, exactly? What are the benefits of serious games? We explain everything.
What is a serious game?
A serious game is a game designed for education purposes. This type of game is not used for entertainment purposes, but to learn new complex concepts, raise awareness of or communicate on a given topic, or conduct practical exercises in a more fun way.
A serious game often takes the form of a video game, but it can also be simply a game using multimedia resources like sound, images and video. Depending on the scenario, it can be designed for:
- students;
- employees;
- candidates;
- people undertaking training to change career.
What are the benefits of serious games?
Serious games have many advantages.
- A fun format.
Serious games enable students and professionals to learn through fun activities. They offer several advantages:
- they encourage engagement on the part of students and make them agents of their own education or training;
- players memorise the concepts they are learning better when there is pleasure associated with it.
Further reading: The importance of human relationships in making your training course a success
- Training employees
Serious games can be excellent training tools for businesses, particularly those wishing to modernise their approach and get more in tune with the expectations of the latest generation of employees. They are also a way for employees to train autonomously and at their own pace. Serious games can focus on a variety of topics, such as managerial skills, sales, customer relations, technical expertise, project management, etc.
- Communicating corporate culture
Many companies are searching for ways to attract new talent. During the recruitment process, serious games can be used to present a company’s corporate culture to its potential future employees.
Further reading: Six tips for welcoming a new colleague remotely
- The right to make mistakes
Another key advantage of serious games is that they can improve their users’ approach to error. There is nothing wrong with making mistakes. In fact, mistakes are a valuable way to learn and progress. Serious games enable the user to get it wrong and then try again until they reach their goal.
- Team building
Serious games can be played as a group so they can provide the opportunity of building team relations and improving day-to-day communication. This can only have a positive impact on performance in the medium and long term.
Further reading: Four team building ideas you can use remotely
- Enhancing student supervision
Serious games are designed to assess the candidate’s performance in a variety of areas. Instructors can therefore see which topics they need to focus on for revision sessions, for example.
Did you know?
You can organise serious games remotely, by video conference.
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