Gamification promises fun activities, increased user engagement and – ultimately – better workplace learning. But do points and badges really make a difference?

In this week's episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G, Sean, Tracey and podcasting n00b Sam Brown tackle this issue.

We discuss:

• The difference between ‘gamification’ and ‘game-based learning’
• Good and bad examples of gamification
• Common gamification mistakes.

Find out more about Twitter Data Dash at: https://twitterdatadash.com/

For more on gamification, including examples, see:

• com, ‘What is gamification’?, at: https://www.gamify.com/what-is-gamification
• Growth Engineering, ‘The ultimate definition of gamification (with 6 real world examples)’, at: https://www.growthengineering.co.uk/definition-of-gamification/
• Training Industry, ‘Game-Based Learning vs Gamification: Do You Know the Difference?’, at: https://trainingindustry.com/articles/learning-technologies/game-based-learning-vs-gamification-do-you-know-the-difference

In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Sean shared the origins of the croissant: https://lesaffre.uk/2020/07/27/what-are-the-origins-of-the-croissant

Tracey discussed the origins of Neptune balls: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/15/seagrass-neptune-balls-sieve-millions-of-plastic-particles-from-water-study-finds

And Ross discussed the meaning of sailor tattoos: https://mymodernmet.com/traditional-sailor-tattoos-decoded/

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtoolsbusiness.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work. 

Connect with our speakers 

If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter: 

• Ross Garner @RossGarnerMT
• Tracey McDonald @TraceyMcDonald
• Sean Brown @SeanBrownHRTech
• Sam Brown @SBrownMT