INTRODUCTION
Game can be defined as “a system in which players engage in an abstract challenge defined by rules, interactivity, and feedback, that results in a quantifiable outcome often eliciting an emotional response” and Gamification can be defined as “use of game-based mechanics, aesthetics, and game-thinking to engage people, motivate action, promote learning, and solve problems” (Karl Kapp, Gamification of Learning and Instructions) Gamification typically embodies, the “non-game contexts” which in the purview of our discussion can be defined as any context with an expected use other than simple entertainment. It is today becoming an increasingly integrated part of curriculums and drastically impacting the way organizations educate student…show more content… Increased collaboration, engagement, knowledge retention and problem solving skills are some of its many advantages.
LEARNING THROUGH GAMIFICATION
In simulated military games, the environment is reproduced in such a way that it maximizes the fidelity of learning environment (Wilson et al., 2008) which is safe and cost effective. Generally, many occupations doesn’t require such level of detail instead most common course objective is transference of knowledge dealing with facts, details and procedures. This makes games as a supportive measure to the learning process rather than being the representations of the learning material itself. Since, now we have decided upon the instrumental value of gamification , let us dwell further into the analyzing the impact of the games on the course objectives. There are typically four capabilities instructor needs to affect. Knowledge – It deals…show more content… In context to our discussion, gamification encompass element of motivation by impacting cognitive, emotional and social areas of the participants. For cognitive motivation, it provides a complex system of rules with series of tasks. It consists of short-term goals which participants repeatedly try to accomplish and in the process goes through a try and fail process until the desired level of expertise is achieved. Customizability and uncertainty are introduced by making the tasks non-linear which also ensures their relevance with the real life situations. For emotional motivation, impact is mainly around the areas of success and failures, and completion of tasks are reinforced immediately by awarding participants with trophies, points and/or items. On the other hand, failures are meant to induce anxiety among participants keeping in mind that it doesn’t build into frustration and for the same the sequence of tasks are designed as per participant’s skills at any point of time, including low penalties on failure to promote task repetition. The motivation of social area, is addressed through interactions of the multiple participants during the process of gamification. Multiplayer options with integrated rules makes it possible to for players to cooperate helping each other towards a common goal and outcompete other teams. It also helps in