LMS Gamification Guide & 10 Best Gamified Learning Platforms

Ever feel like traditional learning methods are a bit…well, boring? You’re not alone. Lots of learners struggle to stay engaged with old-school teaching styles. It’s often challenging to keep learners motivated and interactive with static materials. But guess what? Gamification can change all that! That’s precisely why trainers are using gamified LMS.

Studies show that adding game-like elements to learning can significantly improve how learners interact with and retain information. It’s like turning a chore into a fun challenge.

I’ve done some research to find the best LMS gamification tools. So, let me introduce you to some of the best gamified learning platforms.

What Is LMS Gamification?

LMS gamification uses game-like elements and mechanics in a learning management system to enhance user engagement and motivation.

Some examples of gamification include points, badges, leaderboards, challenges, rewards, and feedback that make the learning process more interactive and enjoyable.

How Does a Gamified Training Platform Enhance Your E-Learning Programs?

Ever wish learning felt more like leveling up in your favorite game? Traditional e-learning can sometimes feel like a slog through dense information. But adding a bit of gamification can turn that around. Studies show that 72% of employees say gamified training makes them work harder. 

Here’s how a gamified learning management system can supercharge your e-learning program:

1. Boosts Engagement: Let’s face it: points, badges, and leaderboards are way more fun than boring old tests. They make learning feel like a game and keep learners returning for more.
2. Improves Retention: When learning is fun, it sticks. Gamification uses repetition and rewards to reinforce knowledge, helping learners remember what they’ve learned.
3. Encourages Continuous Learning: Progress bars and levels are like the irresistible next episode of a TV series. They keep learners motivated to complete modules and unlock new content that builds a culture of continuous learning.
4. Enhances Motivation: Instant feedback and rewards? Yes, please! With a gamified learning platform, your learners can earn badges and climb leaderboards. This will boost morale and motivate learners to keep pushing forward.
5. Facilitates Collaboration: Team challenges and group leaderboards turn learning into a social activity. Learners work together, share knowledge, and support each other.
6. Provides Real-Time Feedback: Forget waiting for report cards. An LMS with gamification features gives instant feedback so learners know exactly where they stand and can adjust their strategies.
7. Cater to Different Learning Styles: Whether a quiz whiz or a simulation, gamification caters to all learning styles with diverse content, like quizzes, simulations, and role-playing games.

These are some of the ways how a gamification elearning platform can transform your training and keep your learners engaged. Next, I will share some of the best features that actually help you transform your training.

What Are the Features of a Gamification LMS?

Let’s talk about the features of gamification in LMS. From my experience, incorporating these features can make a huge difference in the learning journey.

1. Points and Leaderboards: Points and leaderboards create a competitive environment that motivates learners to improve. Participation shot up by 40% in a program I worked with, thanks to the thrill of seeing one’s name climb the leaderboard.
2. Badges and Rewards: Badges and rewards are fantastic for recognizing achievements. I introduced badges for course completion and saw their satisfaction ratings soar. It’s a simple but effective way to keep everyone motivated.
3. Interactive Quizzes and Challenges: Interactive quizzes and challenges make learning fun and reinforce the material. Studies show a 48% increase in engagement among learners through gamified learning.
4. Custom Avatars: Custom avatars add a personal touch. When learners can create their avatars, engagement is enhanced, and the experience becomes more relatable.
5. Progress Bars: Progress bars visually represent progress and keep learners focused and motivated.
6. Social Learning and Collaboration: Features like team challenges and group leaderboards promote collaboration, encouraging learners to collaborate and share knowledge.

Gamification is a proven strategy to make learning exciting, engaging, and effective. Once you’ve experienced the benefits of a gamified LMS, there’s no turning back.

10 Best Gamified Training Software

This list of gamification LMS is the result of my experience, extensive research, and peer recommendations. I have also considered unbiased reviews from independent sources.

1. ProProfs Training Maker – Best for Employee Training & LMS

ProProfs Training Maker is an easy-to-use, customizable, and scalable learning management system offering various features to make online training fun and engaging. With this tool, you can create gamified online courses for employee training with elements such as leaderboards, points, branching quizzes, flashcards, etc. It’s the best LMS with badges functionality. 

You can also use brain games, learning paths, and completion certificates to enhance the learning experience and motivate your employees to achieve their goals. ProProfs Training Maker supports collaborative learning through virtual classrooms and a Q&A platform where employees can interact with each other and the instructor. It is perfect for corporate training, education, and certification programs.

You can use ProProfs Training Maker to deliver training on policies, procedures, skills, workplace technology, safety, compliance, and more, regardless of your industry. You can utilize purpose-built templates and expert-designed courses that you can customize to suit your requirements. You can also track and measure the progress and performance of your employees using AI reports and analytics.

ProProfs Training Maker integrates with popular tools such as Zoom, Salesforce, Mailchimp, BambooHR, and more.

What you’ll like:

• Earn points for completing tasks to stay engaged and motivated
• Foster healthy competition with leaderboards that rank learners based on performance
• Reinforce learning and improve retention with interactive flashcards
• AI course creator and user management functionalities to simplify employee training
• You can upload PDF, PPT, DOC, videos, and images to create a course from your existing training materials.
• AI reporting for detailed, real-time insights on individual and group progress
• Efficient customer support team you can always rely on

What you may not like:

• No downloadable or on-premise version
• Dark user interface option is not yet available
• No dedicated account manager for the free plan, unlike the paid

Pricing:

Forever free plan for small teams. Paid plan starts at $1.99/learner/month for large teams. No hidden charges.

2. Moodle: Best for Open Source Learning

When it comes to creating a personalized learning experience, Moodle stands out. If you value flexibility and customization in your learning management system, Moodle lets you do just that. The best part? It’s open source, which means you can use it, tweak it, and even share your version with others. Whether you’re running a small training program or a large educational institution, Moodle adapts to your needs.

Moodle facilitates collaborative learning through various tools like forums, wikis, glossaries, and database activities. This gamified training platform has several gamification elements, such as points, levels, badges, leaderboards, and certificates.

Moodle has an active community that contributes significantly to its improvement by sharing plugins and integrations. Its Level Up plugin enables learners to gain experience points (XP) by completing activities or engaging with the course. Learners can also advance to higher levels and unlock new rewards, such as badges, avatars, or custom messages.

What you’ll like:

• The platform is built on social constructivist pedagogy
• Numerous plugins such as Level Up XP, Game, Quizventure, Stash to enhance functionality and gamification
• LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability) standard support for seamless integration with other educational tools
• It is supported by a global community of developers, educators, and learners contributing to its continuous improvement.

What you may not like:

• Limited insights from the reporting feature may be a drawback for certain users.
• Course engagement tracking could offer more comprehensive details.
• Moodle’s scheduling management system could be improved to support organization and planning better.

Pricing:

Free (reporting is basic) and paid plans are available. Paid plans start at AUD 180/year.

3. Absorb LMS – Best for Complex Training Needs 

If you’re dealing with complex training needs, Absorb LMS is the tool that’s up to the challenge. Whether your team prefers virtual classrooms or personalized learning paths, Absorb adapts to different learning styles and content formats and makes it easier to engage everyone. The administration features simplify tasks like enrollment and tracking so you can focus on what matters most: delivering impactful training.

One of the features that impressed me about this LMS with gamification is its Intelligent Recommendations. It examines the learner’s profile, preferences, behavior, and feedback to suggest courses, videos, articles, and other resources. Another top feature, Intelligent Assist, allows you to perform admin tasks efficiently using natural language commands. It saves you time and hassle by automating common admin tasks.

Plus, with powerful analytics, you’ll always know how to improve. Need it to work with your existing systems? No problem. Absorb integrates smoothly and makes data management a breeze.

What you’ll like

• Introduce timed challenges that encourage quick thinking and decision-making
• Create captivating storylines that guide learners through their training journey
• Integrate mini-games related to the training content to make learning more fun
• Enable group challenges where learners can team up and collaborate

What you may not like

• Users must undergo re-enrollment following each course modification
• The setup and configuration might entail a certain level of complexity
• Scheduling recurring sessions is not feasible

Pricing:

Custom pricing

4. iSpring Learn – Best for eLearning & Training

With iSpring Learn, you get a robust LMS that makes onboarding, upskilling, and certifying your team easy. Its standout feature is the ability for employees to access training from any device, even without an internet connection. Whether in between meetings or traveling, learning continues smoothly.

The platform helps increase learning retention by turning mandatory training into an enjoyable experience. iSpring Learn also promotes skill development through competitive exercises and rewards. The gamified approach speeds up change adoption, empowering employees to apply knowledge quickly.

iSpring Learn really stands out with its ability to turn PowerPoint slides into interactive HTML5 courses in just one click. You don’t need to worry about losing any animations or effects—it all stays intact. That means you can create fantastic courses without any coding or design skills. But it doesn’t stop there. iSpring also helps build a social learning environment where your team can stay connected through news feeds, chats, and feedback.

What you’ll like:

• Provide digital badges to learners for achieving milestones
• Customize award titles for every skill or role
• Assign homework and tasks for learners to complete
• Effortless PPT to HTML5 conversion for creating engaging training content using existing learning materials

What you may not like:

• Challenges in training culturally diverse teams due to limited language support
• Steep learning curve for mastering LMS functionalities and settings
• Lack of built-in course marketplace or content library

Pricing:

Starts at $2.29/user/month. For 300 users.

5. Tovuti LMS – Best for Corporate Learning & Development

Tovuti LMS brings a fresh approach to corporate training by making learning interactive and fun. It’s designed to engage employees through multimedia content, quizzes, and assessments, all crafted to challenge and motivate. And if your team loves a bit of healthy competition, Tovuti’s gamified features like points, badges, and leaderboards will keep them hooked. They can even unlock rewards like discounts and certificates with their points!

Tovuti is also a powerhouse for live training sessions. Whether using Zoom, GoToMeeting, or Skype, this gamified LMS easily supports video conferencing. It’s easy to host virtual events, webinars, and breakout rooms with live chat, polls, and Q&A. You can also record these sessions for future reference.

Tovuti also excels at creating a collaborative environment. Employees can join groups, comment on courses, and share their achievements to promote knowledge-sharing across the team.

What you’ll like:

• Set challenges to encourage learners to complete tasks within a given timeframe
• Includes virtual tours and audio recording tasks to boost engagement
• Microlearning support for enhanced knowledge retention

What you may not like:

• The learning curve is steep, requiring time to understand all features.
• There is no dedicated Windows app; it must be accessed via a web browser.
• There are limited customization templates for site appearance.

Pricing:

Custom pricing

6. Paradiso LMS – Best for Skills Training

Paradiso LMS is a versatile, innovative, and highly scalable solution that can help you deliver a memorable learning experience for employee upskilling. It lets you create engaging and effective learning programs with game elements, analytics, integrations, and more.

With this gamified LMS, you can motivate your learners to achieve their learning goals by using badges, points, leaderboards, levels, feedback, certificates, and rewards. You can also let your learners create their own avatars and personalize their learning environment. Moreover, you can enhance your courses with AI-powered videos that include quizzes, polls, and surveys. Generate captions, transcripts, and translations for your videos with the AI Media Studio feature.

Paradiso LMS lets you create multiple sub-domains within your LMS, each with its own branding, theme, courses, and users. This multi-tenant feature is ideal for training different audiences, such as employees, customers, and partners.

What you’ll like:

• Paradiso LMS offers various features and functionalities, such as gamification, performance management, reporting, integration, customization, and accessibility.
• Learners can take courses anytime, anywhere, and on any device.
• Provides excellent customer support; you can contact them through chat, email, or phone and get quick and helpful responses.
• Create multiple tenants, white-label your LMS, and integrate with various platforms such as Salesforce, Moodle, Zoom, and more.

What you may not like:

• The user interface could be improved. Some users have reported that it is slow, outdated, or unattractive.
• Its updates are not frequent or consistent; some users have experienced glitches after updating their LMS.
• It would have been great if there was an HR platform along with this as it takes around 3-4 hours to get a hang of this platform

Pricing:

Custom pricing

7. LearnUpon – Best for Delivering Impactful Training

Ever feel like your training programs just don’t hit the mark? You’re not alone! Many organizations struggle to engage their learners and make training stick. This is where LearnUpon steps in as a game-changer for delivering impactful training. Whether onboarding new hires, enhancing skills, or ensuring compliance, LearnUpon can easily tackle your varied training needs. Plus, the automated enrollment process means no more drowning in paperwork or frantic email exchanges, so admin stress is gone!

What makes LearnUpon shine is its gamification features. It has levels, badges, and points that turn training into a fun competition! You can assign different point values to activities and courses and customize those gamification elements to suit your learning goals.

Want to design unique badges that fit your company culture? Go for it! Curious about how your team ranks? Leaderboards keep the excitement alive. Plus, with gamification reports, admins can monitor how these features boost learner engagement and performance. It’s like having a backstage pass to the training show!

What you’ll like:

• Implement up to 5 levels to mark learners’ progress and achievements
• Issue digital certificates for completing courses or reaching certain milestones
• Integrate with various third-party tools, including Google Analytics, Salesforce, and Zapier.
• Access round-the-clock live chat, phone, email support, and online help guides and webinars.

What you may not like:

• Creating course modules demands substantial effort.
• Once a course or test is updated, retaking it is not an option.
• LearnUpon might not be suitable for users seeking highly advanced features.

Pricing:

Starts at $599/month

8. Litmos – Best for Off-the-Shelf Training

Tired of spending hours creating training content from scratch? Litmos has you covered with a library of over 80,000 pre-built courses. Whether you need compliance training, leadership development, or safety programs, Litmos helps you roll out training quickly and efficiently. And let’s be honest: who wouldn’t want to skip the hassle of starting from zero?

What’s cool about Litmos gamified LMS is its flexibility. It supports blended learning, so whether your team is remote or in the office, you can connect them with interactive virtual classrooms and webinars. You can mix online, offline, and live sessions into hybrid courses.

Gamification is where Litmos kicks into gear. Learners can earn points and badges, compete with peers, and progress through different levels. Plus, the mobile app lets learners access courses offline so that training can happen anytime, anywhere.

What you’ll like:

• Progress through different levels as learners complete tasks and modules
• Organize challenges and competitions with specific goals
• Earn points for completing courses and participating in activities
• Integration with popular HR and performance management systems for centralized data management and reporting

What you may not like:

• The reporting system for learning paths should be more user-friendly and intuitive
• There’s a limitation in making courses optional for learners
• New users might encounter a learning curve when initially using the LMS

Pricing:

Custom pricing

9. Docebo – Best for Complex Enterprise Training

If you have a large company, you might want to consider Docebo as your gamification training software. Docebo is also ideal for blended learning, as it offers webinars, face-to-face sessions, online courses, micro-learning, and gamified learning. Gamification elements include badges, points, leaderboards, contests, and rewards. Learners can earn points and badges for completing a course, passing a quiz, or participating in the social learning community. Points can be exchanged for rewards, such as certificates, vouchers, or access to premium content.

The tool can accommodate many users, integrate with various platforms, and support multiple languages. You can also tailor it to suit your audience’s needs.

Moreover, you can leverage its AI capabilities to train your employees according to your business objectives. The AI analyzes your learning content, identifies the skills it covers, and then matches it to your employees. This way, their learning paths adapt to their progress and your business changes.

What you’ll like:

• Set up a rewards marketplace where learners can exchange points (converted into coins)
• Modern and user-friendly interface for easy course creation, management, and delivery
• Integrations with multiple tools, including third-party gamification platforms, such as Badgeville and Bunchball
• Encourage social learning by allowing learners to share achievements, badges, and progress on their profiles

What you may not like:

• Training videos are constrained by a size limit
• The API’s scope is limited and doesn’t provide access to all LMS objects and actions
• The pricing plans might not be flexible enough for small and medium-sized enterprises

Pricing:

Custom pricing

10. EasyLMS: Best for Customer Training 

If you’re looking for a way to boost your customer service training without overcomplicating things, Easy LMS might just be your new best friend. The platform adjusts challenges to match your skill level, so it feels just right—neither easy nor hard. Plus, it adds a touch of storytelling, tying learning activities to exciting goals. Whether completing a quiz or unlocking rewards, Easy LMS keeps things interesting and engaging. It’s a fresh way to learn while having fun! Plus, adding gamification like leaderboards and badges ensures they stay motivated and on track.

For customer service teams, Easy LMS is perfect for crafting courses that teach employees how to handle tough situations and ultimately keep their customers happy. You can create learning paths that guide your team, from basic customer service skills to mastering your product’s most complex features. The best part? You can analyze their progress in real-time and provide immediate feedback to ensure everyone’s performing at their best. Integrating it with your CRM makes training even smoother, as there’s no need to juggle multiple platforms.

What you will like: 

• Flexible quiz and assessment options to adapt to various learning goals
• Features like public profile pages allow users to showcase their badges, skills, etc.
• Users can earn points and badges by sharing knowledge and helping others within the platform
• You can share reports from Easy LMS to other tools using webhooks

What you may not like:

• The interface appears somewhat outdated.
• The company should provide improved documentation for newcomers.
• It lacks a display of PPT or PDF files.

Pricing:

Starts at $105/month. Custom branding. Basic certification.

Which Is the Best Gamification LMS to Choose?

Finding the best gamified LMS that suits your needs is essential for reaching your training or teaching goals. You have to consider the requirements of your audience, such as their knowledge, skills, characteristics, and learning styles.

I have selected three options to make it easier for you. Let’s explore them and see which one is the ideal match!

Option A: ProProfs Training Maker

ProProfs Training Maker lets you easily create interactive courses with badges, certificates, leaderboards, quizzes, flashcards, and more. You can also customize and use ready-made courses and templates for maximum impact. You can also track and measure your learners’ performance with AI reports. This LMS is ideal for training employees in skills and compliance.

Option B: iSpring Learn

iSpring Learn excels as a gamification learning platform for HTML5-based learning by offering comprehensive support for mobile-friendly content. The LMS engages learners with gamification elements, accessibility, and ease of use, making it an ideal platform for modern eLearning strategies.

Option C: Docebo

Docebo is a modular LMS and an open-source gamification tool that combines formal, social, and experiential learning with skills management. It enables you to create gamified courses with points, badges, awards, and leaderboards. It also supports gamification scenarios like quests, challenges, missions, and rewards.

In my opinion, ProProfs Training Maker stands out as the best gamification LMS in the market today. It seamlessly combines simplicity, power, flexibility, automation, and gamification to deliver effective training across various sectors, such as services, construction, manufacturing, and healthcare.

Evaluation Criteria 

When reviewing products or tools, I stick to a super simple approach that keeps things fair and easy to understand. Here’s how I do it:

1. User Reviews: What real users say about their experiences—good or bad—gives a clear picture of how well something works. For this, I usually turn to G2 and Capterra.
2. Features & Functionality: It’s all about whether the key features really help and if the product does what it promises.
3. Ease of Use: If it’s easy to use, that’s a big plus. I look at the simplicity of the design and navigation.
4. Customer Support: Good support makes life easier, especially when setting things up or dealing with issues.
5. Value for Money: Is it worth what you’re paying for? That’s something I always compare, looking at both quality and price.
6. Personal Experience & Expert Opinions: I also bring in my own thoughts and advice from experts, which adds an extra layer to the review.

A Gamified Training Experience Case Study

How GLS Improved Team Communication With ProProfs Training Maker

Problem: Global Linking Solutions (GLS) faced a significant challenge. With employees scattered across six states and a staggering 30% turnover rate, the lack of cohesive training and effective communication was taking a toll. Surveys showed that this disconnection was the top complaint among staff.

Solution: After trying out 15 different LMS platforms, GLS discovered the flexibility and ease of use that ProProfs Training Maker offered. They dove into the pre-built management courses and found the perfect foundation to customize training for their diverse team. The ability to create engaging quizzes with multiple question types kept employees motivated and eager to learn. With automatic progress tracking and robust reporting capabilities, GLS turned its lengthy onboarding process into a streamlined three-week program.

The result? A gamified training experience that engaged employees and transformed how they approached learning.

How to Effectively Integrate Gamification in LMS

As someone who loves making learning fun, I am going to talk about turning an LMS into a gamified wonderland next.

1. Set Clear Goals: First, know what you want. Is it higher engagement, better retention, or just keeping learners awake?
2. Add Game Elements: Think points, badges, and leaderboards. Who doesn’t love a little competition? Just don’t let it turn into a full-blown Hunger Games scenario.
3. Create Fun Content: Spice up your material with storytelling and interactive elements. You might be doing it wrong if learners aren’t chuckling or intrigued.
4. Encourage Team Play: Let them team up for challenges. It’s a great way to bond because nothing says “friendship,” like a shared struggle against a quiz!
5. Give Instant Feedback: Quizzes should feel like a game show. “Congratulations, you just won… another chance to learn!”
6. Celebrate Wins: Reward achievements, even the small ones. A little recognition goes a long way. Just imagine them bragging about that virtual badge at the next coffee break!
7. Analyze and Adjust: Monitor the progress. If something isn’t working, tweak it. Never stop experimenting!

Gamification can make your LMS a lively place. Remember, it’s about learning, but a little fun never hurt anyone! Happy gamifying!

Future Trends in LMS Gamification

The future of gamification is packed with exciting trends that promise to transform our experiences.

• The first trend you will likely see is the rise of immersive technologies like Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). These tools will create engaging experiences, such as exploring historical sites virtually.
• Next, Artificial Intelligence (AI) will personalize learning by tailoring challenges and rewards based on individual preferences, which will make education more engaging.
• Moreover, gamification will seep into everyday life, from fitness apps that gamify workouts to smart home devices that reward eco-friendly behaviors.
• Education will evolve further with sophisticated gamified platforms, and corporate training will shift toward fun, game-based learning methods.
• So, the future looks bright for gamification, and it promises to enrich the educational journey in innovative ways.

Level Up Your Training With the Best LMS Gamification Platforms

Let’s be honest: nobody likes dull training sessions. We’ve all been there – eyes glazing over, daydreaming about escaping to that coffee shop across the street.  But what if learning could be fun?

That’s where gamification comes in! It’s like adding a secret ingredient to your training programs, making them exciting, engaging, and downright addictive. So, ditch the yawn-inducing lectures and find the best gamified LMS for your needs.

When picking a platform, remember these tips: First, check out user reviews to see what real users think. Next, look for essential features that align with your goals. Don’t forget about ease of use; a platform should feel intuitive immediately. Also, evaluate customer support. Finally, consider the value of money—ensure you’re getting the best bang for your buck!

Explore the platforms I’ve handpicked, play around with their features, and see for yourself how gamification can transform your training from ‘blah’ to ‘brilliant’.

Frequently Asked Questions 

How does gamification work in LMS?

LMS gamification uses game elements like points, badges, and leaderboards to make learning more engaging and fun. It taps into our natural desire for rewards and competition.

How does gamification improve learning outcomes?

Gamification motivates learners and encourages active participation. This leads to better knowledge retention, improved skill development, and increased completion rates.

How can I measure the success of gamification in my eLearning program?

You can track things like course completion rates, assessment scores, and learner engagement in discussions. You can also gather feedback through surveys to see how learners are responding.

What are some examples of gamification in education and corporate training?

In education, gamification might involve awarding badges for completing modules. This encourages learners to participate and strive for achievement actively. In corporate training, it could look like giving employees points for completing training modules, letting them “level up” as they master new skills, and offering virtual rewards for top performers. This helps keep employees engaged and motivated throughout the learning process.