How to change behavior through game design

By Attensi · Published: 26 September 2026

When you design a game for learning, development or culture change, there are two sets of decisions to get right: the organizational factors that shape how people will play, and the game design choices that make them want to.

Organizational factors

Before you instruct any kind of build on your game, have a good think about who’s going to play it, how they’re going to play it, and when they’re going to play it.

Time available to play

What type of organization are you? Do your teams work fixed hours or shifts? How much spare time do they realistically have to play your game?

There would be little point in designing an all-singing, all-dancing role-playing game (RPG) if your teams only have 10 minutes here and there in which to play. In that instance, they’re more likely to engage with and complete mini-games, so your people can do their training in bite-sized chunks. They may do this during quieter periods of a shift, during their breaks, or even during their commute.

Psychologically, consider the length of time needed to help teams feel they’ve achieved something. Think about the likes of Duolingo. Many users find the app addictive because they want to keep their daily streak going. To do this, you only need to allow for around 5 minutes to complete a lesson. You feel a sense of accomplishment and get a quick dopamine hit, and importantly, you go back for more the next day.

Would it be as successful if you had to commit an hour a day? Probably not. Duolingo knows most of its users have only a few minutes to spare, so it offers a range of mini-games designed to be completed quickly. You can even tell the app you can't listen to audio right now – a small detail that shows it understands people often learn in quiet places or without headphones.

What device will they play your game on?

Will your game need to be accessed across platforms? Is it mobile only for maximum flexibility? How will these transfer if someone is accessing things on the go?

If you need your teams to play the game on a specific device, consider whether this is something you can offer so everyone has a fair shot. For example, it’s rare that an entire workforce will currently have access to a virtual reality headset.

This is often what makes mobile a popular choice as most people will be able to access and complete the game at their own convenience.

Subject matter and learning goals

There’s no point pouring creative resources into subject matters that are not going to be helpful and impactful for your teams.

If in doubt, ask them. Where do they feel their knowledge gaps are? Where would they like to learn more or improve their skills?

From there, you can think about how best to close those gaps, where the training might need more emphasis, and where the team may just need a refresher.

Have a clear vision of the learning outcomes you need from the training. Also, remember to consider how you will measure whether these efforts were successful or not.

Target audience

Contrary to popular belief, millennials are actually the biggest gaming enthusiasts and not their Gen Z successors. Basically, don’t rule out any one group in your organization.

It’s worth keeping in mind the type of demographics you have in your teams. If they’re not all that confident with gaming technology, you may decide to run a workshop or a demo. If you’re confident they’re the type of people who are used to gaming and working out new technology, you’re good to go!

Game design considerations

You’ve figured out who’s going to play your game, where they’re going to play it, and what they need to get out of it. Now it’s time to bring your vision to life.

Artistic direction

Which direction are you going to take your game in? Do you want it to be more realistic like an RPG or more whimsical with more cartoonesque animations?

This is where you translate your brand into the virtual world. At Attensi, for example, we build practice-based, AI-powered training, and we work closely with each organization to make its virtual world as realistic as possible – so people get a genuine feel for their real-life roles.

Narrative

Storytelling is often the ingredient left out of more conventional training methods. This is where you can really leverage gaming to your advantage, particularly in the RPG format. If you can create an emotional investment in your game through effective storytelling, you’re on to a much more engaging way of learning.

Strong narrative and storytelling allow you to identify your heroes and villains, make room for interesting decision-making, and have plenty of opportunities to fail and make mistakes.

Learning curve

Your learning curve is the relationship between a learner’s performance and the number of attempts or time it takes them to complete a task. It’s usually represented as a curve on a graph.

Typically, the more times a task is repeated, the stronger the learner’s performance will be. This is a useful thing to keep track of. It’ll allow you to clearly see where your game is working, and where you can make improvements. After all, you don’t want things to be too easy, but you also want to know that your players are being challenged enough to keep coming back for more.

Social hierarchies

Consider the structure of your organization. This may determine how you choose to design the social hierarchies in your game.

Think about whether your organization is broken up into franchises and different sites. Will you include opportunities for different teams to play against each other? Or will you keep it to an individual level? Or you may decide to provide a mixture - throwing in occasional tournaments to encourage unity within your different teams.

Danger, risk, and emotional triggers

These three words may sound dramatic, but in this context, they’re how you add stakes to your game. As part of your narrative, you’ll want to give thought to how you’re going to create emotional buy-in and a little jeopardy.

Throughout your game, introducing danger, risk, and emotional triggers can help teams see the consequences of their decision-making. The beauty of doing this within a game is that the decisions made have no real-world consequences, only virtual ones. And if they get it wrong, they can reset and try again.

Games change behavior when they're designed around real people, real constraints and real consequences. Get the organizational factors right, then use art direction, narrative, progression and a little jeopardy to make practice something people want to come back to.