Onboarding Lessons from Game Design

How an Enterprise Software Rollout Laid the Foundations for GRAVITY?

Years ago, while working at a large pharmaceutical company, I was faced with one of the biggest challenges of my career: rolling out a new enterprise software system to thousands of employees worldwide. It was a daunting task, not only because of the scale, but also because of the sheer complexity of effectively onboarding users and driving digital adoption.

Employees were expected to quickly adopt a new system that would fundamentally change the way they worked. But traditional employee onboarding methods-manuals, training sessions, and lengthy e-learning modules-were proving ineffective. People skipped the material, became frustrated, and ultimately didn't adopt the software as intended. Even those who tried to engage with the training found it overwhelming, bombarded with too much information at once, leading to poor employee experience and diminished employee productivity.

Resistance to change was another major obstacle. Change management was a challenge, as employees were already comfortable with their existing workflows. Many feared that the new system would make their jobs harder, not easier. They didn't want to invest time upfront in lengthy employee training and development sessions, especially when their daily tasks remained urgent. Others who tried to learn on their own often hit roadblocks and, without immediate support, either developed workarounds or abandoned the system altogether.

The result? A slow, frustrating, and inefficient onboarding process. Productivity dropped, IT teams were overwhelmed with support requests, and management was concerned about return on investment. It was clear that traditional training methods were not working, and a new approach to digital transformation was needed.

Later that week, while playing World of Warcraft, the big question mark was replaced by a light bulb above my head. I realized that millions of players were picking up complex games like World of Warcraft without ever reading a manual. The question was: how do games manage to teach their players sophisticated mechanics while keeping them engaged? To find out, I decided to rebuild World of Warcraft from the ground up.

What I learned completely changed my approach to digital adoption and became the foundation for GRAVITY, a leading digital adoption platform (DAP). I built GRAVITY around three key lessons from game design that I apply to employee onboarding and onboarding gamification.

1. The Paradox of the Active User

Lesson: Guide Users in the Moment, Not with Pre-Reading

Decades ago, IBM researchers Mary Beth Rosson and John Carroll discovered a puzzling behavior: new users of desktop publishing software ignored manuals and tutorials, preferring to jump right in-even if it meant making avoidable mistakes. Users wanted to get started and be productive as quickly as possible (production bias), in part by using what they already knew (assimilation bias), and not waste time reading manuals. This is known as the Active User Paradox.

Games solve this problem by integrating learning into gameplay. Players are subtly guided through tooltips, contextual hints, and interactive tutorials that appear only when needed. Similarly, enterprise software should provide real-time in-app guidance through interactive walkthroughs and on-demand assistance. Instead of static documentation, users should be guided to best practices as they work.

Implementation Tip

• Replace manuals with interactive walkthroughs and in-app guidance.
• Highlight defaults and recommended settings to help users make the right choices faster.

2. Dual-Task Interference

Lesson: Deliver Information at the Right Time

One of the biggest software rollout mistakes is bombarding people with alerts, emails, and notifications while they are busy. Research shows that when people receive messages while performing critical tasks, they ignore them. A study by BYU found that 74% of users ignored security messages when they appeared during an ongoing activity, and that number rose to 87% when users were actively entering data.

Games avoid this by providing hints and tips after a player has completed an action. Instead of interrupting the flow, they provide feedback at moments when players are naturally more receptive to new information.

Implementation Tip

• Time notifications and in-app guidance for moments of natural pause, such as when a user has completed an important step.
• Avoid pop-ups during high-focus tasks-provide insight after, not during, an action.

3. Front-Loading

Lesson: Teach in Steps, Not All at Once

One of the worst ways to train employees is to front-load all the information at the beginning. Yet, that's exactly what traditional training does: massive employee training and development sessions, thick manuals, and overwhelming e-learning courses. Games, on the other hand, introduce the mechanics gradually. Players learn by doing, providing only the information they need at each stage.

When introducing users to a new tool like Slack, it's more effective to break down the process in bite-sized steps and guide them step-by-step. This way, instead of explaining the entire onboarding flow at once, break it into natural moments of engagement that align with the user's journey (see Figure 2).

For example, when a user receives a prompt to join a Slack workspace (Trigger), that’s the perfect time to guide them through creating an account (Activity) – right when it’s needed. Once they're in, introduce the next step (Follow-up): inviting colleagues to the workspace. This way, each part of the process is introduced exactly when it's relevant, not before.

By structuring onboarding in this progressive way, users are less overwhelmed, more engaged, and better able to retain what they learn.

Implementation Tip

• Design onboarding around moments of interaction.
• Present actions and next steps based on what the user is doing, not what they might do later.
• Think of it as leading them one step at a time – prompt, act, follow through.

Bringing Game Design into the Enterprise with GRAVITY

The lessons I learned from World of Warcraft and other games completely changed the way I approached digital adoption in enterprise software rollouts. Incorporating these principles into your employee onboarding software can transform your onboarding process from frustrating and ineffective to intuitive and engaging.

That's where GRAVITY comes in. GRAVITY is a cutting-edge digital adoption platform (DAP) designed to help businesses seamlessly integrate these game design principles into enterprise digital transformation. With interactive walkthroughs, real-time in-app guidance, and contextual support, GRAVITY ensures that users learn by doing, eliminating the need for ineffective manuals and lengthy training sessions. By guiding users step by step, delivering information at the right moment, and preventing cognitive overload, GRAVITY enhances employee experience, employee engagement, and employee productivity while streamlining the entire employee life cycle.

Key Takeaways

1. Avoid the Paradox of the Active User - Guide users interactively instead of relying on manuals.
2. Prevent Dual-Task Interference - Time notifications and messages for natural pauses.
3. Eliminate Front-Loading - Teach gradually, breaking down complex processes into manageable steps.

If games can onboard millions of players seamlessly, enterprise software can do the same for employees. With GRAVITY, businesses can bring these principles to life, ensuring faster digital adoption, higher employee engagement, and a better overall employee experience.