eLearning Trailblazers: Gamification Experts Who Help Us Level Up L&D Experiences

eLearning Gamifiers Who Are Leading The Way

Gamification has the power to motivate learners, provide immediate feedback, and facilitate mistake-driven learning. But how do you launch a successful eLearning gamification strategy and make the most of modern tech? Today, we’re shining the spotlight on gamification experts who share their expertise with the L&D community and are always on the cutting edge when it comes to trends and Instructional Design techniques. Without further ado and in no particular order, here are eLearning gamification pros you should know about.

Learning Gamification Pros Who Are Transforming The Industry

Yu-kai Chou

Yu-kai Chou is one of the earliest pioneers of gamification, with an experience of almost 20 years, and a multiple-winner of the Gamification Guru of the Year award. He is currently the Founding Partner and Chief Creation Officer of the Octalysis Group, as well as the Co-Founder and Chief Experience Officer of the Metablox NFT platform. Yu-kai has spoken at conferences all over the world about the merits of gamification, while his design work has affected over 1 billion user experiences.

Juliette Denny

As Founder of Learning Consultancies Ltd and Managing Director of Growth Engineering Ltd, Juliette Denny is playing an important part in transforming online learning from dull and uninteresting to captivating and impactful. She has an experience of almost two decades, during which she has collaborated with corporations such as L’Oréal, HP, and Samsung. Juliette has been named a Top eLearning Thought Leader, has her own YouTube series, and is a regular keynote speaker.

Rajat Paharia

Rajat Paharia, also known as the father of gamification, is a leader in the industry with an incomparable understanding of the potential of using gamification to drive performance and engage employees. He is currently working with Google, overseeing the development of AR platforms, and before that, he founded and was the Chief Product Officer of Bunchball, a provider of social gaming and gamification services. Rajat is an author and sought-after keynote speaker on the topics of motivation, engagement, and gamification.

An Coppens

An Coppens is the Founder and Chief Game Changer at Gamification Nation, an award-winning company that creates gamification solutions to engage employees and customers. She is a published author, celebrated speaker, avid blogger, and coach who has worked with companies in numerous industries. In 2022, An founded MyDigitalOffice.io, which she envisions growing into a digital workplace based on gamification and, ultimately, into a metaverse for remote employees.

Dr. Marigo Raftopoulos

Dr. Marigo Raftopoulos is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Tampere, where she is working on Augmented-Humans, an EU-funded project which studies how we can use game-based technologies to leverage human and artificial intelligence in order to improve problem-solving and support learning. Marigo has collaborated with numerous technology companies as a strategic business advisor to help them achieve their organizational goals through gamification.

Andrzej Marczewski

Andrzej Marczewski is a gamification guru, web designer, digital experience consultant, keynote speaker, and published author. His passion for gamification led him to set up Gamified UK back in 2009, a personal blog dedicated to all things gamification, which has turned into a consultancy platform offering valuable insights and resources. In addition to that, he works with various organizations supporting them in achieving their goals through innovative gamified solutions.

Rob Alvarez Bucholska

Rob Alvarez Bucholska is an expert on gamification who shares his valuable insights on conferences around the world as well as on his podcast Professor Game. As a learner experience designer at IE Business School in Madrid, he had first-hand experience creating engaging learning materials and courses. Rob continues to support the development, launch, and continual improvement of innovative solutions as a B2B Product Manager for Ironhack.

Thijs de Vries

Thijs de Vries is well known for his ability to leverage gamification to improve learning and drive behavioral change. In 2007, he founded Warp VR, an innovative company that provides a story-based solution for immersive learning. To this day, leading corporations such as Shell, KLM, and Erste Bank have collaborated with him to train and upskill their employees. As an international speaker, Thijs regularly shares his profound knowledge of the impact of developing playful learning with powerful businesspeople and audiences worldwide.

Monica Cornetti

Monica Cornetti is the Founder of Sententia Gamification, a global collective of gamification strategy designers, and the Gamemaster of GamiCon, a gamification conference for Learning and Development that attracts business leaders, Instructional Designers, trainers, and other professionals from all corners of the world. You can find Monica’s accumulated expertise as a leading Gamification Designer and Strategist in her book Totally Awesome Training Activity Guide: Put Gamification to Work for You.

Fabian Haridien

Fabian Haridien is passionate about tackling problems using gamification. He currently runs the design, development, and implementation process of gamified solutions for the First National Bank South Africa. In addition, he helps his organization create client-focused solutions through regular gamification master classes. Fabian has shared his knowledge on the ways gamification can affect our lives in a series of enlightening blogs.

Elvin Eldić

Elvin Eldić is a performance and engagement specialist, passionate about driving performance and exceeding goals by combining gamification and business intelligence. He is the Founder of the Gamifier Group, a software solutions studio specializing in video games and VR, and the Global Performance Director for Till Payments, a growing fintech company. His experience in retail, game development, and applied sciences has allowed Elvin to create a unique approach to improving client and employee engagement.

Amy Jo Kim

Amy Jo Kim is a social game designer and community architect with an impressive background, as she was in the original design teams for The Sims, Netflix, Rock Band, and more. She is the CEO of Gamethinking.io and The Game Thinking Academy, which aim to support startups in utilizing game thinking to create captivating user experiences that will better promote their products. Amy’s book Community Building On The Web is considered a must for anyone in the field of gaming and gamification.

Gabe Zichermann

Gabe Zichermann is an entrepreneur and avid advocate of gamification, having published books and spoken on countless occasions about its potential to solve various challenging problems. In addition to that, Gabe is the Founder and CEO of Gamification.co, a website where you can find useful information and resources, such as webinars, to enrich your knowledge on how gamification can transform your organization and other aspects of your life.

Dr. Jane McGonigal

Dr. Jane McGonigal has been an accomplished game designer as well as the Director of Game Research and Development at the Institute for the Future for over 15 years. Jane is a best-selling author and a sought-after keynote speaker, having spoken at TED conferences, the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, the Game Developers Conference, and many more. Jane strongly believes that games and digital technology have the power to improve our life quality and solve real-world problems.

Are You An eLearning Thought Leader Who’d Like To Be Featured On A Future List?

We’d like to congratulate all of the learning gamification thought leaders featured on this list who help eLearning pros take their experiences to the next level and fully engage their audiences. If you’d like to be considered for our next eLearning Trailblazers List, our Editorial team would love to hear from you. We’ll also publish more niche-specific thought leader lists in the near future. Finally, we’d like to invite you to guest post on our eLearning Industry platform to share your insider expertise.