Does Gamified Cyber Security Training Actually Work?

More security awareness managers and CISOs are starting to ask whether game-based learning could finally be the thing that solves their employee engagement problem.

But most of them aren’t buying the hype.

They’ve seen too many “innovative” training tools that overpromise and underdeliver. They want to know: Does this actually reduce risk? Or is it just a more colorful version of the same old training modules?

Below we'll tackle the real questions we hear from the field - and what the data shows once the gamification process is implemented at scale.

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What is gamified security training (and do we use it at Hoxhunt)?

Gamified security training isn’t about turning cyber security into a video game. It’s about treating behavior change like a design challenge using game-like elements to shift habits, not just deliver content.

At its core, gamification is a behavioral framework. You’re pairing specific cues (like spotting simulated phishing emails) with desired actions (reporting, escalating, verifying). Add in rewards - badges, progress streaks, instant feedback - and you’ve got a repeatable system that trains cyber behavior like muscle memory.

The aim? Not just knowledge retention. Not just employee engagement. We’re talking about actual shifts in decision-making during real-world threats.

Why are more security teams using gamification?

Security awareness training often looks like generic training videos or compliance-heavy modules that treat users like a box to tick. They focus on abstract risks, push walls of text, and assume that knowing what a phishing attack is means knowing how to respond.

But we know that’s not true. According to the 2025 Verizon DBIR, 60% of breaches still trace back to the human element - a number that hasn't budged in years.

So what’s more effective? A training platform that delivers frequent training through interactive scenarios, gamified elements, and a safe environment where people can practice spotting cyber threats before the real thing hits.

This is where gamified learning shines. It’s built to keep training content fresh, to reduce training fatigue, and to create a positive environment that reinforces success.

In Hoxhunt, every time someone reports a phishing email, they get stars, badges and a quick learning burst. The loop rewards the right behavior, so they want to repeat it. That’s not a gimmick. That’s a reinforcement system grounded in behavioral science.

What does gamification in security awareness training actually look like?

Here's exactly what we do at Hoxhunt to gamify training whilst respecting employees time and intelligence:

Interactive learning modules: Gamified training content is usually broken down into interactive modules, where employees actively participate in scenarios and tasks rather than passively consuming information. These modules might include things like simulations, quizzes, and problem-solving exercises.

Points, badges and leaderboards: Employees earn points for completing tasks, answering questions correctly and achieving specific milestones. Badges are awarded for accomplishments - with a leaderboard displaying top performers.

Real-world scenarios: Effective gamified training should include hands-on practice with real-world cyber security scenarios, such as simulated phishing emails or data breaches.

Immediate feedback and rewards: Employees receive immediate feedback on their actions, helping them understand what they did right or wrong. Rewards for correct actions and positive feedback are designed to reinforce positive behavior without punishing mistakes.

Adaptive learning paths: Gamified training (like Hoxhunt) often includes adaptive learning paths that adjust based on performance. This personalization ensures that employees receive content suited to their skill level.

If you want to see what this looks like in practice - tone, structure, and all - below is a quick breakdown of how Hoxhunt balances interactive learning, real-world simulations, and game-like elements to drive behavior change without patronizing users.

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The mechanics and behavioral science behind gamification

Gamified security training is not about entertainment. It’s about behavior design... and it’s backed by the same principles that keep you scrolling social feeds or checking inbox zero. The best platforms aren’t just fun; they’re deliberately engineered to drive action.

BJ Fogg’s Behavior Model is the foundation here: Behavior = Motivation + Ability + Prompt. Platforms like Hoxhunt apply that model to security behavior - giving people just enough challenge, structured rewards, and timely prompts to turn good intentions into habits. Not through fear. Through feedback.

Structural vs. content gamification

There’s nuance in how this works, and most people miss it. Gamified training programs usually fall into one of two camps:

• Structural gamification adds game-like elements (points, levels, leaderboards, feedback loops) around traditional training content. The format drives engagement, not the content itself.
• Content gamification, on the other hand, transforms the training material - turning it into a narrative, puzzle, or choose-your-own-adventure experience.

Structural gamification creates the scaffolding for motivation (streaks, friendly competition, interactive challenges, continued participation). Content gamification rewires the material itself to match the way people actually want to learn.

Hoxhunt uses both... but leans on structural design to make realistic scenarios (like phishing attempts) feel intuitive to respond to. Because the goal isn’t just to understand cyber threats. It’s to react to them correctly, in real-world situations.

What is the 'Mario Effect'? And why does it matter?

There’s a reason this works and it has everything to do with how people learn.

Engineer and science educator Mark Rober coined what he calls The Super Mario Effect:

“Focusing on the princess and not the pits helps people stick with a task and learn more. By reframing the process, you take fear off the table - and learning happens more naturally.”

It’s exactly why Hoxhunt’s gamified approach resonates. We build a positive environment where failure isn’t punished, and small wins reinforce progress over time. Security goals start to feel achievable. Personalized learning experiences begin to close knowledge gaps. And suddenly, regular employees - not just cybersecurity professionals - are developing real-world cybersecurity skills with long-term retention.

The result? Less training fatigue. More performance in security training. And a cyber workforce that’s ready for real-world threats - not just another quiz on password management.

As Garrett Cook, former Head of InfoSec at G2, put it:

“We’ve seen the light. We’ve seen what’s possible with a positive approach to Security Awareness Training.”

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What’s the best way to gamify security training without making it feel childish?

This is the tension a lot of security awareness managers face - especially when pitching new tools to leadership:

“We want better engagement, but we don’t want employees rolling their eyes at a cartoon hacker in a cape.”

Tone is one of the biggest reasons gamified training fails. When platforms lean too hard into “fun” without grounding it in relevance or respect for the user, people tune out. Or worse - they disengage entirely.

Fun is not the goal. Respect is.

People are smarter than they’re often given credit for. You give them some cheesy top-down cartoon scenario, and they’re going to ignore it. They’ve got better things to do.

What works better is treating employees like adults. Use clean design. Get to the point. Frame cyber threats through interactive modules that mirror real-life scenarios, not gamified content that looks like it was made for kids.

For example, at Hoxhunt we've  used a phishing training series that uses a gritty narrative walk-through. Not a gimmick, just a choose-your-own-path scenario with consequences baked in. That module outperformed traditional training videos by a wide margin. Why? Becauseit gave them agency and trusted their intelligence.

Gamification is not a game… It’s about solving a business problem. And that includes tone. You’ve got to meet people where they are.

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How do we go beyond points and leaderboards to actually change behavior?

Leaderboards, badges, and weekly challenges only take you so far.

Most people can smell shallow gamification from a mile away. Surface-level tactics may nudge engagement for a week or two, but they don’t produce lasting behavior change.

To actually reduce cyber risk, you need something deeper.

If you want to go deeper on how to measure that shift - from clicks and completions to actual risk reduction - check out this conversation with our Head of Human Risk, Maxime. We get into the metrics that matter, and what it really takes to move from awareness to action.

From game mechanics to mental models

The goal isn’t to make training more fun. It’s to make security behaviors more automatic. That means designing for relevance, repetition, and meaningful interaction.

People don’t care about the training. But if you make it short, show them exactly what to do, and tie it to something real, they walk away going, ‘Oh… that was actually useful.’ Then they’re more receptive the next time around.

That’s the backbone of Hoxhunt’s design - fast, adaptive, real-world cybersecurity training that doesn’t waste people’s time and doesn’t insult their intelligence.

What actually works?

• Adaptive difficulty: New hires don’t get the same phishing simulations as seasoned tech leads. The platform gradually increases difficulty based on user performance. Enough to challenge without overwhelming. You’re not just “completing” training; you’re building resilience.
• Real-world decision-making: Every training moment mimics realistic scenarios. Think: simulated phishing emails from internal-looking addresses, financial requests that mirror actual workflows, or subtle branding tricks that mirror real threats. This builds instincts not just awareness.
• In-game rewards that reinforce real behavior: Instead of gamifying the content, we gamify detection. Report a real phishing email? That’s a win... and users feel it. Positive reinforcement creates a powerful loop: success triggers recognition, which reinforces security practices.

Evidence that a gamified approach changes behavior

Just look at what happens over time:

After a few months of Hoxhunt training:

• Success rate jumps from baseline to 60%+
• Miss and fail rates fall steadily as difficulty increases
• Real threat reports climb 10X within one year - the result of sustained engagement, not just one-off wins

This is the difference between shallow mechanics and long-term behavior change.

Gamified training isn’t about keeping score. It’s about building habits that hold up when the real threats arrive.

Build a security culture

With gamified phishing training, you can remove the negative emotions that people associate with security education.

Through frequent, gamified phishing simulations, they'll learn that staying safe online is important...

And they will most likely start caring more about other aspects of cybersecurity too.

When users are on your side, they will actually support your defenses instead of posing a risk to them.

When they learn the habit of spotting and reporting emails, their chances of falling victim to a phishing attack will be lower.

In a positive environment, even if they fall victim, they will dare to come forward, which is great because you can start figuring out what happened and how you can prevent a breach.

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Does gamification actually reduce phishing or is it just a gimmick?

“We’ve seen this before.”

That’s the knee-jerk reaction from a lot of experienced CISOs and security awareness managers when gamified training comes up. The industry has seen waves of flashy platforms that promise behavior change but only deliver leaderboards and shallow gamification.

But here’s what’s changed: when gamification is grounded in behavioral outcomes, not vanity metrics, the results look very different.

Hoxhunt data shows that when phishing simulations are tied to realistic scenarios and structured feedback loops, employee behavior changes fast - and sticks.

• 6x improvement in phishing reporting accuracy within six months
• 86% reduction in phishing incidents across entire organizations
• 10x increase in real threat detection within a year

This isn’t just people clicking fewer links. It’s people actively spotting, escalating, and neutralizing real threats - including phishing attacks that bypass technical controls like email filters.

Where gamification works - and where it doesn’t

Gamification fails when:

• It’s bolted on top of traditional methods without adapting content
• It prioritizes entertainment over education
• It ignores feedback loops or skips real-world relevance

Gamification succeeds when:

• It simulates real phishing attacks in a safe environment
• It creates low-friction opportunities to act securely
• It builds confidence, not just compliance

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How do I measure if gamified training is working?

The key meaningful metrics you should be measuring fall into four key categories - measured in both simulated and real-world environments: reporting behavior and dwell time.

1. Phishing reporting rate

• Measures the percentage of phishing emails flagged and reported.
• Tracking the simulated rate shows training engagement; tracking real incidents highlights real-world impact.
• Hoxhunt reports 9–10× higher reporting behavior after a year of training - across both simulations and real threats.

2. Phishing simulation dwell time

• The time from email receipt to user report.
• Hoxhunt data shows a 32% improvement in dwell time within a year and top performers detecting real attacks in under 2 minutes.

3. Real threat detection rate

• Tracks the percentage of actual phishing attempts caught.
• With behavior-based training, organizations have seen up to 86% reduction in phishing incidents, and a 10× increase in real threat detection.

4. Real threat dwell time

• The time between a real phishing email landing and its detection/report.
• The goal is speed: the sooner threats are flagged, the less damage they can do.

Why these metrics matter

• Threat reporting volume & accuracy: Focus on how many and how well users report. High volume isn’t enough - accuracy matters most.
• Speed (dwell time): In cybersecurity every second counts. Faster detection directly reduces dwell time and costs.
• Behavior change vs. vanity metrics: A low simulation failure rate is nice, but not meaningful. What matters is detection and prevention in live environments.

Note: Failure rate may mislead - it ignores proactive behavior and doesn’t account for skill building over time.

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Can gamification fix the fact that most employees just don’t care?

This is the core issue facing most security awareness managers and it’s got nothing to do with whether your training is video, email, LMS-based, or gamified.

The problem isn’t format. It’s motivation.

Most employees aren’t ignoring security because they’re lazy or irresponsible. They’re busy. They’re overwhelmed. And in many cases, they don’t actually believe they’re a target.

Most people think, ‘I'm just a graphic designer,’ or ‘I'm invisible in the org chart.’ But attackers don’t care who you are - they care what you can ask other people to do.

This is a critical behavioral blind spot. It’s not that people are unwilling to participate in cybersecurity... they just don’t see themselves in the threat model. And if they don’t see themselves, they won’t engage.

Gamification helps but it can’t manufacture culture

Let’s be clear: gamification isn’t a magic bullet for apathy. It can’t override toxic culture, leadership misalignment, or broken processes.

But what it can do is lower the friction for positive behavior:

• It simplifies reporting actions down to a single click.
• It personalizes phishing simulations so users feel challenged, not tricked.
• It uses short, realistic scenarios to trigger pattern recognition.
• And - most importantly - it builds repetition without fatigue.

This is behavior shaping, not belief shaping. You’re building new habits by rewarding the right micro-actions. That’s a powerful start. But it’s not the whole story.

Behavior ≠ buy-in

Real culture change requires a broader foundation:

• Leadership modelling: do execs and managers report phishing themselves?
• Peer norms: do people share real threats? Celebrate streaks?
• Psychological: is it safe to ask a “dumb” security question or report a mistake?
• System ease: how hard is it to do the secure thing?

Gamified training supports those things, but it doesn’t create them. The real shift happens when people go, ‘Hey, that actually wasn’t that bad,’ after a training. Then they’re more willing the next time. That openness is the first step to buy-in.

The best programs use gamification not just to teach, but to listen - tracking which behaviors are sticking, where people are dropping off, and which teams might need deeper support.

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What results can we actually expect from gamified security training?

Will more people actually complete the training and remember it?

Most security awareness programs struggle with training fatigue and low participation. used right, gamification can solve this. When AES Corporation introduced gamified phishing simulations with Hoxhunt, they saw engagement jump from 10% to 70% in a matter of months - a shift that won them a CSO50 award for measurable behavior change.

Studies show gamified programs can boost training completion by up to 60% and improve knowledge retention by 30–40%, especially when the content includes interactive feedback and real-world decision scenarios.

Can we track if people are actually improving - not just clicking through slides?

Traditional compliance training offers completion rates - but not much else. Gamified platforms introduce metrics that show behavioral progress: reporting rates, phishing resilience, risk scores per user or team.

Using point systems, streaks, and leaderboards gives security teams visibility into:

• who’s learning
• who’s disengaged
• and which topics need reinforcement

Platforms like Hoxhunt report over 75% increases in threat reporting when employees are continuously challenged with adaptive, gamified simulations.

And some sources estimate that gamified cybersecurity training increases employee retention by up to 40%.

Does it actually make people care or just make it feel less painful?

No one’s pretending gamification will make every employee love security. But it can reduce resistance, spark peer competition, and make content stickier.

According to one study, 83% of respondents who received gamified training felt more motivated. Whilst another study found that 89% of employees cited gamification increased their happiness and productivity.

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Is gamification just vendor hype or are there real results?

Let’s cut through the noise. The cybersecurity market is crowded with platforms throwing around terms like “human risk management” and “gamified training.” Security leaders are rightly skeptical. Is this operational change or just marketing fluff?

That skepticism is healthy. So let’s move past the buzzwords and look at what actually happens when gamified training is done right - at scale, in complex organizations, under real-world pressure.

Here’s what security leaders are seeing with Hoxhunt:

TomTom (Global SaaS Enterprise)

• Challenge: Needed to scale training and manage a flood of threat reports.
• Results:
• • 10× increase in human threat detection capability
  • Hoxhunt’s automated response platform brought order to the surge
  • Dramatic human risk reduction across teams

Qualcomm (1,000 Highest-Risk Employees)

• Situation: Identified top 1,000 high-risk users.
• Approach: Focused gamified interventions and adaptive training.
• Outcome:
• • Converted risky users into proactive “cyber role models”
  • Earned CSO50 Award for program excellence

AES (Global Energy Corporation)

• Before: Traditional SAT tools struggled to engage.
• After switching to Hoxhunt:
• • 5× increase in employee participation over legacy methods
  • Real threats reported increased substantially (tracking exact volumes)
  • Skyrocketed resilience metrics - well beyond compliance checkboxes

Vendor comparison: Why do organizations choose Hoxhunt?

Crowd-sourced reviews from G2, Capterra, Gartner Peer Insights:

• Ease of setup: Hoxhunt scores 9.7 vs. KnowBe4’s 8.8
• Interactive training: 9.4 vs. 8.8
• Gamification quality: 9.5 vs. 8.1
• Continuous assessment: 9.4 vs. 8.9

Beyond ratings, user comments echo the same theme:

• “Employees genuinely enjoy the Hoxhunt training experience (and even ask for more training!)” - G2 review
• “It was like finding something I’d never known I’d always wanted… When we talk about ‘awareness’, it’s really all about behavior change, and that’s what Hoxhunt delivers.” - WaterAid case study

By comparison:

• KnowBe4 offers a large content library, but setup can be manual and content generic.
• Others (OutThink, CultureAI) often require extra configuration or lack the built-in adaptive infrastructure; knowledge workers report these can feel over-engineered or generic, not aligned with real threats.

At Hoxhunt, we don’t just gamify training. We measure outcomes, connect behaviors to SOC, and adjust per individual. It's not about competition - it’s about resilience.

Are we biased? Absolutely.

Is there real proof? Absolutely.

Not every platform lives up to the buzz. But Hoxhunt doesn’t stop at gamification. It builds systems that change behavior, reduce risk, and feed the SOC with real intelligence.

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Drive engagement and safe behaviors with Hoxhunt

Hoxhunt was purpose-built to deliver interactive, bite-sized phishing training that employees love.

We believe that training works best when its frequent, engaging and tailored to each employee's specific location, role and skill level.

So, we designed a solution that maximizes training outcomes by serving every user a personalized learning path that measurably changes behavior.

How it works

• Bite-sized, adaptive learning: Every training interaction is short, contextual, and mapped to an individual’s role, skill level, and location. This isn’t generic product training - it’s personalized learning experiences grounded in real-world cyber threats.
• Realistic simulations, constantly refreshed: Our phishing simulations mimic the tactics of cyber criminals in the wild, with scenarios pulled from millions of live threat signals across industries. If attackers are innovating, so are we.
• Built-in AI guidance: Adaptive learning paths evolve with each click, report, or miss. AI ensures that the difficulty level matches the user’s ability, helping them build skill without disengagement or overload.
• Continuous feedback, not one-off modules: Users get instant reinforcement with every interaction - turning that “hey, that wasn’t so bad” moment into a long-term memory hook.
• True behavior metrics: Our analytics dashboard doesn’t just show completion rates - it reveals behavior real change through time-to-report, detection of real phishing attacks and organizational risk broken down by team, location, and role.

We’ve moved from top-down compliance content to something that actually feels good to do - and people remember it. It’s not about dumping knowledge. It’s about helping people do the right thing under pressure.

What you get with Hoxhunt

• A gamified training platform that scales across functions and geographies
• Regular cybersecurity training that doesn’t cause training fatigue
• Measurable security achievements and performance in security training
• Metrics that actually matter - not just activity, but resilience

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Gamified cyber security training FAQ

How do I keep security training fresh without overwhelming people?

The trick isn’t more content... it’s better delivery. Long, top-down modules get ignored. Short, relevant content that adapts to their day? That sticks.

Hoxhunt’s gamified learning environment keeps training relevant by:

• Drip-feeding interactive scenarios into workflows
• Refreshing simulations based on real threat data
• Using adaptive difficulty so users stay challenged but never overloaded

It’s about minimal time investment, maximum engagement - and no training fatigue.

Which platforms actually deliver on gamified training - and which don’t?

Most vendors say they do gamification. Few deliver it meaningfully.

KnowBe4 offers a large content library. CultureAI and OutThink push dashboards. But where many fall short is in behavior change and continuous engagement. What sets Hoxhunt apart is the integration of Gamification security awareness training into a system designed around adaptive difficulty, instant feedback, and real-world decision-making.

Everyone’s saying the same things. But the difference is in implementation. We don’t just check the box. We measure what actually changed in behavior.

How do I make gamification work for non-technical or disengaged employees?

It starts with empathy, not edutainment. The moment you assume people are failing or talk down to them they’re out. But if you speak in plain language, show them what to do, and make it useful in their real context, they actually pause… and they apply it.

Gamified activities like phishing simulations or micro-challenges work when:

• They reflect the user’s actual work reality (e.g., retail staff, nurses, regional nuance)
• They avoid cartoonish or overly playful tone
• They reward progress with clarity and purpose, not just confetti

This is how a gamified learning environment becomes an inclusive design, not a gimmick.

What are the best rewards or incentives that actually motivate people?

Forget gift cards and leaderboards for a second.

The most powerful incentives are built into the feedback loop:

• Positive reinforcement (stars, badges, progress bars)
• Recognition in team-based reports or hot-streaks
• Instant feedback when someone reports a real phishing email

The goal isn’t to bribe people into caring. It’s to create momentum through visibility and progress tracking. Friendly competition works - if it’s framed around meaningful goals.

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_Sources

^{Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) - Verizon, 2024
The Super Mario Effect: Tricking Your Brain into Learning More - TED Talk by Mark Rober, 2019
Gamification Statistics - Gitnux, 2024
Gamification by Design - Gabe Zichermann & Christopher Cunningham, O’Reilly Media
Gamification Survey Results - TalentLMS, 2022
Gamification Statistics - Zippia, 2024
Hoxhunt vs. KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training - G2 Crowd Comparison, 2024}