From Day One: How to Build Onboarding That People Love

Jul 15, 2025 | Guul Games

Key Highlights

Discover how the initial onboarding phase directly impacts long-term retention for both new employees and users.
Learn how designing for the three core psychological needs-Competence, Autonomy, and Relatedness-transforms onboarding.
See practical ways to use mini-games and visible progress to make new members feel capable from the start.
Understand how offering autonomy in the learning journey boosts engagement and personal investment.
Explore how collaborative games and interactive icebreakers can make new members feel part of the community from day one.

The High Stakes of the First Impression: Why Onboarding Can't Be Passive In today's fast-paced world, first impressions aren't just important; they're everything.

Whether you're welcoming a new employee to your team or a new user to your platform, the initial onboarding experience sets the tone for the entire relationship. A clunky, overwhelming, or impersonal introduction can lead to early disengagement, high turnover rates, and ultimately, significant financial and human capital losses.

Think about it: how many apps have you downloaded and then quickly abandoned because the initial setup was too confusing?

Or how many new jobs have felt less like an exciting beginning and more like a monotonous information dump?

Traditional onboarding often falls into this trap. It's typically a one-way street of information delivery: endless manuals, back-to-back presentations, and overwhelming online modules. While necessary information must be conveyed, this "information dump" approach often neglects the human element. It fails to address the inherent anxieties of starting something new, the need for a sense of accomplishment, or the desire to feel connected. But what if we could transform this critical phase into an engaging, welcoming, and even enjoyable journey? The answer lies in applying the powerful principles of play psychology, specifically Self-Determination Theory (SDT), to create an onboarding experience that doesn't just inform, but truly empowers and retains. SDT posits that humans have three innate psychological needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness. By designing onboarding around these needs, we can create a blueprint for a better, more human approach.

The Psychology of Play in Practice: A Blueprint for Better Onboarding Applying the principles of Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to onboarding can fundamentally shift the experience from a chore to a captivating journey. By focusing on competence, autonomy, and relatedness, organizations can craft a welcoming environment that accelerates learning, fosters confidence, and builds lasting connections.

1. Onboarding for Competence: Cultivating Early Wins & Confidence

Starting something new often comes with a degree of uncertainty and even anxiety. New employees wonder if they have the skills to succeed; new users question if they can truly master a new tool. Traditional onboarding can exacerbate this by immediately overwhelming individuals with complex tasks or a deluge of information. To counter this, play psychology emphasizes the need for early wins and a clear path to competence. When individuals feel capable and effective, their intrinsic motivation soars, making them more likely to persevere and engage.

Here's how to build competence through play:

Tutorials as Mini-Games: Instead of lengthy video explanations or dense text, design initial tutorials as interactive mini-games. For example, a new software user might embark on a "quest" to input their first data entry, complete with clear step-by-step guidance and satisfying visual feedback for each correct action. Imagine an employee onboarding process where finding key documents or internal tools is framed as a "scavenger hunt" or a series of small, engaging puzzles. These feel less like passive instruction and more like playful challenges, building muscle memory and confidence.

Designing for Guaranteed Accomplishment: The very first interactions should be simple enough to guarantee a sense of accomplishment. This isn't about hand-holding indefinitely, but about providing an initial positive reinforcement loop. Picture a new hire's first "mission" being to successfully send a pre-drafted welcome email to their team, or a new user getting immediate, positive confirmation after completing their profile. These are low-stakes activities that provide a tangible "win," setting a positive tone for future learning.
Visualizing Progress: The Onboarding Journey: Implement clear progress bars or visual milestones that show new users or employees exactly where they are in the onboarding journey and what's next. Seeing a "25% complete" bar fill up, or a series of unlocked badges appearing, provides a powerful sense of momentum and accomplishment. This visual feedback reinforces their progress, reduces feelings of being lost or overwhelmed, and encourages them to continue towards the next goal. It transforms the entire onboarding process into a guided, satisfying adventure with clear checkpoints.

2. Onboarding for Autonomy: Offering Choice in the Learning Journey

No one likes to feel like they're being forced through a rigid process. The human need for autonomy -feeling a sense of control and choice over one's actions and learning- is a fundamental motivator that drives engagement and intrinsic interest. Traditional, one-size-fits-all onboarding programs often strip this away, leading to disengagement and a lack of ownership. Incorporating elements of choice empowers new individuals and significantly boosts their motivation to learn.

Consider these autonomy-boosting strategies:

"Choose Your Own Adventure" Modules: Instead of a fixed, linear sequence of information, allow new users or employees to choose which module or feature they want to explore first. For example, a new hire might pick between "Understanding Our Company Culture" or "Mastering Your Core Tools" as their initial focus, based on their immediate curiosity or perceived need. A new user joining a complex platform might decide whether to learn about basic functionality or advanced features first. This sense of agency makes the learning feel more relevant, personalized, and less like a mandatory chore. It respects their unique learning style and prior knowledge.
Optional Challenges & Deep Dives: For those who grasp concepts quickly or are eager to accelerate their learning, provide optional "pro tips," "advanced challenges," or "bonus quests." These might unlock hidden features, provide deeper insights into specific topics, or offer more complex scenarios for practice. This caters to different learning paces and intrinsic motivations, empowering individuals to take ownership of their development. For instance, a new sales rep might opt into an "Advanced Negotiation Scenario" simulation. This approach transforms a one-size-fits-all experience into a personalized learning adventure, directly enhancing user engagement by respecting individual learning styles and preferences.

3. Onboarding for Relatedness: Building Connections from Day One Humans are inherently social creatures with an innate need for relatedness – feeling connected to others, cared for, and a valued part of a group. Onboarding can often be an isolating experience, especially in remote or large organizations where initial interactions are limited. Leveraging play can bridge this gap, foster vital social bonds from the outset, and make new members feel truly integrated.

Strategies for building relatedness through play:

Collaborative Onboarding Games: Design simple, collaborative games that require new members to interact with existing team members or community leaders. This could be a virtual escape room that requires teamwork to solve company-related puzzles, a collaborative storytelling exercise that introduces colleagues' roles and personalities, or even a digital scavenger hunt where new hires work in pairs to find information about the company. Such activities break down initial awkwardness, create shared experiences, and encourage natural communication. These methods can also directly apply to social gaming, fostering community and trust within new teams.

Interactive Icebreaker Quizzes & "About Us" Games: Instead of stiff, formal introductions, use fun, interactive quizzes or "trivia about us" games. These could involve light-hearted questions about company history, quirky team facts, or even "two truths and a lie" style prompts where colleagues guess personal details. The goal is to facilitate natural conversations, reveal common interests, and make learning about colleagues an enjoyable discovery rather than a forced formality.
Mentorship "Missions" & Buddy Systems: Pair new hires with mentors or "buddies" through short, structured "missions" that require interaction. This isn't just about formal mentorship, but about creating organic touchpoints through playful tasks, like a mentor-mentee duo collaborating on a simple "getting started" project. This fosters early connections and provides a friendly face for questions and support. GUUL understands the power of these connections, designing games that strengthen team bonds and facilitate seamless integration.

A Blueprint for a Better, More Human Onboarding

The success of any organization or platform hinges on its ability to effectively integrate and retain new talent and users. By understanding and applying the core psychological needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness-as articulated by Self-Determination Theory-we can move beyond outdated "information dump" onboarding. Games offer a powerful, proven methodology to transform this critical phase into an engaging, empowering, and truly human experience. This blueprint, built on early wins, meaningful choice, and genuine connection, doesn't just onboard; it sets the stage for long-term success, deep engagement, and a thriving community that feels valued from day one.

At GUUL, we specialize in creating game-based solutions that transform critical business processes, including onboarding. Our approach ensures that your new employees feel confident, empowered, and connected from their very first day, and your new users quickly become active, loyal members of your community. Discover how our embedded games, eventhub solutions, or predictor games can provide the interactive, psychologically informed experiences needed to make your onboarding truly exceptional. Partner with GUUL to turn your first impression into a lasting success.

Key Takeaways

The most effective onboarding strategies are psychologically informed, addressing the core human needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness.
Building a new member's confidence is crucial, and this is best achieved by designing initial tasks as "early wins" with clear, visible progress.
Granting autonomy through optional challenges and choices in learning paths makes the onboarding experience feel more personal and boosts engagement.
Social bonds and a sense of belonging are best fostered from day one through the use of collaborative games and interactive icebreakers.
To maximize retention, businesses should replace passive "information dumps" with active, play-based onboarding that is engaging and psychologically sound.

Frequently Asked Quesitons

Q1: What is Self-Determination Theory, and how does it relate to onboarding?

Self-Determination Theory states that humans are driven by three innate psychological needs: competence (feeling capable), autonomy (having choice), and relatedness (feeling connected). Applying these needs to onboarding means designing experiences that build confidence, offer choices, and foster social connections from day one.

Q2: How can games make new employees feel competent quickly?

Games achieve this by designing tutorials as "mini-games," ensuring the very first tasks guarantee a sense of accomplishment, and using visible progress bars. This builds confidence through early, tangible wins, making the onboarding feel less daunting.

Q3: What does "autonomy" in onboarding look like?

Autonomy in onboarding means giving new users or employees choices, such as allowing them to select which learning modules they want to complete first or providing optional, more challenging tasks for those who want to accelerate their learning. This gives them control over their educational journey.

Q4: How can play help new team members feel connected (relatedness)?

Play fosters relatedness by integrating collaborative games that require teamwork, or using interactive icebreaker quizzes to facilitate introductions and build rapport among new colleagues or community members. These shared experiences naturally create bonds.

Q5: Is this approach only for tech companies or can it be applied universally?

The psychological principles of play are universal. This blueprint can be applied to any sector from corporate training and HR to customer onboarding in SaaS companies or educational platforms transforming any initial learning journey into a more engaging and effective experience. It's a versatile strategy for any organization looking to enhance its onboarding process.