Show Me How You Do It, Moe Ash!
Wed Jan 14 2026
Overview
People love to say “games make learning better,” but Moe Ash has a more grounded take. In this episode, Sofie Willox sits down with Moe to explore what makes a learning game effective, and what makes it feel like play with no purpose.
Moe introduces the idea of “hard fun”: learning experiences that are enjoyable, but still tied to clear outcomes, tangible behaviours, and real performance goals. Together, Sofie and Moe walk through where L&D professionals should actually start when designing a learning game or card deck, especially when we are not “commercial game designers,” but practitioners trying to build capability and drive behaviour change.
The conversation is practical, structured, and refreshingly honest. If you have ever wanted to build a learning game but felt overwhelmed by mechanics, format choices, or where to begin, this episode gives you a clear entry point and a design process you can reuse.
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Moe Ash
Moe is currently looking into acquiring his degree in business psychology, aiming to blend gamification and performance management in a tight cohesive mold.
Moe is the founder of The Catalyst, a learning design consultancy focused solely on creating impeccable learning experiences.
Find Moe on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moeash7/
Also, here are the mentioned links:
The learning game design doc: https://view.genially.com/65cb7727f6eacd00144b3164
The gamification GPT:
https://chatgpt.com/g/g-L0EDT7FS0-gamification-learning-guide-the-catalyst
More
Overview People love to say “games make learning better,” but Moe Ash has a more grounded take. In this episode, Sofie Willox sits down with Moe to explore what makes a learning game effective, and what makes it feel like play with no purpose. Moe introduces the idea of “hard fun”: learning experiences that are enjoyable, but still tied to clear outcomes, tangible behaviours, and real performance goals. Together, Sofie and Moe walk through where L&D professionals should actually start when designing a learning game or card deck, especially when we are not “commercial game designers,” but practitioners trying to build capability and drive behaviour change. The conversation is practical, structured, and refreshingly honest. If you have ever wanted to build a learning game but felt overwhelmed by mechanics, format choices, or where to begin, this episode gives you a clear entry point and a design process you can reuse. _____________________________________ Moe Ash Moe is currently looking into acquiring his degree in business psychology, aiming to blend gamification and performance management in a tight cohesive mold. Moe is the founder of The Catalyst, a learning design consultancy focused solely on creating impeccable learning experiences. Find Moe on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moeash7/ Also, here are the mentioned links: The learning game design doc: https://view.genially.com/65cb7727f6eacd00144b3164 The gamification GPT: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-L0EDT7FS0-gamification-learning-guide-the-catalyst