# Notification The Notification channel allows you to **send players messages that appear on their screen** during an exercise. | Benefit | Feature | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | Send players simple, attention-grabbing messages that appear on the screen during an exercise | ## Running

This is what notifications look like in the player view

*** ## Designing ### When to Use * Provide **in-world alerts** like an SMS notification or **out-of-world instructions** to the facilitator * Use for **quick updates** to notify participants of important milestones * Highlight critical moments in a scenario that require **immediate attention** * **Interrupt** player activity for essential prompts or decisions ### How to (Configuration) To add or remove audio bleep, navigate to the `Configuration` tab in the exercise editor. Choose `Channels` and select `Notification`. ### How to (Inject) All other setup is in the inject (i.e. in `Exercise`)

Example notification with optional question

#### Option Descriptions | Option | Description | | ------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Sound | Toggle sound alerts on or off for notifications. (in `Style`) | | Attach media | Add image to make more realistic or appealing | | Add timer | Include a countdown that closes the notification (avoid if possible) | | Add questions | Present the user with choices that cannot be skipped | #### What the Player Sees 1. **Standard Notification**: Appears as a simple pop-up on the participant's screen:
2. **Notification with Question**: Displays a choice of buttons that the user must click. Two buttons appear side-by-side, while more than two will stack vertically:
3. **Notifications with Timers:** Shows a timer countdown; once started, it cannot be skipped or sped up:
{% hint style="danger" %} Note that timers and questions cannot be used simultaneously. {% endhint %} ### ⭐Best practices * Use media attachments to enhance the impact of your notifications * Design clear, concise, and purposeful messages to ensure user engagement * Avoid timer if possible or else set reasonable timers to allow participants adequate time to respond. But not too long because you're removing agency if the pop-up is just a message ### :zap:FAQs:
Can notifications be sent to specific people? Yes, just like any other inject, you can decide to send it to all players, the EXCON team, roles or positions etc.
Can players dismiss or acknowledge notifications? Notifications cannot be skipped, they will appear on screen and the player will have to close the notification to see their dashboard again.
Do notifications persist, or do they disappear after being viewed? A "X" appears for the standard notification allowing players to close the notification. Question notifications require players to select a choice in order for the notification to disappear. With a timer notification, there is not choice for the player to close the notification. They have to wait for the timer to be up.
Is there a way to track whether a notification was seen or interacted with? Only question notifications are tracked and the data can be found in the facilitator dashboard within the review tab and reports.
### Examples The sharefile below has an example of each type of notification option: * Standard (no button or timer) * Choice * Timer {% file src="" %} In the above example, we move players in Groups depending on their choice. * Group 1 is the default group that all players belong to at the start of all exercises. * The player is prompted to make a choice of running the anti-virus scan or not. Those who do are added to Group 2 and those who delay are added to Group 3. * After this choice no players will belong to Group 1. This means we can use Group 1 later for those of accept another chance to run the virus scan. * You'll see that injects are sent to Group instead of to All and hence players see the consequence of their choice