Q: How can gaming or simulations transform the workplace?
A: Games and simulations
– and I’ll extend a bit to include play and fun – can transform the workplace
across several different dimensions. First, our world of work has evolved -
from an Industrial Society to a Knowledge Society. Knowledge work can benefit
from the mental break that games and play provide. Second, the “gamer
generation” is entering the workforce. In 2008, Pew Research did a study that
showed 97% of 12-17 year olds play computer, web, portable, or console games –
99% of boys, 94% of girls. These folks are entering the workforce, and the
workplace needs to adapt to better engage this new type of worker. Third, games
to get real work done – productivity games as we call them – can help better
motivate crowdsourcing efforts.
Q: Where do you see the most potential in gaming as part of
the future of work?
A: Games designed and
built around knowledge work. For us in software testing, there’s a huge benefit
if we can get feedback from a marketing manager on how he or she might use our
software. However, they don’t have time to do work for us, so a well-designed
game can help motivate and encourage them to take some extra time and help us.
Q: What are “Productivity Games” and how are they used?
A: Productivity games
are games or game mechanics that get “real work” done. We have learned that
adding a game on to someone’s “day job” backfires. It simply doesn’t work when
points, leaderboards, levels, or prizes are competing with the human resource
systems and paycheck that are already in place. Games work great to attract
core skills (those that most people have – ie: ability to type, make a phone
call, speak a language, etc.) to work on “organizational citizenship behaviors”
– those things that make the organization, the company, and/or the product
better – but are not necessarily the sole responsibility of anyone in the
organization. The “clean out the coffee pot at the end of the day” game works much
better than the “do Ross’s job” game.
Q: Do you have any experience using productivity games for
collaborative purposes?
A: We’ve been
experimenting for almost 10 years. Just
as with games for entertainment, players can be motivated by different
techniques. Some respond to the glory and shame of the leaderboard, some to
beating their own high score, and some by puzzles. Some play for the
camaraderie of team play. One of the
best examples in using games to collaborate was in the Windows Security team
with an Olympic themed game, where we had “runners” and “coaches” together on a
team. For one week, the coaches maintained a level of performance in their own
day job, as well as in that of the runners. The runners went off and did
something brand new - sometimes wild and crazy – to innovate in an area that
would help the organization. Each Olympic team was judged only as a team – both
on how well they maintained the regular work, and how much they could innovate.
In the Language Quality Game, we also saw native language speakers collaborate
and work together to “compete” against other languages.
Q: Can you give some examples?
A: The Netflix prize,
Re-Captcha, Google Image Labeler, Top Coder, and our Language Quality Game are
great examples. Tongal.com has done a great job building contests for both aspiring
and professional videographers and producers to compete for video business from
real companies.
Q: Where do you see pockets of expertise, and in what aspect
of serious games, worldwide?
A: I think there are
some interesting cultural shifts in the explosion of mobile and social games.
As a new generation of business leaders starts to take their seat at the head
of the table, I think we’ll see a shift. More than 70% of the worlds’
population plays games. There are well over 300 million online gamers in China.
As workforce demographics shift, and with the rise in emerging economies,
globalization of our world economy benefits tremendously when workers from
disparate cultures build trust and teamwork skills through game play. I think mobile gaming expertise in China,
Japan, Korea, and other eastern countries will be a huge factor in shaping our
future world. Gamers and game development expertise continues to flourish in
India. There are great game studios in the UK and Europe. In South America,
Brazil gaming industry is growing at ~30% a year. The Russian video game market is projected to
double over the next 3 years. My belief is that growth in gaming opportunities
is correlated to population trends.
Q: What are the challenges to the industry right now?
A: I’ll narrow my answer
to productivity games – games in the workplace – as I’m more familiar there
than the gaming industry as a whole. In the workplace, there’s still a bit of a
negative connotation to the word “game”. Some (generally old school) folks
think “games are gimmicky” – or “we don’t play around here, we work hard” - and
that play and fun are indicative of lower productivity. My belief is that as
our world of work shifts to knowledge work, that play, games, mirth, and fun
actually improve productivity by making people more creative, more innovative,
and more relaxed as they apply their minds to their tasks.
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