Learning From Gamers -Datamation

Hardcore gamers have much to teach people in IT and business about how to run an organization. These gamers are often highly skilled workers who have mastered a wide range of very complex tasks with a combination of memorization, intuition and big-picture understanding. As a result, gamers have the right mindset for taking on important responsibilities within the IT profession. As videogames become more complex, nuanced and sophisticated, increasing numbers of people will rely on them for education. Already, tech start-ups in Silicon Valley are re-thinking how they can introduce elements of gaming into their organizations.

Gaming is fundamentally different from academics in that academics is about preparing for non-failure while gaming is about learning from failure. Gamers engage in massive repetition of tasks and enjoy the challenge of mastery, two traits that are not always found in academics. As videogames become more complex, nuanced and sophisticated, increasing numbers of people will start actually learning about history, politics, and other subjects through game play. In Silicon Valley, businesses are starting to learn from video games. The "failing softly" approach to generating new business plans is one of the reasons Silicon Valley is a leading innovation center. Business and IT leaders must learn how to incorporate failure into everyday activities, such that there is no longer a stigma attached to failure.

If you are a manager, you may discover new success if you are able to foster a video game-like culture of soft failure. Instead of firing the people who try something and screw up, for example, instead retain those now-educated people and fire the ones who never try anything new. Some organizations never punish failure. Others punish it way too harshly. In addition, figure out how to foster a culture of repetition, such that stressful or intimidating tasks become mundane.