Gaming enters the education space

Published previously in Convergence@IE:


"The day may not be far off when companies receive resumes that include a line reading “level 60 tauren shaman in World of Warcraft." The savviest employers will get the message."

Those are the last words of a Wired article of the April edition, "You Play World of Warcraft? You're Hired!" written by John Seely Brown and Douglas Thomas, that has been receiving a lot of attention during the last months, while news about how massively multiplayer online games (MMOG) reach traditional media are, suddenly, important for “real” business.

Playing one of these games and being good at it means that you have to develop and improve your skills at leading groups, managing scarce resources, decide with low levels of information, compete against organized groups with the same – or similar- needs and objectives… basically some of the skills that make the “most wanted” list in many business around the world.

Being at a business school, the question to ask is clear: what is the role of gaming in business education? We have been using simulations in online learning for many years. But games and the open frontiers of MMOG are challenging for the systems of many institutions. They challenge the common assumption of someone going to a B-School to improve their negotiation or leadership skills. And though it might only be applicable to younger players, the definition of young is probably escalating to the twenty-something more than staying at the teen’s zone where it was supposed to be.

What is the percentage of work your organization and your employees perform in “virtual teams”? I mean, how many times a day you decide, communicate, share… with people in different places, companies, time zones...? And the number is growing, both in companies involved in this type of work and in the number of interactions and tasks solved. Are the skills of a virtual game related to these needs?

I bet (predictions for 2007) that we will see more and more companies using MMOG for their training needs, and Business Schools reacting to these trends with better simulations, some using the same platforms. At the end, these are games that blend perfectly with roles that are needed in real life, and the fact that they are not announced as such, make the experience even more important and productive. Have you tried these games? Do you feel more capable of managing/ working with teams after the experience?