PREQUEL: THE FUTURE OF GAMES
/Jane McGonigal (her popular talks on TED, have made her a figurehead for how games tie into our daily lives), was the secret guest speaker at the last Zappos All-Hands’ meeting. She opened with the almost unimaginable number of hours people have racked up playing games. She closed by commenting on how our efforts and attractions to games could do good inside and outside of organizations. Mission-based games are one way (games where players achieve a mission, no reason why it can’t be one that’s good for the enterprise), but are there others?
Tomorrow I’m moderating a panel on the future of games and it’s not all Angry Birds and World of Warcraft. Our panelists have experience in bringing gaming into our lives for health care, education, and for-profit organizations.
Think about the power possible if we use the energy and joy of gaming to support organizational activities and broader missions.
I’ll post a summary of our discussion later this week, but I’d love to hear from you before the session. Have you seen how games can be used in these “serious” settings? Was it a simple game with catchy tune -- see Cisco’s Binary Game -- more intricate role plays, or something else? I’d appreciate your reply with examples to weave into our discussion.
