Changing the Game
How Video Games Are Transforming the Future of Business
By: David J. Edery & Ethan Mollick
Published: October 2008
ISBN: 9780132357814
Format: Hardcover, 240pp
Publisher: FT Press
"Games are compelling because at their best, they represent the very essence of what drives people to think, to cooperate, and to create", write game and software developers David J. Edery and Ethan Mollick, in their revolutionary book Changing the Game: How Video Games Are Transforming the Future of Business. The authors share their vision for improving advertising techniques, building better and more enjoyable workplaces, and recruiting the ideal employees through the use of video games and virtual worlds.
David Edery (photo left) and Ethan Mollick understand that people like to play games. Taking that concept to heart, they describe how games can transform a company through every aspect of its business. By comparing business to a game, the authors demonstrate how suitable employees can be hired based on their enjoyment and aptitude for games that characterize the specific workplace. The employees can be further engaged and motivated by turning the mundane and difficult problems of the business into puzzles requiring solutions. Marketing to customers is much more enjoyable and effective if the advertising and marketing material is in the form of video games.
Ethan Mollick (photo left) and David Edery recognize that not all games are suitable for all people, and that many games have experienced criticism and even hostile reactions. In their view, the games themselves have the powerful effect of selecting the ideal customers and employees for any given company. A puzzle style video game would appeal to people who enjoy problems solving, while a more action oriented game attracts people who prefer adrenaline rush excitement. Cooperative people would enjoy games where players work together to achieve goals. Through discovering personal preferences through different types of games, customers and employees are much more engaged with the company and its products and services.
For me, the power of the book is the creative leap, that takes games from being diversions, to becoming powerful business marketing, recruiting, and problem solving tools. By transforming a workplace into a fun place to be, and to spend time playing instead of working, results in a boost in productivity. The use of video games in marketing as premiums, advertising vehicles, and product placement changes marketing from intrusive to enjoyment. The ability to match employees with their ideal jobs, by having them play a video game, turns traditional interviewing and hiring processes on their head. Games are also natural teachers and facilitators for creative problem solving.
I highly recommend Changing the Game: How Video Games Are Transforming the Future of Business by David Edery and Ethan Mollick, to anyone who is serious about transforming an ordinary workplace, into a fun spot to be, filled with enthusiastic employees and customers. Turning work into play changes peoples' attitudes about employment from tedium to excitement.
Read Changing the Game: How Video Games Are Transforming the Future of Business by David Edery and Ethan Mollick, and stop working for a living, and start playing for a change. Adding video games to all aspects of a company makes business fun again.
