So I was in class recently listening to a lecture about different motivation approaches in the workplace, and a more recent trend that human resource managers are really enjoying is gamification. Gamification is basically when you add game-like qualities to the workplace, such as: posting leaderboards for the best sales, awarding experience points and levels to employees once they accomplish certain feats, or figuring out other creative ways to increase friendly competition between employees.
One thing that really stood out to me in this lecture was the idea of using gamification to teach employees new skills, but I thought that maybe it would be cool to take this to another level. How awesome would it be to play an open world simulation RPG on PS4 or Vita game that taught you to how to be a business executive? You could be like Bruce Wayne, but you would have to wake up in the morning, shave your face, make sure you tucked in your shirt right, and pick out the right business shoes (because business casual and dress shoes are different somehow). After you got dressed and started your day, you would have to drive to work, grab a cup of coffee, and check your voicemails once you got into the office. From there, you would take a look at your emails and head into a 10am board meeting where you would be presenting next month's budget for the rest of the board or showcasing a new production model for some revolutionary product. Meanwhile, there is a pause menu with a glossary of terms that may be foreign to you and simple ways to calculate things that you wouldn't have to do if you were a barista, truck driver, or warehouse manager in real life. As you progress through the game, you could learn new skills that were applicable to real life, and the addition of events like golf outings, cocktail parties, or awards ceremonies would teach you how to deal with certain social situations that you may have never considered necessary until encountering them in the simulation.
Why aren't video games used to teach educated people how to deal with real life yet? Better yet - why aren't they being used to teach soft skills that non-educated people need? This is really what I would like to see at E3 one year, but I'm not sure that it's even a consideration.
One thing that really stood out to me in this lecture was the idea of using gamification to teach employees new skills, but I thought that maybe it would be cool to take this to another level. How awesome would it be to play an open world simulation RPG on PS4 or Vita game that taught you to how to be a business executive? You could be like Bruce Wayne, but you would have to wake up in the morning, shave your face, make sure you tucked in your shirt right, and pick out the right business shoes (because business casual and dress shoes are different somehow). After you got dressed and started your day, you would have to drive to work, grab a cup of coffee, and check your voicemails once you got into the office. From there, you would take a look at your emails and head into a 10am board meeting where you would be presenting next month's budget for the rest of the board or showcasing a new production model for some revolutionary product. Meanwhile, there is a pause menu with a glossary of terms that may be foreign to you and simple ways to calculate things that you wouldn't have to do if you were a barista, truck driver, or warehouse manager in real life. As you progress through the game, you could learn new skills that were applicable to real life, and the addition of events like golf outings, cocktail parties, or awards ceremonies would teach you how to deal with certain social situations that you may have never considered necessary until encountering them in the simulation.
Why aren't video games used to teach educated people how to deal with real life yet? Better yet - why aren't they being used to teach soft skills that non-educated people need? This is really what I would like to see at E3 one year, but I'm not sure that it's even a consideration.
