Games Breed Entrepreneurs
I saw this article on ACM CareerNews and I can’t help but put in my two cents. Anyone who has played a structure MMO like World of Warcraft knows that social contexts in these sorts of games can actually simulate a very office-like atmosphere.
My old World of Warcraft guild would make scheduled real-time “raids” on dungeons: Every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 8:00PM. Not only would I have to schedule time on my actual iCal calendar to make time for the guild raid, I would need to do several menial tasks during the day (collect various items including ammo for my gun) to prepare my character to actually run the raid! This kind of structure breeds productive employees:
- Long-term Goals (To collect every piece of a certain matching armor set, you will need to run several Guild Raids)
- Weekly, Scheduled Status Meetings (Run Dungeon Every Monday, Wednesday & Friday at 8:00PM and show to the guild that you’ve improved your skills)
- Menial Daily Tasks (Collect 80 Rat Pelts, etc.)
- Tolerance for Failure (If you don’t complete your daily menial tasks, you can become very useless during a Guild Raid.)
- Self-motivated Goals Which Require an Organization (Guild) to Complete
Not only does this breed a very specific kind of employee that is more tolerant of menial tasks and failure, but isn’t this the formula that makes a good entrepreneur? You’ve got to be self-directed and self-motivated (but with the help of a social organization or network of “connections”), but most importantly, you’ve got to put yourself in risky situations that will more than likely result in failure! Very interesting read 
