Print Screen: Turning Games Into Work and Vice Versa

12/30/2008 6:15 PM | 0 Comments | Page 2 of 2

This part of the book is not only full of compelling evidence that games not specific to the field can be used to teach useful skills, but also contains some very sane discussion of the major limitations of this approach. As games -- both good and bad -- increasingly make inroads into education and training, it is important that people don't simply pick up the idea that games can magically solve problems with collaboration or knowledge retention. Though targeted to business people, Edery and Mollick's warnings about teaching with games should be standard in any educational program. Designers of simulation and serious games must also keep their goals in mind to make a product that is better than traditional options.

To the uninformed, however, "Changing the Game" might come off a little too earnest. A business owner or government official curious about how to use games in their own particular enterprise could easily dismiss the book as a series of anecdotes. In fact, after a while the titles and purposes of each game seem to blend together. The concluding chapters are especially breathless, as Edery and Mollick throw in everything from Flow Theory to Joy's Law to crowdsourcing to Xbox Achievements as a motivator. There is a sense that as the book progressed, the authors realized that their subject may have been even larger than they had anticipated. Story piles on story, example on example, until you are left with the certainty that, yes, games can change the future of business -- even if you're not quite sure how they can change yours.

Edery and Mollick are clearly aware of their own shortcomings here. Every chapter is footnoted and the reader is thereby encouraged to draw his/her own conclusions from the source material. They give each account enough room for multiple interpretations, and acknowledge that some people might find a job interview game pointless and that others will give up on protein folding after a few minutes.

"Changing the Game" is certainly not the first book to attempt to make games meaningful to a hostile or neutral audience. The authors sometimes indulge in special pleading for alternate worlds like Second Life, even when their example shows that it is a less than ideal space for recruiting potential employees. But it is an accessible book written by authors who know both the gaming and business sides of the equation. They take a long view of the relationship between the two and make no apologies for using the word "game" instead of "simulation" or "interactive training." "Changing the Game" is worth a read by any manager who wants to get more out of his employees, anticipate the coming demographic shift where gamers are the norm, or just simply try something new.