Online Games as a Strategy for Making Work Fun

Lets face it: most work is not designed, but simply takes place in settings and flows that have evolved haphazardly. The result of incremental boundaries is often overly-burdensome process or jobs where you sink or swim with too little structure. Imagine if jobs were as carefully thought out as the environment and reward systems in great games.

We’ve identified ten fundamental game ingredients in our research:

1. Self representation with avatars
2. Three dimensional environments
3. Narrative context (great stories)
4. Feedback
5. Reputation, ranks and levels
6. Marketplaces and economies
7. Competition under rules that are explicit and enforced
8. Teams
9. Parallel communication systems that can be easily reconfigured
10. Time pressure

Leighton Read, Partner at Alloy Ventures and co-author of Total Engagement describes the role of online games as a strategy for making work fun. Leighton is a Maverick for The Management Innovation Exchange (The MIX), where management innovators come together to share their ideas and ideals. It’s time to reinvent management; you can help. Join the conversation here.