Part 4: Games and the Future of Business


Annotations for Chapter 8

Productivity games

Ross Smith of Microsoft has an interesting blog on productivity games, which includes a downloadable slideshow on the Beta1 Game and Beta2.

Making Work Like a Game

You can download PSDoom (Doom for system administration) and Brutal File Manager (file management as a shooting game).

Visitorville is an example of a game-like interface to web traffic control:

 

Annotations for Chapter 9

User Innovation Communities

A discussion of the rise of the mod can be found in Wagner James Au’s excellent Triumph of the Mod. If you are really interested in user innovation, Eric von Hippel’s book, Democratizing Innovation, is available free on the web, and is the single best source on user innovation and communities available.

 

Annotations for Chapter 10

Introduction

You can play Video Store Clerk online.

Human Computation

You can play many human computation games by Luis Von Ahn, including the ESP Game, at GWAP. Google Image Labeller is one spin-off of this work.

Game-like challenges such as GalaxyZoo encourage individuals to perform complex tasks, like identifying unknown galaxies.

 

Distributed Innovation and Collective Intelligence

You can see Fold.it’s gameplay below:

 

And this video provides an introduction to the World Without Oil ARG:

 

Games for Prediction

To see a prediction market in action, look at IntradePlay the News and the X2 Project offer interesting game-based takes on prediction.

Changing the Game (order via Amazon or B&N) is a fast-paced tour of the many ways in which games, already an influential part of millions of people’s lives, have become a profoundly important part of the business world. From connecting with customers, to attracting and training employees, to developing new products and spurring innovation, games have introduced a new level of fun and engagement to the workplace.

Changing the Game introduces you to the ways in which games are being used to enhance productivity at Microsoft, increase profits at Burger King, and raise employee loyalty at Sun Microsystems, among other remarkable examples. It is proof that work not only can be fun--it should be.