They New York Times has published a very nice article about how the F.A.A. uses games to train air traffic controllers and, independently, to screen candidates for the position. Some notable quotes from the article:

• The sophisticated video games are meant to address a serious real-world problem: Nearly two-thirds of the agency’s 15,000 air traffic controllers will no longer be working by 2017 when they reach the mandatory retirement age of 56… Experts say that having a high proportion of trainees and rookies in towers and radar rooms may reduce safety. To meet the challenges, the agency is turning to electronic tower simulators, which one instructor described as “a big Xbox.”
• Officials say they are hoping that the use of the simulators will cut training time 20 percent to 60 percent. Training costs average $74,000 a controller but vary widely, being higher for the busiest, most complex airports.
• The screening process for candidates has gone high-tech, too. In the 1990s the F.A.A. developed a six-hour computerized aptitude test that it refines from time to time… Then come game-like tests, designed by psychologists. In one, a bit like Tetris or Frogger, three parallel belts, running at different speeds, drop colored letters toward the bottom of the screen. The test-taker must try to grab each letter before it drops, and put it in a bin of the appropriate color… The hard part comes when the screen disappears and the computer asks questions like: How many bins were in use? How full were they? What letters were still on the belts? Scoring well on the test is supposed to reveal the qualities that make a good air traffic controller, including the ability to work under pressure and maintain situational awareness.

Who would you rather have guiding your flight: an air traffic controller who learned everything from videos and on-site observation, or an air traffic controller whose curriculum included meaningful (if virtual) practice?

October 10th, 2008 | Category: Recruiting & HR, Training & Education| Author: djedery | Leave a comment

In the October issue of Inc. magazine, Changing the Game is the subject of the monthly “Skimmer’s Guide to the Latest Business Books.” The piece offers a nice summary of our argument, “Video games are the next big thing in marketing as well as powerful tools for recruiting, training, and motivating people. And not just for the Transformers set. Those of us who haven’t played anything since Frogger can benefit as well.”

October 1st, 2008 | Category: Reviews & Interviews| Author: emollick | Leave a comment

Few markets are as boring as the one for bathroom scales. There’s nothing sexy about a product that tells consumers how overweight they are. No advertisement will inspire consumers to rush to the store, just to buy the latest in weight-measuring technology. No technological advancement, short of a magical fat reduction system, would inspire most consumers to upgrade their existing scale. This all seemed perfectly obvious until recently, when Nintendo began selling a glorified bathroom scale to millions of consumers – a scale that is in such demand that it typically sells for $150 or more. That product and its associated video game, Wii Fit, has become the latest popular example of how video games are revolutionizing large, mature markets.

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September 24th, 2008 | Category: Innovation & Productivity, Marketing & Advertising| Author: djedery | Leave a comment

A new survey from the Pew Internet and American Life Foundation shows that 99% of boys and 94% of girls between the ages of 12-17 play video games.  Further, teenagers play many types of games (at least five different categories of games), and they play them together - 76% play games socially, at least some of the time.  Also, around 40% of kids say that playing games has helped them understand political, civil, or moral issues - though the report is somewhat lacking on what exactly this means.

All of this serves to reinforce the message of our book - games are increasingly part of everyone’s lives, and, one way or another they are going to have an effect on almost every kind of business.

September 16th, 2008 | Category: Society & Culture| Author: emollick | Comments (2)