MMO Leadership Applied to Work

[agoz_rz]

IBM Study: Online multiplayer games build business leaders
Posted by Dawn Kawamoto

Hmmm, which would you choose?

Sitting in a dreary classroom to bone up on an MBA, or stretched out in an easy chair honing your business leadership skills while engaged in a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG)?

A study released by IBM and collaboration software maker Seriosity found significant parallels between business leaders and MMORPG gamers.

MMORPG games, which include World of Warcraft, Eve Online and EverQuest, can include millions of players who come together in various groups to accomplish a specific mission or task.

Gamers learn collaboration, self-organization, risk taking, openness, influence and how to earn incentives when involved in a MMORPG, according to a study of 200 members of IBM's internal gaming community.

"Smart organizations are recognizing valued employees who play online games and apply their skills and experiences as virtual leaders to their 'real world' jobs," says Jim Spohrer, IBM Research Center's director of services research.

Half of survey participants said playing MMORPGs improved their "real world" leadership skills, while 4 out of 10 surveyed indicated they have applied such game leadership techniques to the workplace.

The survey found that leadership roles are far more fleeting among MMORPG players than in the real world. Leadership is viewed as a role an individual plays to accomplish a specific task, rather than one that remains for an indefinite duration.

"The implications of this for corporate settings are obvious," the study notes. "Given the rapid pace of change in today's global business environment, the need for this kind of leadership flexibility is apparent, having the option of swapping leaders in and out, depending on the task, the time frame of a project and the skill sets of the available team members."

The study notes, however, that MMORPGs also can identify those with exceptional relationship skills, managers who can build a large group of direct reports and keep them headed in the correct direction for longer periods of time.

All this may be prove new hunting grounds for executive recruiters, who may turn to MMORPGs for their next assignment.

The above article definitely makes the findings out to be more conclusive and groundbreaking than the study actually suggests. But this research still represents an important first step in applying MMO's to real life. A generation is being socialized by virtual worlds, and it will be interesting to see how that plays out on society and business in the future.

Full text of the study:
http://www.seriosity.com/downloads/L...ty_and_IBM.pdf

[Lyrical]

I agree that there are some parallels between the workplace and MMO's, but why is it that only people in the tech industry see it as a good thing? Not being in the industry, there's no way I would put down my MMO experience on a resume.

[Mkopec1]

But I wonder how much lost productivity the average mmo player has being late for work, surfing gaming sites and guild forums etc. Compared to the average joe non gamer.

[Zerai]

To be that good business manager, you have to quit your job....as raid leader. And quit MMOS. You can't do both =x

[Zbkuk]

Yeah, even if this is supposedly considered a good thing how in the fuck are you even supposed to bring it up on your resume or in an interview? Come on.

[Dinthug]

Remember reading a while back that a guy got a job for IBM or Microsoft because he was a leader of a big guild in WoW. Sure that wasn't the only reason he got hired, but he actually put that on his resume. Ballsy.

[Tuco]

A study conducted by a bunch of gamers showed that their time spent gaming wasn't totally wasted? surprise! =)

I interviewed with about 6 companies after I graduated.

One of them I brought up that I was a raid leader, to a guy who didn't know what an MMO was.

I didn't get that job =(



However, being an officer that cares about the guild, its people (or rather, their performance "Sure, quit your life and farm materials for the guild and have 100% raid attendence, as long as you're happy for now, right?") and the raid progression, gives you a usually foreign perspective on motivation in the workplace. The idea of being the boss and doing anything you can possibly do to motivate people to get er done isn't really prevalent in most non-management positions.

I think understanding the struggles of leadership helps an individual be led better.


At great risk of personal insult, here's an article/paper I wrote when I was around 17ish. I revised it a little tonight but the content is the same.

Originally Posted by 17YearOldTuco

Often when one spends a valuably large portion of their life doing a task or a hobby they wish for this endeavor to have lasting meaning. This is one such attempt: to explain how I relate the behaviorisms learned within a game to the supposed 'real life'.

I’ve spent a great deal of time in the last decade playing various online games. I feel it unnecessary to discuss the myriad nuances of it, but for the purposes of this article some handpicked understanding is needed. In this game the player has a finite amount of time and a virtually limitless amount of progression to make. When one defines themselves as a 'hardcore gamer', they not only play a significant amount of time, but they also desire to maximize their progression.

In the offline world very few individuals wake up in the morning thinking, "How can I make myself a better person by the time I go to bed." However, this attitude is common within the Everquest community, where the focus diverges from the goal of enjoyment to the goal of success. A player can spend in upwards of 120 hours a week, every week, for extended periods of time, for the primary purpose of advancing their character. A player will log into the game and expect to play for six hours perhaps, in this time they decide what type of task they wish to accomplish and which growth they wish to enjoy by the time they are required to log off.

I would contrast that with our attitude towards reality, every morning we wake up expecting to be awake for around 16 hours. Our goal is often to get through the unenjoyable tasks of work so that we can enjoy our time afterwards. At this time we would attempt to enjoy ourselves. Often the pleasurable aspects of life are taken while a minimalist effort is focused towards the unsavory tasks of progressing our status.

The power gamer in an online game asks himself one question, what can I do with the time given to best advance myself? The same question should be asked in reality, how can I, with my 16 hours a day, best advance myself? The word advance is often more difficult to define than answering the question itself. We will assume that making progress in one's Ego, career, possessions, relationships etc, is a primary form of advancement.

With advancement defined, the answer to the question is normally obvious, and normally a task that is unenjoyable, called 'grinding'. I grind away at a program or mathematical concept, for example. I do this not because I enjoy it but because I enjoy having done it and getting further in life. Having this mindset is beneficial to a person simply because more work and productivity is done. While the tasks may not be especially enjoyable, having done them and not having wasted time can be very fulfilling.

Here's one major aspect to be considered: what the lax time in life gives us. Essentially, we spent large amounts of time doing nothing every day. I will classify doing nothing as watching TV, playing video games or anything else that's essentially unproductive and unfulfilling. These actions are generally the path of least resistance, or the experiences which are less difficult or less tiresome than the productive alternatives. It can be considered, however, that this mindless time is necessary to enjoy life by not going crazy from stress.

To avoid a stalemate in our real progression, steps to gain a ‘power gamer’ mindset are necessary. By examining each minute of time spent alive, determining whether that is the best action for that minute, and by finally applying the best action that can be conceived, we can achieve maximum potential.

I wouldn't really put my gaming credentials on a resume unless I was absolutely sure the other person played some form of online games, and even then I'd want to be sure that he had some experience raiding or something. However at a lot of interviews I noticed people asked about leadership and my experience with it. I wouldn't really see it as a bad answer to spend at most 20 seconds talking about your online experience at leading (saying "I lead 20+ people by a voice over IP system to execute very exact strategies and come together with great cohesion" would be better than getting into specifics) and several minutes about the lessons that leading taught you, especially ones relevant to your job.

[Zarcath]

With the working crowd these days, I'm sure you're more likely to get a job simply due to the fact that you PLAY WoW and have something in common that your 20-something supervisor will remember about you. Many a time have I entered establishments where all the hired help seem to do is stand around talking about PvPing or other innane shit I did last year. I'm serious, I can literally go on one errand to the next and catch a WoW conversation.

[Kais[]]

a large part of the existing management structure in alot of businesses have only casually gamed at best. They look at it as a diversion and as a child/teenage toy and simply are unable to recognize that there is any more depth to it than say watching a movie or playing solitaire. It's a diversion for short term entertainment only that interferes with the "real world". I tried to explain the organization and goal of a raid once to my uncle. What it took to achieve the goal and he simply could not get past the bright colors. This is a man that used to be project manager at NASA Langely in the 80s.

[brekk]

i remember at my internship at stanley tools last summer, i had a few conversations with second in command under the CIO. He was a guild leader in AQ40, and Naxx. For being the lowly intern it definately put me on good terms with him.

[Crizack]

i could see where you could put guild leader in an app. my guild leader and close in game friend he was the only one that had the motivation to get 40 people to do something so simple, plus he had prior experience in FFXI.

being able to talk to people without making them feel like idiots and pretty much getting the ball started with 40 people and makin shit happen. i would _never_ want to be a guild leader, no patience for that sort of thing.

i could see where it could relate..... i guess..

[Zehn - Vhex]

That's what miscellaneous skills are all about. "Excellent leadership qualities. Organization skills. Motivational expert." etc...etc...when questioned about it, I lead off with more mundane examples, but I also mentioned that I had experience carrying those skills over into online environments. You really don't have to say much more then that.

Got the job too!

You don't put "Guild leader" on a resume because it's a hobby. You sure as shit don't put, "Build lego castle sets in my spare time" or "I've seen every episode of Quantum Leap" on a resume either no matter how many life lessons you learned from the experience.

Unless of course you're me and apply for jobs you don't even want just so you can fuck with the interviewer. "It says here that...that you enjoy what is best in life. What do you mean by that? What is best in life?"

"To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women..."

[krozman]

The day I can scream at my secretary for not greeting my clients properly, and dock her minus 50 dkp, I will give validity to this discussion.

Edit: When I interview employees, if they play MMO's, they're fucking gone, period.

[Zarcath]

Originally Posted by Zehn - Vhex

"I've seen every episode of Quantum Leap" on a resume either no matter how many life lessons you learned from the experience.

And what life lessons did Sam teach us? it's not gay to kiss a man when you're in the body of a woman?

[Dinthug]

Yet you play yourself, thumbs up.