The Kids are Alright: How the Gamer Generation is Changing the Workplace [Paperback]

This is a book comparing the attitudes and work habits of two groups of people: those who grew up playing video games and those who didn't. The basis of the book, the jumping off point for Beck and Wade's analysis, is a *lot* of data collected in surveys by the authors. The analysis is based on how much gaming you did growing up, not how much you do now -- I don't get credit for my mastery of Rise of Nations. That makes sense given the number of hours involved. I'm fifty-two, I was old when the first computer games came out, but my children don't know a world without them. They have literally thousands of hours more gaming experience than I do.

You can call this a generation gap -- the authors analyze the data by age as well as gaming experience -- but over and over again the data suggest that gaming is more important than age. I can see the parts of my own personality that resonate with games, blowing away monsters as well as solving puzzles in resource allocation, but that's a coincidence reinforced by choosing games I like. My children, the data say, have been molded by games.

Have you ever used a slide rule? My father used one routinely, but although I know how, I've never used one to solve a real problem. It's just not part of my conceptual tool bag. When you bump into a business problem, do you reach for a metaphorical slide rule, recall a metaphor from Wordsworth, or make a list? Gamers hit a key or button or mouse, and they do it as fast as they can. Trial and error (and speed!) have been built in to their wiring from their first video game on. That's not the only characteristic discussed in the book. There's a list of twenty in the introduction, including expecting the world to be simple, logical, structured, rapidly learnable, forgiving of error, fair and ultimately solvable.

You can argue about what a terrible thing this is, just like the ancient Romans complained about sloppy togas on their teens. Trial and error wouldn't have built the interstate highway system, got us to the moon, etc., etc. But trial and error is an excellent strategy for taking advantage of a rapidly changing environment. I could quote the control theory to back this up, but that's the point: gamers would have tried four or fourteen or forty new ideas while I was building the model.

Beck and Wade analyze the data, illuminate the differences that gamers bring to a business environment, untangle benefits from prejudices and discuss how managers can manage and motivate gamers to take advantage of these benefits. Even if the idea of yet another corporate team-building exercise makes your skin crawl, you're better off knowing how your younger colleagues think. The book is an excellent combination of data and discussion, so it should be useful and accessible to anyone. Other than gamers, of course; they never read the manual.

To start, it's not about how it's OK to hole-up and game all day. But it does make a solid case for gaming---and that means your current point-of-view is to going to quickly shape your reaction to this book. But hang in there...because you really can't ignore the truth of the impact on risk-taking, perseverance, innovation...and it's role in shaping managers. No matter how you feel about gaming...and whether you game or not...this book provides and insightful look into what's shaping the next crop of managers. Resource scarcity shaped my grandfather; the boundless optimism of the 50s shaped my Dad. TV and "instant solutions" (read "this quarter...") shaped me. Games are shaping my son. I think he's the one to watch.

The video game generation is growing up. If video gamers have not applied for a management position posted at your company, they soon will. When they do, will you know how many of the stereotypes of video gamers are based on fact? After all, we have received decades of hyperbole on the bad effects of video gaming. In Got Game, Harvard researchers Beck and Wade give a refreshing, social-scientific treatment of the topic. They definitively argue that gaming is not an embarrassment in your employee. In fact, if you agree with Got Game's message, you will find yourself adding "video gaming" to the list of desired skills on your next management job posting.

The book is relevant to business in my locale, central British Columbia. The conclusions are based on interviews with hundreds of business professionals in the United States, and the demographics are close enough a fit to give useful insights here. Got Game gives a roadmap to the behaviours a video gamer will bring into management.

The key insights this book asserts about gamers are:
* The gamer is comfortable in a world where they are the centre of the process. Video game entertainment is designed to make customers the center of an experience, so the concept of "the customer is always right" is ingrained early on in the gamer. Gamers are used to making decisions that have life-and-death impact; and the gamer is confident - after all, in games, they are the expert.
* For those growing up in the gamer generation, the world is not so big anymore. Gamers assume there is always a solution, "it just may be hard to find on this level"; gamers are more comfortable than others in adjusting to new contexts - they can be surfing one minute, and strategizing against Napoleon the next; and gamers suffer less from ego-bruising - after all, trial-and-error is always the best methodology.
* Gamers relate very well to others. Playing video games is no longer an isolating pastime - it is a new and extremely prevalent way to socialize. Gamers see relationships as structured, but are able to switch between structures easily and confidently. One minute the gamer is the sworn enemy, the next she is telling her brother the secrets to get to the next level. One moment the mentor, the next an ally, the next an enemy.

Got Game is at its most interesting when the authors review recent business trends through the "gamer generation" lens. The authors' explanation of the "dot-com" technology company crash in the late 90s was intriguing. The behaviours identified in their research seem startling relevant, and make the crash understandable. They depict young dot-com presidents able to play their way through the requirements of setting up a public company. If the company went bankrupt and the game was lost, the true gamer simply counted it as a learning experience, and would still be able to say they were presidents before the age of 30. Press reset, and the business game could start again.

The book is a worthwhile read for HR professionals, and those hiring management. Beck and Wade estimate that there are 90 million gamers in the US workforce now. Drawing a simple comparison to Canada's population would put 9-10 million into the category for us. In short, you can expect to see gamers applying for your jobs soon, and Got Game gives a good roadmap to understanding how to harness the skills of the video game generation.

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