I just got some news that saddened my geeky soul. Gary Gygax, the creator of the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, passed away this past week (NY Times Obituary). 
While it's been years since I've played, there's definitely still a soft spot in me for one of the great pasttimes of my geeky adolescence.
In that spirit, I'd like to make a connection that was really surprising to me when it first came up (but is perhaps obvious in hindsight). With the rising popularity of massive, multiuser online games such as World of Warcraft, it was perhaps inevitable that the skills developed by gaming would be analyzed in some depth. The surprising thing is that some or many of these skills are now thought to be useful in the business world.
The Harvard Business Review ran a list in the February 2008 issue of the Breakthrough Ideas for 2008. Among this list were articles entitled, 'The Gamer Disposition' and, 'Making Alternate Reality the New Business Reality.' (Here's the complete list.) So it was basically a surprise that geeky gaming has gone mainstream and is now considered conducive to good business. (And here's a further discussion.) On top of all this, a recent NY Times Op-Ed discussed how role-playing games help people to understand each other. I didn't think I got any of that from D&D.
Here's to D&D, and to Gary Gygax. It's amazing how it's gone from a sure sign of Satan worship to indicative of business competency.
While it's been years since I've played, there's definitely still a soft spot in me for one of the great pasttimes of my geeky adolescence.In that spirit, I'd like to make a connection that was really surprising to me when it first came up (but is perhaps obvious in hindsight). With the rising popularity of massive, multiuser online games such as World of Warcraft, it was perhaps inevitable that the skills developed by gaming would be analyzed in some depth. The surprising thing is that some or many of these skills are now thought to be useful in the business world.
The Harvard Business Review ran a list in the February 2008 issue of the Breakthrough Ideas for 2008. Among this list were articles entitled, 'The Gamer Disposition' and, 'Making Alternate Reality the New Business Reality.' (Here's the complete list.) So it was basically a surprise that geeky gaming has gone mainstream and is now considered conducive to good business. (And here's a further discussion.) On top of all this, a recent NY Times Op-Ed discussed how role-playing games help people to understand each other. I didn't think I got any of that from D&D.
Here's to D&D, and to Gary Gygax. It's amazing how it's gone from a sure sign of Satan worship to indicative of business competency.
Stumble it!