I just returned from LOGIN 2010 and wanted to share a few things that I thought were interesting, and might actually be meaningful to you.  Between the opportunity to involve games into people’s work life, the growing choices of monetization and payment types, and the ongoing fight against cyber criminals and in-game abuse, we at iovation are very excited to be engaged in this fascinating industry.

For this multi-part blog series, here’s my first topic of interest from LOGIN Seattle.

Part I:  Playing at Work.

The next frontier for the application of virtual worlds and game environments could actually be in the workforce. Considering work activities and putting them in a game-like environment with scores, levels, rewards, visibility and recognition could really be something in the future.

During the LOGIN keynote address with presenters Byron Reeves and J. Leighton, the two doctors examined lessons that businesses can learn from game developers, games and gamers in their day-to-day process.  They have even published a book on this topic, called “Total Engagement: Using Games to Change How People Work”, where they delve into the questions of serious fun and what that can produce in the workplace.  According to Reeves, “As employee productivity and engagement become more critical, the user experience provided by game technology offers a tantalizing solution for business.  This is far more than a quaint metaphor or a twist on e-learning. Game design elements can address a host of business problems with morale, communication, and alignment while honing skills like data analysis, teamwork, leadership, and more.”

One example of helping employees become more engaged cited a security worker whose job it was to watch cameras in subway stations all day long, keeping an eye out for suspicious activity. However, rather than sitting and staring at the camera all day, they stepped things up, by making his work more interactive and fun.  First, they put him in a game-like environment with a lounge chair, wrap-around displays, and a joy stick. He looked like he was in a fighter pilot cockpit. The security professional could then select people on the camera, watch them more closely, and score them based on the suspicious activities he observed.  He could then be rewarded based on his performance, resulting from his experience and intuition, knowing which trends to look for in suspicious individuals.

This keynote made me realize the vast potential that gaming professionals have today.  If I had a game development business, I could spend a year or more working on a game, taking my chances dropping it into the high-risk, high-reward virtual universe, or I could integrate game-style interfaces for various aspects of daily business activities. This is great news for gaming professionals and for high school graduates who are just now making the decision to set out on a career in gaming.

If this is a topic you are interested in, I would encourage you to follow Byron & Leighton’s Blog at Blog.seriosity.com.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 24th, 2010 at 3:50 am and is filed under Online Gaming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.