Boss By Day, Gamer By Night 51
Ant writes "Computerworld queried seven executives at some of today's top tech firms to learn how they started gaming, what they play now, and how their virtual skills translate to the real world of the office. Alan Cohen, vice president of enterprise solutions at Cisco Systems, had this to say: 'Now, increasingly, games are Internet 2.0 encounters. They're all about how well you work together with others any time, any place, with players from around the world. Rock Band 2, World of Warcraft, even Guitar Hero promote the shared experience and are all about how together we can do more, be more, compete better than we can by going it alone. That's right in line with how the corporate environment is evolving: You can play (or work) anytime you want, and you have to compete and collaborate on a global basis in order to succeed.'"
Work is like playing LittleBigPlanet Multiplayer (Score:2, Funny)
1) Some challenges require multiple people
2) Some tasks are easier to do alone
3) You have to communicate in order to avoid failure
4) Everyone knows who sucks the most
5) You're doing it for the stickers!
Re:Team Work (Score:4, Funny)
What? Playing Guitar Hero isn't productive? You've been smoking too many lollipops. A good air guitar session in the office always increases productivity. If you cannot play guitar with the team, then what good are you? Alan Cohen from Cisco is extra insightful.
Quote:
"Rock Band 2, World of Warcraft, even Guitar Hero promote the shared experience and are all about how together we can do more".
This guy is a corporate Overlord. If he says we must play more games at work, well you'd better listen up and do just that! Crying and whinging that WoW and Rock Band 2 are too hard isn't going to get you anywhere. He doesn't mention any FPSs, but that's only because he dies all the time. Don't let that fool you though. Big, huge, gigantic multiplayer games is exactly what corportate networks are designed to handle.
I read all the way until Internet 2 point.... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Common interests make for good teams (Score:3, Funny)
For multiplayer games (play from home at least), I'd have to say the Xbox 360 is king by a healthy margin. It's sort of the place to be to hang out and game with your friends and co-workers when not at the office. Left4Dead and Gears of War 2 seem to be the current multiplayer favorites. A few of us also enjoy N+ co-op every once in a while. But we've played lots of slower online board and card games as well. In addition to video games, a small group of folks gets together after work weekly for board gaming as well.
Oh, this takes me back. I was 12, my dad was going on about how I needed to learn golf because it's the game men of business and substance played and discussed Important Things over.
"No, dad. That's the way people in your generation did it. People in my generation may have to suck up to bosses with golf but by the time we've become men of business and substance, it'll be video games. Instead of trading golf tips it'll be about playing whatever version of Mario they're up to in 30 years."
HA! I'm going to call him up this evening and gloat.