The Right Amount of "Challenge" In IT & Gaming

boyko.at.netqos writes "In an essay entitled 'An Epiphany I Had While Playing Pac-Man,' the author talks about how smart people need to find a certain amount of intellectual challenge from day to day. If they don't find it in their workplace, they'll end up playing complex, 'smart' games, like Civilization IV or Chess — and if they do find it in their workplace, they're more likely to sit down with a nice game of Pac-Man, Katamari Damacy, or Peggle. Quoting: 'When I look back on my life, and I compare the times in my life when I was playing simple games compared to the times in my life when I was playing complex ones, a pattern emerges. The more complexity and mental stimulation I was getting from other activities — usually my day job at the time — the less I needed mental stimulation in my free time. Conversely, in times when I was working boring jobs, I'd be playing games that required a lot of thinking and mental gymnastics.' The author then goes on to speculate that some IT workers might subconsciously be giving themselves more challenges by choosing to deal with difficult problems, rather than performing simple (but boring) preventative maintenance and proactive network management."

Must be some sort'a endorphin thingy

[Nefarious Wheel]

I like the way I feel when I'm thinking.

I like the way I feel when I'm being creative.

(In fact, I like the way I feel when I'm being procreative, but that's another story.)

I like the warm fuzzy feedback I get when some cold jagged radical slams into place in an equation.

But it all blows up if I'm drinking fine wine and doing mathematics. People are harmed.

Please, people, for the sake of the children -- don't drink and derive!

Wonderful. Thanks a lot.

[damburger]

If any HR fucktards get a hold of this notion, they will start to poke into the gaming habits of their employees to try and gauge how productive they are. Were you overheard mentioning that you liked Civilization IV? You need more tasks! We can't have people going home at the end of a 10 hour work day with enough energy to do anything for themselves! That would be horrific!

Smart People not So Smart

[Anonymous Coward]

I have found there is an inverse relationship between someone's opinion of their intellect and the real thing.

Re:Games Are Boring

[foniksonik]

Where do you get your inspiration from? If it's only from your own personal experience I suspect that your books may have an audience of 1. Games, TV, Books these are all shared experiences with millions of other people. Without incorporating shared experiences you seriously undermine the value other people will get out of your contribution. You are also in serious danger of producing work which has already been done by other expressionists many many times before and likely better, not that your version won't have it's own charm and intriguing twists on the theme.

You may want to re-evaluate your position on popular culture and culture in general. You really don't want to write Buffy the Vampire Slayer thinking that it's a completely new and original idea.

Re:Not really so

[Gilmoure]

Daughter (8 yrs old) is really cool. Has an artistic mechanical bent and wants to know how everything works. Not so much for the final purpose but so she can take concepts back to her own creations. Weird thing about her is that she's actually socially outgoing and popular. Wife and I (both shy computer geeks) are a little puzzled by this but more power to her.

As for civ/smac games, so far, I'm showing her how tech can develop and how decisions can effect the environment around her. Getting used to stepping back and looking at the big picture and not just a particular problem to be solved is something she'll be able to use down the road. Is one of the things that makes me a good tech is this holistic approach to problem solving.