Researchers Claim Gaming At Work Good For You

Thanks to the BBC for their article discussing the effects of playing videogames at work. According to the article: "Scientists from the University of Utrecht have studied the effects of game playing on 60 employees in a Dutch insurance firm", and charted "how [workers] felt about the work they do and their job", finding people gave more positive responses after they played simple games such as Minesweeper. The scientists behind the survey argue "...that, instead of games being a waste of time at work, they might help personal productivity and make people feel better about their jobs", and are now intending "...to do a much larger-scale study, using more complicated games which involve strategy decisions or role playing."

Comments

Type of work might have a bearing..

[jubalj]

For people who genuinely enjoy their work, games are just going to be distraction..

This preliminary study being conducted at a Insurance firm, may infact be bringing out the fact that the workers were bored... and (therefore) easily entertained by simple games.

Besides they havent really mentioned how productivity was measured, the fact that people 'feel better' about their job, although important, doesnt corelate with productivity/bottom line stuff.

Re:Type of work might have a bearing..

[NanoGator]

"For people who genuinely enjoy their work, games are just going to be distraction.."

That's a harsh over-simplification. I'm a 3D artist. Creativity is a large portion of my job. I enjoy it, seriously enjoy it. Sometimes, though, I just plain need a break. I need something to distract me, as it were.

Sometimes, there are problems that are just tough to solve. Additionally, sometimes the first path I go down to solve those problems simply isn't the right way to go, and it takes a mental reboot to discover that. I've had it happen a number of times where I stop chewing on the problem and go play a game. Often in the middle of that game inspiration on a new direction hits me. That 15 minutes I spent playing a game wasn't 15 minutes spent away from the problem, even though I wasn't thinking directly about it.

I'm not the only one with behaviour like this. There are software developers where I work too. I've talked to them about it, and they've told me they've had similar results. One guy plays mindsweeper for a while when he's stuck. Before long, he's back on the road again.

Listening to music while working is a related topic. I've had times where the music helped, particularly if I was doing something on auto-pilot. (You know what I mean by that, right? Ya start working, and your hands know what to do without needing to really concentrate on what you're doing, kinda like driving home everyday.) Sometimes the music is inspirational and gets me motivated to work fast. And, sometimes, there are situations where the music is a nasty distraction. I'm trying to solve a problem, but the song is kicking me out of concentration mode.

So, I hope what I said here answers this particular comment of yours:

"Besides they havent really mentioned how productivity was measured, the fact that people 'feel better' about their job, although important, doesnt corelate with productivity/bottom line stuff."

My boss has recognized this. She has come into my office before and seen me playing the game ... oh.. I can't remember the name of it, it's the one where you cause a car to crash and make a dummy go flying out of it. Argh it was just on Slashdot a month or two ago. We had a discussion about it, and she explained to me her thoughts on it. She told me that she was okay with up to 20% of the day spent reading the web and doing little goofy things like that. It's always good to have your workers staying on top of what's happening, even if it's not directly work related. And it was also okay to do a mental reboot once in a while. The condition of that was that you were expected to avoid creating problems with coworkers and other managers. (We do have PHBs that, if they saw Solitaire on your screen at 4pm, that you had been playing it since 8 am.) Case in point, I had a coworker that threw a hissy fit because he saw me using Lightwave and thought it was Quake. Making sure your coworkers aren't bothered by you is a higher priority.

There are times and there are people where being allowed to occasionally play a game at work would indeed be a profitless distraction. However, don't discount the possibility that a great deal of people out there do benefit from it.

Well, we all know....

[WFFS]

Nethack is about building character ;)

Interesting topic...

[shadowcabbit]

What a strange coincidence. At my workplace (tech support for a major ISP) the recent trend, at least among the 2nd-tier agents like myself, has been laptop computers loaded with games. Specifically, the cube I work in has been introduced to Final Fantasy XI, and we're all working diligently to level ourselves to a point where grouping will be feasible. Since the laptops haven't been banned (and there's a wireless router in back connected to our service), we've had our call times plummet and our average Quality Assurance scores rise significantly. In short, we look forward to being at work. (It should be noted that I work the night shift. During days the situation may be different.)

Silent keyboards, why no silent mice?

[Dancin_Santa]

While you can still find them around, many keyboards have been fitted such that they don't make the clickety-clack sound of typing. I guess this is so you don't disturb the guy in the next booth.

Why are there no silent clicking mice? I think I could really improve my productivity if I was able to use a mouse that didn't let on to anyone that I was feverishly playing Minesweeper all day.

Actually, the latest game I'm playing is Hexic. It's a simple puzzle game and it's a lot of fun, but with everyone able to hear how much I'm clicking, I have to keep my playtime (and thus my productivity) to a minimum.

Some distraction is healthy.

[ezraekman]

This preliminary study being conducted at a Insurance firm, may infact be bringing out the fact that the workers were bored... and (therefore) easily entertained by simple games.

True, hence the upcoming second, longer, more involved study, which includes more involving games.

Besides they havent really mentioned how productivity was measured, the fact that people 'feel better' about their job, although important, doesnt corelate with productivity/bottom line stuff.

Actually, it often does. If someone feels that their work is not truly important, they often tend to care less about the quality, and in some cases, even spend less time working. I know quite a few people mildly disgruntled with their careers/employers, who think that the lack of importance of their work justifies showing up late, taking longer breaks/lunches, or just wasting time, rather than working.

Several years ago, I worked in a call center in which many of the techs would play networked Quake, using the unused machines as servers. This tended to develop a healthy sense of competition, while sealing many new friendships, and keeping people awake. (It was a 24/7 center with fast growth; thus, many new employees on a frequent basis.) Regardless of the time, playing games between/during calls also tended to keep them from becoming annoyed at their jobs (read: annoyed at the customers), as anyone who has worked in tech support/customer service can verify is a problem. If you're busy killing things, you're less apt to be terribly concerned that a particular customer was particularly dumb, or slow, or didn't listen, etc. Banning games won't stop employees from distracting themselves, regardless. There are plenty of ways to waste time on the Internet without having to install software on your machine. This study focuses on justifying said "wastes of time", as a potential productivity-booster.

The article explains that employees were allowed to choose when they wanted to play:

I compare games with a coffee break. If you are like me, you use them in strategic, functional, useful way," Professor Goldstein says.

Most people I know get a case of brain fade at some point in their workday. Having the ability to just stop working for a bit and do something mindless REALLY makes a difference. Yes, a certain amount of employee responsibility is required. But as a freelance contractor that spends most of his time working in a cafe on a laptop, it's really nice to be able to just stop working and do whatever the hell I want for an hour or so, then get back to development again.

Prior to the dot-com bubble bursting a few years ago, I experienced many different environments while I was consulting, in which employee satisfaction was a huge priority. We've all had jobs (or friends who did) that provided free food, drinks, entertainment, and in some cases sleeping arrangements. The goal, of course, was to make it easier for the employees to stay at work as long as possible, and feel as comfortable there as they did at home. (Or more, in some cases.) If you've got an employee who would actually prefer to be at work over staying at home, it's likely that he/she will be more productive than one who would rather be somewhere else. As the article said, "... if the results show games can make people happier in their work, it could impact the amount of absenteeism in the workplace."

Of course, employee efficiency can also be adversely affected; Playing a game when you're supposed to be focusing on something is obviously not a good thing, and being allowed too much freedom can spoil an employee. But this didn't tend to be a problem in the techcenter I was in. Of course, then it was acquired by a larger entity, and Quake and parking-garage Nerf wars were banned, thereby forcing massive turnover. Work certainly lost all it's meaning for me when I could no longer shoot my co-workers. ;-)