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Seven Games of Highly Effective People

Posted by Zonk on from the actualization-via-mario dept.

edwilli writes "There is an interesting piece on the Windows XP site entitled The Seven Games of Highly Effective People. It's a look at how games can improve your living and social skills, while still not allowing you to have a life. " While the piece itself is pretty fluffy, he links to Got Game?, a book about how gamers are shaping business. For more on this, check out Social Effects of Electronic Interactive Games, and this page of research papers compiled by The ESA.

3 of 18 comments (clear)

  1. except for that time-sink factor... by ghostlibrary · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think the paper misses the time-sink factor. Yes, Rise of Nations can hone skills, but when you play it until 3am and miss your 8am meeting because of it, that's not terribly effective.

    Similarly, I think Tetris is responsible for more lost productivity than any other single cause.

    I'm dubious about touting our game-playing as a plus while applying for jobs, for similar reasons.

    It's a fine line between proving and honing skills, and 'wasting' time using those skills instead of earning almighty dollars. How do you get good at a game without spending lots of otherwise productive time?

    Only so far you can 'hone the saw', to steal from Covey.

    --
    A.
  2. I think... by Otter · · Score: 2, Insightful
    ...that if there's a lesson to be drawn here, it's to credit Steven Covey for identifying keys to success of sufficiently general relevance that they're applicable to games as much as to business. It's not that there's anything magical about games.

    Hmmm, posting here doesn't really qualify as a "highly effective" habit, though. Back to work...

    --
    What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
  3. Wrong Seven Games by uncoolcentral · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Mr. Prensky clearly didn't have much of an "effective" focus group if those MicroSoft games and time-sinkers are supposed to represent... anything other than a thinly veiled ad.

    I'd load the list with real time strategy titles, and toss in a few turn-based, with *maybe* a couple of other genres to round it out. (Say maybe a FPS and a RPG.)

    What would you put on your list?