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Why Work Is Looking More Like a Video Game

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the explains-the-hookers-orcs-and-skaeboards dept.

james_bong666 writes "According to the New York Times, business software vendors can learn a great deal from how video games are designed. This makes a lot of sense — how many professionals like working with their software in the office as much as gaming after hours? Developers can deal with looking at tables and grids full of data to make decisions and get things done, but other types of workers (executives, salespeople, etc.) have little to no attention span and need a picture to be worth a thousand words, i.e. their software designed completely differently."

11 of 138 comments (clear)

  1. Uh. by ewhenn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Actually it's not the interface that makes the game fun... There are some games that have great interfaces - that I personally do not find fun to play (CIV, WoW), etc. I also disagree with this statment: "other types of workers (executives, salespeople, etc.) have little to no attention span and need a picture to be worth a thousand words" I fail to see how employment position is a realisic and valid way to determine attention span.

    1. Re:Uh. by erareno · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I believe that executives (especially those that have worked their way to the top) would not have a very short attention span. To the contrary, they can see the big picture and work their way towards their ultimate goal. However, I also believe that people who work would be much more productive if they felt they got some form of enjoyment out of what they're doing. Isn't that why Ben Franklin (I think) said something along the lines of 'The day you get a job that you really like is the day you get your last paycheck'?

    2. Re:Uh. by Tickletaint · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Exactly. Here's a hint to computer programmers: If the user's not getting what they need from your application, then you fucked up. It's your job to make your software usable. Stop blaming others for problems caused by your shitty UI design skills. Good Christ, I'm sick of the condescension I see coming every day from my fellow developers.

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    3. Re:Uh. by code_nerd · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Spoken like someone who has no idea what an executive job is like. Just because you cannot get those jobs does not mean they do not require skill. Sure, there are crap managers, executives, etc. But there are even more crap programmers, sysadmins, dbas, and so on. Saying management self-selects for incompetence is nothing more than sour grapes and envy.

      Cry more.

  2. Non-programmers can't do without pictures? by DAharon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    but other types of workers (executives, salespeople, etc.) have little to no attention span and need a picture to be worth a thousand words I'm as prejudiced against non-programmers/techies as the next person, but that just jumped at me immediately as pretty damn condescending.
    1. Re:Non-programmers can't do without pictures? by volsung · · Score: 4, Insightful

      One thing that was drilled into us in an Engineering Communications class was to assume your audience (often management) was impatient, had limited reading comprehension, and generally ignorant of your subject matter. At the time we thought this was amusing, as we imagined the standard Dilbert stereotype of a manager.

      Looking back now, I see this was more of a mental exercise than a statement about our future bosses' intellectual abilities. Engineers tend to be detail-oriented, especially about their particular work. This is generally good, because details matter in implementation, but bad for communication if it clutters up the main points you are trying to convey. By telling engineers to write like their audience is stupid and lazy, you might end up with something that is almost understandable. :)

      In reality, your boss might not be an expert in the field, and they also have lots of information flying at them from all directions. Making prose simple and compact speeds comprehension for busy people. Unfortunately, people who are predisposed to have a negative attitude toward management (bad previous managers, overly large nerd egos, social insecurity, etc) just remember this advice as "Write simply because my boss is dumb."

  3. Patronising BS by Timesprout · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Developers can deal with looking at tables and grids full of data to make decisions and get things done, but other types of workers (executives, salespeople, etc.) have little to no attention span and need a picture to be worth a thousand words, i.e. their software designed completely differently.
    The attention span of executives, salespeople, etc. is perfectly in fine. What they have in most cases is badly designed software often due to the 'attentive' developers who failed to gather or understand the correct requirements and then delivered a poor and inflexible implementation of this misunderstanding which does not deliver the information they really require.

    These people don't need their software designed completely differently, they just need it designed better.
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    1. Re:Patronising BS by ScentCone · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It isn't just that it's condescending to say that sales and management people have no attention span... it's rather disengenuous, actually. In fact, I've worked with plenty of IT people who can't keep their employer's business objectives (you know, the things that actually allow the paychecks to be cashed?) in mind for more than one minute after they leave a meeting or delete an e-mail. Sales people stay focused on what they need to stay focused on (usually, cultivating a relationship with the person who has money to spend). That can take YEARS to cement. And one IT guy who's more interested in finding a machine to burn down so he can install some new distro than he is in making sure that the sales guy's CRM database doesn't puke while he's on the road and needs it the most... that can kill the cash cow that allows IT to exist at all. Basically: snotty IT types that describe all sales/management people in such patronizing terms are just illustrating exactly why sales/management types so often roll their eyes whenever they have to deal with IT.

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  4. missing the point by yskel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think TFA is missing the point. After reading it, I came away with "If we make work less like work and more like fun, then it will be fun." However, fun does not equal associating pictures, likes/dislikes, favorite colors etc with a business contact. I think the point is that if your job requires you to use a CRM system, then it is not fun by definition, and no amount of reskinning that interface is going to make it more enjoyable.

    I agree that the ideas of connection, management and cooperation within MMORPG are potentially interesting in the context of managing large companies, but the "making work like a videogame" metaphor doesn't work for me.

    yskel

  5. Obvious, but overlooked by donnyfire · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This has parallels with what I am learning in medical school (yes, a med student who reads slashdot *gasp*). We are taught that we cannot use medical jargon to explain things to patients, because our level of training and experience is completely different from that of the average patient. This is also true in software, but I don't think developers are taught this point. This often results in the user not understanding what may have been obvious to the software designer, and a program that is not popular with the public. In both fields, I feel one must think at the level of the end user. In medicine, it is to provide the best health outcome by promoting understanding. We do this because we recognize that not everyone is health literate. In software, I think to be successful, it is also important to recognize that not everyone is tech literate, and design products accordingly.

  6. A bit of a forced analogy, but a good point. by SlimSpida · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't think it's a matter of work imitating games, I think it's that application developers are now going down the same usability design paths that games require. Most people aren't required to play games, so the successful ones are the engaging ones, the games that give you a clear idea of what you need to do, and clearly present the required information. People like overcoming challenges when they think they see the way to do it. At work people are often dealing with scenarios where they would like to do a good job, but may not have the information on what is required, or they are dealing with too many factors to filter the wheat from chaff. They may lose focus because they have forgotten what their goals are. Most of management training revolves around how to present information to people, which provides the feedback loop people need to do their jobs. The idea that this is starting to show up in applications is an interesting, but natural step.