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Corporate Gaming Is Good For Business

The Economist is running a story about how gaming is on the rise in corporate environments, and how games are also becoming a popular tool for advertising. From internally developed games to commercial offerings to simply creating a framework in which employees can interact, game-based competitions and community building are leading to increased productivity, even for Fortune 500 companies. Quoting: "Take Microsoft's own experience. Before it releases a new version of its Windows operating system, it asks staff to help debug the software by installing and running the system. In the past, project managers had to spend a great deal of time and effort persuading busy Microsoftees to help them with this boring task. So for Windows Vista, the system's latest incarnation, Microsoft created a game that awarded points for bug-testing and prizes such as wristbands for achieving certain goals. Participation quadrupled."

10 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. Awarding points? by billlava · · Score: 5, Funny

    Awarding points for participation is rarely the most effective way to get people involved. Modded +5 insightful

  2. G.O.O.D Job by Massacrifice · · Score: 4, Funny

    I know a good game, one that really motivates me to work more. It's called "Show Me The Money".

    I thought they would speak about the need for good 3D cards in office boxen for lunch-time BF1942 smash-up between coworkers. This is boring. Corporate games as they describe it, are for suckers.

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    -- Home is where you eat your heart out.
  3. Obligatory Dilbert cartoon... by ptbarnett · · Score: 4, Funny
  4. Re:Well duh by veganboyjosh · · Score: 4, Funny

    So, google has this for employees, and microsoft gives away wristbands?

    Explains a lot.

  5. Re:Makes a lot of sense by MouseR · · Score: 5, Funny

    It did marvels for Vista indeed.

  6. Re:QA by gnick · · Score: 4, Funny

    Only 5? Hmmm... You know, I really want my employees to express themselves. If you think that 5 pieces of flair is enough just because you're getting by and doing the bare minimum, I'm a little disappointed. We really want to encourage team players. ;-)

    --
    He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
  7. Re:Makes a lot of sense by blueZ3 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah, I'm wondering if those "bracelets" were the shiny metal kind that take keys... and that's how they kept Vista testers at it. I can't imagine any other way to get people to actually use it :-)

    --
    Interested in a Flash-based MAME front end? Visit mame.danzbb.com
  8. Re:Makes a lot of sense by Bill_the_Engineer · · Score: 4, Funny

    The problem being that the accounting department has been grinding productivity marks all day, and now are fully clothed in epic accounting gear.

    Now we in the engineering department can't go to the water cooler without being ganked. :P

    --
    These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
  9. Re:Makes a lot of sense by SatanicPuppy · · Score: 3, Funny

    At least they're not teabagging you...yet.

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    ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
  10. The first prize was by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 3, Funny

    I spotted 100 bugs for Vista and All I got was this lousy wristband.

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    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact