Got Game: How the Gamer Generation Is Reshaping Business Forever

To start, it's not about how it's OK to hole-up and game all day. But it does make a solid case for gaming---and that means your current point-of-view is to going to quickly shape your reaction to this book. But hang in there...because you really can't ignore the truth of the impact on risk-taking, perseverance, innovation...and it's role in shaping managers. No matter how you feel about gaming...and whether you game or not...this book provides and insightful look into what's shaping the next crop of managers. Resource scarcity shaped my grandfather; the boundless optimism of the 50s shaped my Dad. TV and "instant solutions" (read "this quarter...") shaped me. Games are shaping my son. I think he's the one to watch.

This is a book comparing the attitudes and work habits of two groups of people: those who grew up playing video games and those who didn't. The basis of the book, the jumping off point for Beck and Wade's analysis, is a *lot* of data collected in surveys by the authors. The analysis is based on how much gaming you did growing up, not how much you do now -- I don't get credit for my mastery of Rise of Nations. That makes sense given the number of hours involved. I'm fifty-two, I was old when the first computer games came out, but my children don't know a world without them. They have literally thousands of hours more gaming experience than I do. You can call this a generation gap -- the authors analyze the data by age as well as gaming experience -- but over and over again the data suggest that gaming is more important than age. I can see the parts of my own personality that resonate with games, blowing away monsters as well as solving puzzles in resource allocation, but that's a coincidence reinforced by choosing games I like. My children, the data say, have been molded by games. Have you ever used a slide rule? My father used one routinely, but although I know how, I've never used one to solve a real problem. It's just not part of my conceptual tool bag. When you bump into a business problem, do you reach for a metaphorical slide rule, recall a metaphor from Wordsworth, or make a list? Gamers hit a key or button or mouse, and they do it as fast as they can. Trial and error (and speed!) have been built in to their wiring from their first video game on. That's not the only characteristic discussed in the book. There's a list of twenty in the introduction, including expecting the world to be simple, logical, structured, rapidly learnable, forgiving of error, fair and ultimately solvable. You can argue about what a terrible thing this is, just like the ancient Romans complained about sloppy togas on their teens. Trial and error wouldn't have built the interstate highway system, got us to the moon, etc., etc. But trial and error is an excellent strategy for taking advantage of a rapidly changing environment. I could quote the control theory to back this up, but that's the point: gamers would have tried four or fourteen or forty new ideas while I was building the model. Beck and Wade analyze the data, illuminate the differences that gamers bring to a business environment, untangle benefits from prejudices and discuss how managers can manage and motivate gamers to take advantage of these benefits. Even if the idea of yet another corporate team-building exercise makes your skin crawl, you're better off knowing how your younger colleagues think. The book is an excellent combination of data and discussion, so it should be useful and accessible to anyone. Other than gamers, of course; they never read the manual.

The authors of "Got Game" are onto something. While the baby boomers have been preoccupied with defining and refining their own lifestyles, a whole new generation has materialized with a radically different world view. We often hear of generation X and their younger siblings, generation Y, but Beck and Wade conflate the two into one "game generation" based upon their common obsession with video games, and the common set of attitudes, skills, and values that gaming instilled in them during their formative years. So what are these? Increased competitiveness, concentration, and a strong sense of self-worth, for starters. Gamers are also adept at multi-tasking, and at ease swimming through oceans of data--both valuable skills in today's high-stress business environment. What's more, they are "latent heroes," a trait that might interest military recruiters and other high-risk enterprises. Though the authors seem to have become enamored of their subjects, they are not fawning advocates, and warn against certain gamer traits, such as arrogance and self-involvement. What makes this book particularly valuable is that it is not simply descriptive. It is prescriptive as well, laden with tips on ways that employers can harness the game culture's skills and personality traits. Now that the "game" has been exposed by Beck and Wade, no one interested in the world's young adults and how they work, play, plan for the future--or "whatever," to use a favorite gamer term--should ignore this ground breaking book.

If you are in business, especially if you are over 40, this is a must read book to gain an understanding of one of the factors shaping the next generation of workers. I am one of the ones who "dismiss" the game players, even the one in my own house, without ever really thinking about the impact of gaming on the development and attitudes of the younger generation. Why didn't I notice this, even though my son plays for hours a day? Of course it is having an influence! Got Game lays all the facts out there for you, with data backing up their research, on just how much of an influence growing up playing games has on an individual. It also tells you how gamers think and what their natural expectations are of the world around them. If we as managers do not understand the people working for us, not only will we not tap into their amazing potential but we will also lose out when they take their business else where due to dissatisfaction. This is a serious business book about an important topic, but Beck and Wade present it in an easy to understand and enjoyable manner. I would recommend this book even if you are not in business, because gamers are all around us and they are not going away!