Shall we play a game?

I’ve been playing games my whole life. And so have you. From your very 1st steps, very 1st words to playing chess, monopoly, dating, politics and job interviews, it’s all games. In my experience, games are just problem solving, with added fun. Some games are really easy, like tic-tac-toe / noughts and crosses or snap. Some games are a little harder, like chess, go or poker. But they all have a bunch of similar traits that compel us to play more, try harder, beat the next boss.

Games draw us in and encourage us to be things we can’t (yet) be in meat-space. Like an astronaut, plumber or a blue hedgehog, all while teaching valuable lessons. And they can serve a great purpose when designed and directed properly.

Some of you might have heard about the 10,000 hour rule. Malcolm Gladwell in his book ‘Outliers’ said that “The principle holds that 10,000 hours of "deliberate practice" are needed to become world-class in any field.” According to a US study, the average gamer will have spent around 10,000 hours gaming by the age of 21. *10,000 hours is also equivalent to the time spent in school from 5th grade to high-school graduation (for the UK / Europe this is secondary school through to end of college (10-18)). Interesting.

So, we have a whole generation (including myself…) who grew up playing video games and in plenty of cases we are pretty bloody good at some. But as adults, it’s not quite so cool to be into games. Especially at work. But games are how we learnt everything in the past. About problem solving, social interaction and how to save the earth from asteroids. Why don’t we continue? When did games become ‘for the kids’?

I’ve been lucky enough to work with some amazing teams over the years and be part of some high-energy business development / sales development groups. One thing that always brought people together and raised the energy level was games. Competing for prizes, leaderboards and glory brings out the best in people, focuses the mind and stops work feeling so 'worky’. People can solve amazingly complex problems though play - and will be relentless and determined like nothing else when it comes to getting to the end-goal.

There’s a story (with some historical evidence that it was actually true) about the Maeonians in the 2nd millennium BC who survived a 18-year famine (18 years!) by alternating between playing games one day and then eating on the next day. The game playing was so distracting that they didn’t pay attention to their hunger and so survived for much longer than they ever could without games. I’m sure you’ve all got examples of yourselves (or your kids) forgetting to eat because you were in the middle of an incredible game.

I’ve been wondering recently whether there is some way to gamify ‘social distancing’ to help us though our current pandemic. Like the opposite of fitbit. Points, badges and leaderboards for not moving or leaving the house. Hmmm, it’s a work-in-progress. I’ll keep you informed.

In the meantime, there are loads of ways of bringing gamification to your teams and to your customers. There’s a great book I just finished reading called ‘Actionable Gamification’ by Yu-kai Chou. He’s built a framework of 8 elements that any gamification system should / could contain. I’m not going to list them here (read the book, give me a call etc. if you want more info) but I’d like to highlight the most important one to me. Number one is the beginning of everything - ‘Meaning’. Or ‘Epic Meaning’ if you are feeling awesome.

Every game needs an Epic Meaning. What’s the quest? What’s the goal? Save the princess, slay the dragon, destroy the meteorite, solve the puzzle and so on. It’s similar to the ‘Start with Why’ methodology from Simon Sinek that I also love.

If you want a game to be great, if you want your teams to be great, if you want your customers to love what you do - then start with an Epic Meaning. Define the quest. Articulate the purpose. Give your dragon, princess or meteorite a name and tell the story. People love stories and they will love your story, once they understand the goal. Once you have defined the meaning then get everyone to play. Make it fun, make it meaningful, use intrinsic and extrinsic motivators - build problems with unexpected twists. Reward the winners, but make it fun. Gamification is everywhere, from Music Grades to Karate Belts, Airline Gold Cards and Foursquare Mayorships. Starbucks, Nike, Fitbit and even Kickstarter have built ways to connect tribes, articulate an epic meaning and build a game that engages and motivates.

As with anything, start small, communicate frequently and be prepared for unexpected plot twists - but start today.

Now, how about a nice game of chess?