Khal Weir

Recently I’ve been doing a lot of research into gamification, which despite being a fairly revolting buzzword, is a fascinating topic. In my research I came across the talks and writings of Jane McGonigal, which has got me thinking for the first time ever - I don’t play enough games. I used to feel slightly superior to my friends that sunk 100 hours plus weekly into games like World of Warcraft, like I was doing something of value with my time. Now I’m jealous and regret not ever subscribing and playing along; realising that watching through every episode of X Files again, riding bikes and drinking beer wasn’t necessarily  a better use of time.

Investing in 10,000 hours in any activity is considered enough time to be an expert in that activity, an increasing number of the current generation have comfortably clocked up 10k hours of online gaming by the time they graduate. So what are they experts in, what skills does online gaming give you? Considering WoW as an example; I recognise the game requires skills in problem solving, teamwork, resource management, organisation, strategy, communication as well as encouraging research into and learning about the history, backstory and geography of the world. All of these are useful and admirable skills and with the equivalent of over 5 years worth of working hours before even starting their professional careers, todays youth have huge potential, probably without even knowing about it. In Jane’s talks and in her book ‘Reality is Broken’ she asks what if these skills were put to real world problems instead of defeating alien hordes and slaying orcs? There is no denying, gaming is huge and growing - the challenge we now face is how to untap the potential of games and gamers.