Every Worker, A Game Designer – Part 4 of Every Job, A Game

Dignan, in the book, Game Frame, that these posts have been based on, talks about the process for designing a game. They are:
1) choosing an activity, or mastery focus area
2) creating the player profiles, or motivational description of the players
3) choosing the interim and ultimate objectives of the game
4) choosing the mental, physical and social skills to be learned and improved in game play
5) choosing the resistance, balancing between boring & demoralizing
6) choosing the resources

7) defining the skill cycles, or the rounds in which actions are  taken and feedback obtained

8) choosing the interim and ultimate outcomes which provide feedback

9) play, test and polish to refine the game

Dignan cites David Cook of Spry Fox as proposing that “Any activity can be turned into a game: 1) if the activity can be learned, 2) if the player can be measured, and 3) if the play can be rewarded or punished in a timely fashion. You read this and immediately get the possibility that “all is a game” if you want to see it that way.

It occurred to me in looking at these design elements that much of this design has already been done for me in my job and organization, and that a game of sorts is to understand how it has and is being designed on an ongoing basis. Additionally, it occurred to me that there is an internal game which coincides with the external game of my work that I have the power to design and play to personal and organizational benefit. In fact, the more than my personal game can coincide and integrate with the organizational game, the more potential benefit there is for both of us. I might also find that these games are not integratable which is also an important signal to be acted upon.

Dignan says that “Achieving this requires examining the structure of our own activities and experiences in more depth than ever before. This process of observation and inquiry is the precursor to design. Indeed, to reshape the world around us—our workplace, our schools, our homes—we must become behavioral game designers.” In gaining confidence as a game designer, I recognize my role in creating good games not only for myself but for my team, my organization, my industry and my customers so that we collectively can heal the world.

May we all be better game designers and players ongoing. :-)

Building Blocks of the Game Frame - Part 3 of Every Job, A Game

In my first post in this series I suggested that we, and our work, can benefit from cultivation of a more gameful approach to work. In this post, I want to expand on this approach and its implications.

In his book, Game Frame, Aaron Dignan, talks about the the Game Frame, the building blocks that make up any game. Game designer considers these and so should we as we redesign our work as a game.

These building blocks are:

1) activities, or mastery focus areas,

2) player profile, or trait-based player descriptions with motivational clues,

3) objectives, or short and long term goals towards which effort is directed,

4) skills, or special mental, physical & social abilities necessary to win a game,

5) resistance, or forces of opposition (chance, puzzles, novelty, levels & competition) which create tension and interest in any game,

6) resources, or spaces & supplies we acquire and use to win a game,

7) actions, or move available to us in a game,

8) feedback, the game’s response to a player’s actions,

9) the blackbox, or the rules engine containing information about interplay between actions and feedback in the game, and

10) outcomes, or positive & negative results occurring while in pursuit of game objective

At first, I found this list overwhelming, but on further meditation, realized that all this has been going on within and around me my entire life and I have been good at playing most every game I have found myself in. I had not been savvy enough to see it in the context of a game though. I further get that seeing all this as a game: 1) lowers my blood pressure & frustration level, 2) improves my focus & persistence and 3) allows me to win more of the games I create, and even those others create for me. (Remember my prior post on games we play: Win The Game You Are Playing, Even If You Lose The Game Others Are Playing.)

When I assume that all these elements are part of the game, I am less caught off guard and frustrated by them. I pay more attention to how I need to learn and adapt. I do so more quickly, thus creating a competitive advantage for my self and my team. Truly my work becomes a game and I an ever more skillful player. That said, PLAY ON!!!

Every Job, A Game; Every Worker, A Gamer - Part 1

I recently read the book, Game Frame by Aaron Dignan, a great read about game design with a nice slant on how one can better enjoy their work if they take a gamer’s approach.

Like anything in life, there are situation and then there are the stories we tell about them, and most of life’s experience is the story we tell regardless of the situation. Seeing work as a game is just a “story” alternative we have, and I have to say that my work is relatively more enjoyable and less stressful seen through the lens of a game, versus a job.

Dignan talks about the games as “structured and challenging systems that makes the process of learning rewarding, enables deep engagement, provides a sense of autonomy, and asks us to be heroes in our own stories.” (Read my post Every Worker, A Hero, for more insight on this last point.) Dignan says that games “force us to face facts, press on, and earn our way into the standings by completing tasks that match and then challenge our level of skill.” Games are good for us in that they teach us, allow us to develop new skills, new information and ultimately to master information and situations. The coolest thing about playing games, is that we are “playing”. You ever notice that, in our language, we rarely "work a game", nor do we "play a job"? No, we play games! :-)

A “gameful” approach to work enables our seeing the “game” in our work, and with it, new opportunities and approaches for learning, engagement and mastery. It also allows us to see many of the difficulties of work more positively as pushing us beyond our comfort zone as a meaningful challenge which purpose is to make us more masterful. It is interesting how at work we hate this pushing but in a game we relish it. Dignan says, “Some people do take low-challenge, low-control situations and turn them into wonderful experiences rich with engagement”, “creating a satisfying and escalating challenge instead of waiting for one to be given to them, and this approach literally changes their lives.” This possibility intrigues me and is one I reach for as I have worked to cultivate more and more of a “gameful” approach to my work allowing me to work less and play more. And we all know that play is healthier than work, and further is its own reward.

I invite you to take a read of this book, or maybe just the blog posts, review and videos about it and its author, and to join me in better enjoying and performing the game of work. I am convinced that our selves, our families, community and the world will all benefit from it.

Everyone A Pawn on Someones’ Chess Board

As I continue to enjoy my evolving “big picture, middle age mind”, or so I have read, I relish the analogy of life’s relationships as all occurring on myriad overlapping chessboards. I further note that on every chessboard, both mine and those of all I am in relations with, I am a piece, sometimes queen, a few times king, most times pawn, and when in the zone, knight. :-) This consideration has caused me to meditate more and more on the reality that I, and so we all, am a pawn on every someones’ chessboard that I engage with. Everyone has an agenda for me. I play a role of getting everyone who values me something they want else they do not value me, else they probably do not perceive themselves as even being relationship with me, despite the fact that I might perceive otherwise based on my own chessboards.

Acceptance of this reality helps me to better tolerate being manipulated and used, sometimes even betrayed, by others. With this understanding, I am able to take all this less personally knowing that this is the nature of things. I can even have compassion on the idea that everyone is mostly just moving me around, sacrificing me, advancing me, promoting/demoting me, etc., in order to win some particular chess game they are playing against someone else, or maybe even themselves, or worst yet, me. Additionally, I work to understand what piece I am, queen, knight or pawn, and with this understanding to be the best piece I can be, as I understand I should, in order to help people win their (legitimate) chess games.

This is most challenging when you find yourself simultaneously a black and white piece on a board where 2 people are playing against one another and you want both of them to win. These paradoxical situation definitely require thinking beyond a zero-sum paradigm.

So remember, we are all pawns on someone’s chess board and may we have the grace, wisdom and guilelessness to be the best pawn possible in on every board we are being played in order to manifest the Great Commandment of “love” in the world.

Some good reads that compliments this one I wrote awhile ago are at http://www.delicious.com/cadelarge/wiseworking_games

Happy checkmating to you!

Don't Call The Game Before Its Over

This blog post has relocated to a book, The WiseWorking Handbook. Please visit it there.  

Please purchase a copy at Balboa Press (http://bit.ly/1wfqwBU). 

For signed copies, reach me at craig@wiseworking.com. 

Thanks in advance for reading the book and spreading the word about it.

Finally, please rate it at Amazon.com, BN.com, GoodReads.com, and other websites where books are sold and reviewed. 

What readers are saying:

"The WiseWorking Handbook is written in a down to earth, engaging style.” - Bud Bulanich

"Get this book. Read it. Keep it handy for when you need a little inspiration or some solid advice on how to work wisely and increase your value at work.” - Bud Bulanich

Win The Game You're Playing, Even If You Lose the Games Others Play

This blog post has relocated to a book, The WiseWorking Handbook. Please visit it there.  

Please purchase a copy at Balboa Press (http://bit.ly/1wfqwBU). 

For signed copies, reach me at craig@wiseworking.com. 

Thanks in advance for reading the book and spreading the word about it.

Finally, please rate it at Amazon.com, BN.com, GoodReads.com, and other websites where books are sold and reviewed. 

What readers are saying:

"The WiseWorking Handbook is written in a down to earth, engaging style.” - Bud Bulanich

"Get this book. Read it. Keep it handy for when you need a little inspiration or some solid advice on how to work wisely and increase your value at work.” - Bud Bulanich