Do gamers make better employees?
Filed under: Career
Just when you thought you'd heard it all, IBM executive David Laux tells the BBC that video gamers make good employees. "We have found across the board, if you look at different categories of games, they all have the ability to develop unique skills."It gets worse: "That's from the casual games which improve memorisation and the ability to discern details, to console games and shooter games that develop rapid decision making and to role playing games like the World of Warcraft that are very unique in producing leadership skills." (emphasis added)
Now color me unconvinced, but I strongly reject the notion that sitting alone in your underwear eating Hot Pockets and drinking Jolt has anything to do with business -- even it is combined with controlling a cluster of pixels designed to look like an imaginary creature bearing an axe you can use to buffet an Adlin Pridedrift.
On the other hand, an employer that can find someone lame enough to spend days cramped in his room without showering or talking to friends and develop a way to channel that energy into work might have an extremely productive employee on its hands.
But World of Warcraft as the breeding ground for the leaders of tomorrow? I doubt it.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-06-2009 @ 3:37PM
Matt said...
The army thinks that gamers make better soldiers, and many employers think that former soldiers make better employees, so if A=B and B=C then A=C, right?
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1-06-2009 @ 3:49PM
lee said...
no disrespect to soldiers, but in general I doubt most employers consider former soldiers good employees... that i believe is a gimmick of recruiters. depends what the job is i suppose. recruiters can be liars, and possibibly that is why they are killing themselves so much lately because they know their lies and manipulations sometimes lead to the death of good young ppl.
1-06-2009 @ 4:08PM
Rob said...
Hey Zac - there's one of you and over 12 million people playing world of warcraft alone - we are lawyers (myself), doctors, programmers, lots of people in military service and people from all other walks of life - and the majority of us do not spend "days" cramped in our "rooms". There are always going to be people who take things to extreme (that's why they are "extremists"), but you should try not to denigrate 12 million people because of a few. I was able to learn world of warcraft at 41 (its cumulative learning) and I agree that games such as wow keep your mind sharp. In fact, its probably better for the mind than reading the drivel you have spewed. And, don't knock it 'til you try it :)
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1-07-2009 @ 3:16PM
DanGarion said...
I agree with the study. Back about 6 years ago I played Ultima Online and lead a large group of players (60 plus). Leadership takes all forms. Time management was also useful in making sure everything happened when it was supposed to. It's funny how easily you can discredit something you probably know nothing about.
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1-07-2009 @ 10:12PM
Bobby J. said...
Hey Zac, I don't really understand where you get you apprehension towards gamers. Maybe you should realize that with games becoming more complex and even more social (from organizing daily raids in warcraft to doing the grind for wow gold
... gamers do acquire skill sets that would eventually be very relevant to the workplace and even to leadership positions. Apart from multitasking, gamers also learn to be more responsible and even learn to interact with other people as other gamers may come from another part of the world.
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