Got Game: How the Gamer Generation Is Reshaping Business Forever

Those who are looking for a contrarian view of video games will find it in these pages. While many parents fret about their children's minds turning to goo as they squander hour after hour absorbed in electronic diversion, the authors argue that gamers glean valuable knowledge from their pastime and that they're poised to use that knowledge to transform the workplace. Beck (The Attention Economy: Understanding the New Currency of Business) and Mitchell (DoCoMo--Japan's Wireless Tsunami: How One Mobile Telecom Created a New Market and Became a Global Force) base their claims on an exclusive survey of approximately 2000 business professionals. That survey, say the authors, provides the first data showing a direct, statistically verifiable link between digital games and professional behavior in the workplace. The authors express their analysis in clean, crisp prose devoid of jargon, making it accessible for non-gamers, especially non-gamers who are managers. ""Gamers believe that winning matters,"" Beck and Wade contend, and gamers also place ""a high value on competence--wanting to be an expert in the first place""--all of which makes the video game generation, estimated by the authors to be some 90 million strong, an influential force in the work place. The book touches on a handful of other ways in which gamers differ from non-gamers and provides suggestions on how employers can take advantage of their unique values and skills. Some readers may find themselves grinding their teeth at many of the authors' upbeat conclusions about the benefits video game players will bring to the business world, but most will find the pair's findings fascinating and provocative.