How Games are Serious Plays: Level up in IR & Business

A recent tech-savvy trend in social media slash business realm – dynamic companies are calling for addict gamers. To do what? To play their game, of course! They are using the principles of gaming to improve business performance. And how do they do that? #Gamification. By letting individuals play games, they’re getting the disengaged ones to invest actively participate by using fun and social competitions. Can this impact the IR community? Yes. Still unconvinced? Here are some examples of how games are serious plays in offices:

Spot the bugs & errors

When Microsoft was working towards releasing Windows 7 across the global, they needed to make sure all the dialogue boxes work in every language. (Yawn) it’s a boring and repetitive task alright? They then saw the potential of “gamifying” it, and changed the quality-assurance into a competition for employees in geographic teams. Who spots the most errors then becomes the “good corporate citizen” on the leaderboard. In the end, the employees transformed themselves into Mario Brothers almost, checked 500,000 dialogue boxes and smashed hundreds of bugs.

Play green, prize: sustainability

Companies are pressing the green button to add value to their investors’ shares and sustainability becomes a core strategy for companies. This is part of the reason why employees are starting #GreenGaming. Apps like Leafully and Opower are spinning a green web to inspire corporate alliances to become sustainability enthusiast. Kind of like Nike+ Fuelband, your everyday routines get leveled up to rewarding conquest. With a competitive edge (which all gamers have), driven by earning status and showing off your gold stars trees & leafully points, we’ll all be powerful motivators for green achievements.

Be a “citizen scientist” & beat cancer

Facebook, Amazon and Google are uniting to turn raw genetic data into a game app for “citizen scientists” (yep, that’s you and me) to find a cure to cancer. That’s right. You didn’t read wrong. As you play, you’ll be analyzing data (in a fun way or without you knowing anyway) that’ll accelerate the progress in understanding the genetics reasons cancer develops. With the collective power of gamers, data process will take place faster, and faster we can knock out cancer with our cell phones.

Reveal yourself to the recruiters

Want to be spotted by the L’Oreal recruiters, or just win a trip to Paris? L’Oreal says, “Reveal” (the name of the game) yourself by playing their online game. The company has turned the recruitment process into, a game that puts you into the backstage of a product launch at L’Oreal. The game then evaluates your success in this virtual “business world”, and figures out whether you’re a match for them.

Game playing is definitely changing the nature of work engagement and the digital landscapes for businesses. It’ll be exciting to see how this trend further develops, and how companies work this competitive spirit into their corporate strategy for IR. Who knows, other than web solutions, soon we might all be programming IRgames? @Gamers, do be sure to play ‘em.


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The Blender Team

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