culture

Minecraft – Game As Dialogue

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So I returned to playing Minecraft again.  I do this now and then because it’s fun, well-planned, and evolving.  Every few version’s there’s something new as Notch tweaks and adds and changes.  Then I spent way too much time building stuff.

I actually enjoy starting games over.  Each time it’s a new adventure, each time it’s different:

  • I remember my first game where I built a network of quick travel tunnels.
  • I remember my second game where I spent days exploring a huge underground ravine filled with treasures and twists and turns.
  • In my current game I’ve got a lovely small home built into a mountain by a beach, and I’m alternately exploring caves, farming, and trying to penetrate the dense nearby jungle (largely by fire).

I’m sure I’ll stop playing at some point, and I’m sure there will be enough changes and additions I’ll fire it up again.  There’s conventions and events and suggestions and mods that I might even get involved in, should I wish.  Always something new.

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Mind The Recruitment Gap

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In a recent conversation about HR and recruiting, an acquaintance and I discussed the ‘age’ gaps in recruiting – namely, how a gap in ages between recruiter and recruit could negatively affect communication.  Such an issue makes sense as it’s basically a generation/demographic gap, of course, so we mentioned it and went on with our conversation.  We accepted such a gap as normal.

When we parted, that conversation stuck in my mind.  Such a gap seemed normal to us.  So what other gaps, I speculated, were out there that seemed normal – and we were so used to them it was, in fact a problem in recruiting and job seeking?

Very quickly, many, many gaps between recruiter and recruitee sprung to mind.  As I review, I can think of many:

  • The Age Gap – Obvious.  It may be hard to communicate with people due to different cultural experiences.
  • The Economic Gap – Now part of the age gap, a few years of difference means people grew up in radically different economies.  This affects people’s ideas of jobs, what they’re seeking, and how well they’ll trust others.  It also affects ability to move.
  • The Technology Gap – Is gaping in many cases, as even a few years difference may mean people have greatly differing technical experiences.  This makes it harder for people to understand and fill jobs – and understand when a lack of one skill is made up for in another.
  • The Geek Gap – Geek may be chic, but still there’s a difference in people who are geek/less geeky.  This is further amplified by technical gaps, meaning both gaps combine can create a situation where two people rarely understand each other.
  • The Regional Gap – The economic and cultural gaps, in my experience, have made regional divisions even wider.  Ever feel like someone from another city/state is speaking a different language?  You’re probably right.

What am I trying to do by listing these?  Frankly, looking at the things that may keep recruiters and recruitees from actually speaking the same language.  It’s more meditation for you and I, my readers, than anything else.

What do I find as Iook at this?  Actually I’m a bit disturbed.  I can see a lot of these acting synergistically to create insanely huge levels of misunderstanding among intelligent people.  Frankly, this makes me amazed two people of largely different ages, across the country, in different fields can even talk about jobs together . . .

This is also a reminder that we have to bridge these gaps, be we recruiter, candidate, or someone like me who’s a busybody trying to make this work.  There’s a lot of different experiences that can separate us in the career world, so no matter who we are, we have to help bridge them.

Get to it . . .

– Steven Savage

 

 

 

Non-Gamers Should Care About Gaming

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Venture Beat had an unusual article on why non-gamers should care about gaming. It’s a pretty interesting read, but what’s really interesting to me is the very idea itself.

As a gamer, I take the existence of my hobby and its industry for granted. I also assume, rather ignorantly, that there’s a certain barrier between me and non-gamers, even if it’s changing. That’s a given, a cultural assumption.

Of course as the article notes, it’s not true. Gamification, causal games, more games, etc. really do blur (and destroy) the gamer/non-gamer boundary. This boundary breaching is probably happening faster than many crusty old gamers like me may realize because of casual, mobile, and geek being chic.

So now that I’m actually thinking outside of the shrink-wrapped box, what do I see coming up in the gaming/non-gaming boundary:

  • Goodbye to boundary in the next 5-10 years. The only reason not to game will be because you don’t have access to the technology or the time. But gaming will be very omnipresent.
  • Design meltdown. Once gaming is so widespread, with more audiences than it’s used to, designing games is going to be more challenging. What demographics will game designers run into that they never encountered before?
  • Getting more businesslike. Gaming has had many a moment of not-exactly-professionalism. When it’s more widespread, that’s going to have to change. Expectations for businesses, of performance, of support, will alter.

What does it mean for future and current gaming professions:

  • If you’re not thinking out of the box you’re not moving ahead. Get ready to embrace a less bounded game world.
  • Act professional. It’ll make sure you survive and it’ll be expected.
  • Stop making the same damn game. Your audience has changed.

– Steven Savage