Why We’re Bad At Networking: Too Much Talk of Networking

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Sometimes these posts come out of nowhere.  And they launch series.

I was discussing social capital on Twitter, as best one can at 140 characters a post while taking a walk, and one thing led to another.  Someone brought up why networking wasn’t preached enough (which is the subject of this post) and I realized it’s time to discuss why we’re bad at networking in the first place.

True it may not be “us we” that’s bad, but an amazing amount of people kind of are bad at it.  Worse there’s no excuse for it as we have the tools, technology, information, and we’re naturally social creatures.  If someone can use Facebook to declare their love of beer pong, they can network (as long as they remember to take down the beer pong stuff, seriously people).

So why is it some of us are just so bad at it?  Especially as so many people talk about it?

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Planet of the Clarks

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We’re waiting for Superman.  We’re waiting for heroes.  We’re waiting because we get told someone will save the day.  We’re waiting for that One Iconic Hero.  We’re waiting to be saved.

Then something like the Boston Marathon Bombing happens.  Then legions of people become heroes.  Then ordinary people are shown to be extraordinary.  Then we’re reminded of what we can do.

The story of Superman is not Superman.  It’s that at any moment the guy next to you can be revealed to be something amazing, wonderful, heroic.  It’s a story of how you never know – until.

Stop waiting for Superman.

Realize we’re surrounded by Clark Kents.

Now take the damn glasses off, and go do something . . .

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Gaming Needs Experimentation!

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There’s a wonderful little game called Dungeon Hearts by Cube Roots that I picked up recently.  One guides for adventurers through a series of battles to meet the Dark One (who graduated from the school of unoriginal names), relying on special skills and a puzzle-like interface to fight enemies.  The core of the game is the ever-advancing line of symbols called “The Fatestream” where you move symbols around to create attacks, destroy enemy symbols that can harm you, and achieve other goals.  It’s a classic rythm/buzzle/motion game in the vein of Klax or guitar hero and the like.

The game stands out for a colorful aesthetic, little touches of blackstory, and a well-crafted interface.  But The Fatestream at the core really makes it work because it takes a common game interface of the moving-puzzle pieces, and uses it as a metaphor for the game and the weaving of fate you do to guide the heroes.  It’s one interface used, rather cleverly, to symbolize something else.

Now I’m not going to pretend this was necessarily some great insight – maybe it was, maybe someone said “hey I want a moving puzzle adventure how could I explain it?”  But either way the idea of The Fatestream works and is rather cleverly.

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