3 virtual games which taught me the most about the real world (2/3): Ages of Empire

The second game which particularly stands out for me is ‘Ages of Empire.’ It has taught me lots of strategy lessons through its gameplay and tactics at the fundamental level which can be readily observed in the real-life world.

The objectives of the games were as follow:

• Players will start the game by selecting one among different civilizations from a hunter-gatherer community and will develop them further into an Iron Age civilization and keep on upgrading into different ages.
• The game will have a map of uncovered territories and geographies. Different players will build their empire on the same route and will keep on attacking others to win the complete region.
• Players start with deploying their resources in collecting food, wood, gold, and stone. The raw materials help a player to build castles, wonders, temples, military, weapons, university and a further upgrade to a different age.
• Building a Wonder and making it stay for a given period was one of the ways to directly win the game.

While playing the game, the two most important questions which it forced to think were as follow:

Why building a Wonder is essential?

Why is it vital to protect it for a required amount of time to win the game?

It will be interesting to draw an analogy between the gameplay and real-life scenario and then understand the answer of the above questions and learning which the game offers. 

Gameplay: Building a Wonder demonstrates the superiority of civilization, constructing a wonder which stays for a given period is one way to win the game as it provides a competitive advantage over other players. Other players attack your Wonder, and if you can sustain the attack for a stipulated amount of time, no one can stop you from winning the game.

Real-Life: The wonder for any company can be a revolutionary product, unique business model, diversified culture, a belief in R&D and innovation, basically anything which imparts a competitive advantage and disrupts the market altogether. Other companies would more often try to replicate or create something better in the limited time, but the priority should always be innovating something new.

Revolutionary Product as a Wonder:

Apple iPod is one prime example of the wonder of a company as it completely revolutionized the entire music industry. Apple was able to disrupt the market all over again when Steve Jobs launched iPhone, the launch which made Apple drop Computer from its name. Everyone was left in awe of the product because it was difficult for us to vision such product at the time of launch, competitors tried to copy the product somehow or another, but Apple was able to defend the product in the market for the required time. 

Inspiring Culture as a Wonder:

In the back of our mind, we always relate Nike as a company which encourages athletes to reach the highest levels of performance. Similarly, Nike has been able to create a positive environment for the employees inspiring them for sky-high performance by providing great work-life balance, an advanced opportunity for growth and positive culture. Also, tech companies like Google, Salesforce, Zoom, etc have been able to cultivate an inspiring culture which motivates talented people to associate themselves with these big tech giants.

Providing Premier Customer Experience as a Wonder:

While most of the times when we imagine the rider of Harley Davidson, we think of a successful person riding a premier bike of a successful company. The people who own Harley think of the ownership as a sense of achievement, they are genuinely devoted to the brand regardless of how much the bikes cost. HD has been able to create wonder in their ecosystem by providing the customer experience where the owners are more addicted to the experience rather than the product. Moreover, after a customer purchases a Harley Davidson bike, they are encouraged to join the 325,000-plus member of Harley Owners Group. The group connects riders and with the brand. Also, by strategically opting for a limited supply, HD has been able to create a base of dedicated riders who are truly addicted to the premier experience which the product has to offer.

Customer Obsession as a Wonder:

Netflix has been able to create wonder in knowing its viewers in a way not many were able to do before. Being obsessed with customer allows Netflix to collect a massive amount of data and create personalized recommendations. They have invested a lot to understand the audience behavior, and by keeping the customer first, they have been able to produce award-winning quality content for the diversified cohort of viewers. 

The creation of Wonder is essential to gain a competitive edge over your competitors in any field of business. When companies can create a revolutionary product before others, with the first mover advantage, they tend to end up being successful. But there are times as well when first movers aren't able to protect their product which paves the way for competitors to come out with an enhanced version of the same product killing the past competitors. That is why it is also necessary to protect your wonder for a given period, it is more important to stay at the top as compared to reaching there. 

I hope you will like the important lesson which I learned from this game. I would love to share the last article of this series, in the meanwhile, it will be interesting to understand and learn more about the wonders of different companies.