Play the "Build" Games

My friend Helena and I were talking yesterday and I realized something about my leisure pursuit of video games: I'm developing different types of rewards and skills based on the type of game I'm playing, and there's a correlation to what it helps me think about with regards to work and life. You don't have to know much about video games to get what I'm sharing here, but it helps.

Games of All Types Can Help Us Learn

Long before video games, one of the early benefits of playing games was that they taught skills in a less-threatening environment. Sporting games, for instance, were often used to teach skills needed in war. Counting games taught everything from finance to inventory management. Play doesn't have to be structured. Games exist within a set of rules or structure. They're kind of a next level (or different dimension) to how we learn through challenges with less stakes.

(Okay, so I took a course years ago on the Psychological and Cultural Foundations of Play. Sorry!)

My Video Game Preferences

I used to joke that if, instead of golf, executives would all gather around and play Halo, I'd be CEO of Apple. I like shooters primarily as a genre. But not for the reasons you might think.

To me, shooters are kind of like slightly more busy chess. You have to plan, to consider what your enemies might be thinking. (I should say that I play mostly PVP or player-vs-player, which means my opponents are real and not computer simulations.) I like trying to match wits and aim against strangers.

You should know my gamertag is "BadAimBadJokes," so you know it's mostly trying to match wits.

There Are Skill Games and There are Build Games

Do you remember a while back when suddenly World of Warcraft was all you heard about for a while? That's because the mechanics of that game were such that the goal was to build a character with the best armor, the best weapons, the best magical items, etc. The "hook" that kept people playing was people were building something of their character, something that took a bit more thought.

This is also what's behind popular card games like Magic the Gathering or Pokemon. You try to build a deck and then compete against other people. It's not like chess where everyone has the same pieces.

Shooters split into those camps, also. Some games are about getting better at your skills and trying to improve on your strategies to reach your objective. Others are more like World of Warcraft, about building up your gear, your weapons, your abilities, and then trying out those builds against your enemies.

We Learn Different Things from Different Modes

When you play a game like Super Mario Bros, you learn that you can learn faster if you don't fear dying and consider it more like a chance to try something different. (Replace "dying" with "failing" and you get a good life lesson.) I mentioned this to Jonathan Harrison, MBA, ODCC the other day (he wrote the book on video games and learning).

In games where you build up the capabilities of your character, it's kind of like a resumé. You acquire new things (skills) and through a combination of them, you can do more. In the game I play, certain stats on my character's clothes give my weapons certain perks that, in turn, give my abilities better stats, and on and on. (It's actually a lot like my "habit chaining" post yesterday.)

In modes where it's about skill, I learn to hone various strategic and tactical muscles. In modes where it's about building, I learn that patience and structure and consideration of future outcomes matter.

See where I led you? That's what I'm putting together.

Just to Nail it All Down

The ideas here to take away are as follows:

• Play and games especially help us train (even indirectly) for other life and business skills
• Games like chess or Halo PVP are about learning a skill
• Games like World of Warcraft or Destiny or The Division are about building your capabilities in concert with other skills
• We need different types of games to train different skills
• Games aren't wasted time. They're a learning tool.

That's what I've got, anyhow.

What about you? Play any games? Candy Crush? What's your go-to?

Chris...