Ever gain any workplace relevant knowledge, skills, or abilities through gaming?

[mgarsi2]

A lot of people say they have.

Some even credit the games they played for teaching them organizational management, communication, thinking outside the box, and so on. So, I decided to make this my dissertation (my area is in Industrial and Organizational psychology) and attempt to validate and find actual support for all these claims.

Below is a survey that I hope will do that. Thanks in advance for participating !
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Denizens of Azeroth, the Blood Death Knight known as Carnage (Lightninghoof) and the Beast Mastery Hunter known as Nathanot (Medivh) humbly request your assistance. We are working on a study to examine what workplace relevant knowledge, skills and abilities might be gained through playing World of Warcraft.

To better serve our brothers and sisters of the Horde and Alliance, we require your aid in collecting preliminary data via a brief 15-20 minute survey. Players that participate in our survey will be (1) notified of our findings, and (2) entered in a raffle for an opportunity to win an Amazon gift card. For more details, please follow the link below and to be directed to our survey start page.

http://mst.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0xidxbZv8JKxnKJ

[Zafire]

I think so. If I never played Final Fantasy XI I would have never taught myself how to type properly...probably. To that end, grouping in FFXI was an absolute requirement back in 2005-2009. I did a lot of things differently than normal parties, ended up successful, and made friends for it. I'd say my leadership skills improved somewhat from that. I also retained a lot of my math from high school because I used it to figure out gear superiorities in FFXI.

Mario-type games, which is what I grew up with, teaches proper timing of buttons. Avoiding obstacles, jumping cliffs, etc. While this may not be a big deal I got better at skateboarding significantly faster than everyone else around me, to the point where I was even passing (some) people that have been doing it years longer.

When I first started playing Final Fantasy Tactics I struggled somewhat, but then ended up getting to the point where I could play through the whole game with one character and not use good abilities to do it. This is because I was able to predict what the AI was going to do. My pattern recognition is a lot better because of this.

I also hate when I can't figure things out and reading guides or FAQs isn't very clear on what I'm supposed to do. It makes me feel like an idiot. To that end, after I DO figure it out, I think to myself how it should have been worded this way. This has made me extremely literal when I train people at work. I explain every detail, every variable, every "what if" that can possibly happen. I try to explain in such a way that it is impossible not to understand what I am saying. I have actually been complimented several times by the people I train that they feel I train well.

Can't really think of much else.

[mgarsi2]

I think so. If I never played Final Fantasy XI I would have never taught myself how to type properly...probably. To that end, grouping in FFXI was an absolute requirement back in 2005-2009. I did a lot of things differently than normal parties, ended up successful, and made friends for it. I'd say my leadership skills improved somewhat from that. I also retained a lot of my math from high school because I used it to figure out gear superiorities in FFXI.

That's a great example the FF MMO is next on our list!

Mario-type games, which is what I grew up with, teaches proper timing of buttons. Avoiding obstacles, jumping cliffs, etc. While this may not be a big deal I got better at skateboarding significantly faster than everyone else around me, to the point where I was even passing (some) people that have been doing it years longer.

And don't forget perseverance and commitment...There's only so many times a psyche can take that "the princess is in another castle LOL.

When I first started playing Final Fantasy Tactics I struggled somewhat, but then ended up getting to the point where I could play through the whole game with one character and not use good abilities to do it. This is because I was able to predict what the AI was going to do. My pattern recognition is a lot better because of this.

Yup! I loved FF Tactics, still one of my all time favorite games. The job class was AMAZING!

I also hate when I can't figure things out and reading guides or FAQs isn't very clear on what I'm supposed to do. It makes me feel like an idiot. To that end, after I DO figure it out, I think to myself how it should have been worded this way. This has made me extremely literal when I train people at work. I explain every detail, every variable, every "what if" that can possibly happen. I try to explain in such a way that it is impossible not to understand what I am saying. I have actually been complimented several times by the people I train that they feel I train well.

Detail oriented, and leaving nothing to assumptions. That's a really important aspect of successful teams.w

Hope you had a chance to take the survey, and feel free to pass it on or share it with your guildies!

[GennGreymane]

"calibrations" makes you sexy in the work place. Thanks Mass Effect!

[mgarsi2]

"calibrations" makes you sexy in the work place. Thanks Mass Effect!

HAHAH! Just call me Garrus, no need for formalities.

[mgarsi2]

I'm pretty sure the only thing gaming ever did was erode the edge I had over my peers because prior to that, my #1 use of free time was reading.

First of all, I'm a Pinkie Pie fan..so awesome banner!

That's actually our second study we want to look at. Gaming is relatively in its infancy...when did pong come out? In the 70s ish? Back then gaming could be considered a time sink...but now, I put the story telling in games like Uncharted, Until Dawn, Halo, Skyrim, Fallout 4, etc. on the same level as fantasy books. Whereas a friend of mine reads Tolkien, I play Skyrim. Gaming is/has evolved, and will continue to do so (in my opinion).

Hope you had a chance to take the survey, we want variance, so not all points of data need to align with what we're trying to identify .

[Gheld]

Skyrim story telling is not on the level of Tolkien. And I don't even like Tolkien that much.

[Moralgy]

I've become far better at communicating and being social thanks to the internet, not video games, but same general area.

[mgarsi2]

Skyrim story telling is not on the level of Tolkien. And I don't even like Tolkien that much.

Agreed! But Skyrim's story is better than the original Mario's, or...Pong lol!

It was just an example of how far gaming has come from a story telling point of view over a short amount of time, whereas books, arguably have been around since forever. You have to also consider that, at one point, going to the movies was considered a waste of time, and not a good medium for entertainment or knowledge.

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I've become far better at communicating and being social thanks to the internet, not video games, but same general area.

Makes sense! And we're specifically looking at team based gaming, MMO's, MOBAS, FPS (TF/Overwatch style). It's a really a well put together survey. You should consider checking it out .

[Gheld]

Agreed! But Skyrim's story is better than the original Mario's, or...Pong lol!

It was just an example of how far gaming has come from a story telling point of view over a short amount of time, whereas books, arguably have been around since forever. You have to also consider that, at one point, going to the movies was considered a waste of time, and not a good medium for entertainment or knowledge.

No way. Mario has a really deep story when you go all tinfoil hat on it.

Because in the original instruction manual it tells you that the inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom were turned into bricks...and then you go around murdering bricks, and stealing coins, trying to get to the princess. And yet, Bowser just keeps her there... and fights vehemently to keep you from her... He knows Mario is bad news.

[Mummbles]

My hand-eye coordination has gotten pretty damn good. I don't honestly know if video games are the reason or something else. But this lets me twirl knives, dishes and the metal food bar pans which keeps me very amused at work. Other than that, no, I don't think much else translates.

[Independent voter]

There was this guy who was the guild master of a large raiding guild in WoW. He went for an interview at Google, the interviewers were also WoW players so he was able to use his experience as a GM to land the job.

I've been part of raiding guilds, never an officer or anything but I still think it counts as job experience, showing up on time, learning a skill set, listening to instructions, completing the job, etc

[Swizzington]

Other than increasing the speed at which I type, no, I doubt I've gotten any real skills from it. If anything it probably absorbed so much of my time that I lost out on skills I could've otherwise developed.

I've been part of raiding guilds, never an officer or anything but I still think it counts as job experience, showing up on time, learning a skill set, listening to instructions, completing the job, etc

Actually, I may have developed the ability to manage my schedule and 'show up on time' from years of raiding. So yeah, there's that.

[mgarsi2]

No, not even a little.

I hear a lot of people claiming that they do, but it usually seems pretty straw-graspy.

Agreed with this as well! That's why we want to put this to bed, one way or another. There's too much speculation revolving this subject.

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There was this guy who was the guild master of a large raiding guild in WoW. He went for an interview at Google, the interviewers were also WoW players so he was able to use his experience as a GM to land the job.

I've been part of raiding guilds, never an officer or anything but I still think it counts as job experience, showing up on time, learning a skill set, listening to instructions, completing the job, etc

I think it does too. Hoping this study will shed some light on our theories! Have you participated in the study yet? It only takes about 15-ish minutes and will really help shed some light on these speculations .

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My hand-eye coordination has gotten pretty damn good. I don't honestly know if video games are the reason or something else. But this lets me twirl knives, dishes and the metal food bar pans which keeps me very amused at work. Other than that, no, I don't think much else translates.

Where do you work...I want to work there....

[Adarian]

my hand eye is fucking well developed, i've learned alot about warfare thanks to RTS actually incentivizing me to read the art of war and a few other military strategy books, ,stealth games that don't give you radar have allowed me to train myself to maintain constant situational awareness, and last but not least the constant practice of typing has been wonderfully useful.

[mgarsi2]

No way. Mario has a really deep story when you go all tinfoil hat on it.

Because in the original instruction manual it tells you that the inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom were turned into bricks...and then you go around murdering bricks, and stealing coins, trying to get to the princess. And yet, Bowser just keeps her there... and fights vehemently to keep you from her... He knows Mario is bad news.

You just shattered...my entire reality of Mario...

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my hand eye is fucking well developed, i've learned alot about warfare thanks to RTS actually incentivizing me to read the art of war and a few other military strategy books, ,stealth games that don't give you radar have allowed me to train myself to maintain constant situational awareness, and last but not least the constant practice of typing has been wonderfully useful.

Excellent! With this study, we're trying to address these points in a way that organizations and employers can understand. Hope you had a chance to take the survey!

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I exited the survey because I am in school and not working, as well as the fact that I quit WoW again. There don't seem to be options for that, so I didn't want to just make stuff up.

School is considered a type of working environment, at least for us. Even though the guidelines are strict, you can skip over questions you don't want to answer. Even though you have quit WOW, that means that you've played for periods of time as well. I would suggest to continue you the survey and address any concerns in the comment section at the end, and let us sift through the data .

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Yeah, that's one thing that perhaps I can trace back to early childhood video game play. I take it for granted today, but I do have extremely good dexterity/coordination/etc and perhaps that's a direct result of picking up video games at an early age.

Then again, I also took up various forms of fencing and martial arts at an early age and have equally good agility and overall bodily control/coordination, so perhaps the games had nothing to do with it. Or one complimented the other. Who knows.

And this is the question we're trying to address...the "who knows" part. Does it work, does it not work? Are claims accurate, or inaccurate...does 13/13M raider mean something? What about having a 2200+ rated arena team? Hopefully this study will shed some light on it .

[Gsara]

Not at all, I think its the other way around for me.

[Rend Blackhand]

Learned touch typing from playing games like Runescape and WoW that's about it

[Deleted]

Well it's a give and take. Much of my experience as an instructor has helped me as a raidlead/maintank/guildleader and some of the things I have learned in terms of organisation have helped my in my job as well. Keeping an eye on the big picture and so on. Tbh I think both helped the other. Not just one.

Your survey lacks EU Servers btw.

[jakeic]

just how to deal with frustration.