Office Games

Is your job a game? Should it be?

Imagine if at the office you were made to feel like you were playing “Candy Crush Saga.” Envision that every one of your professional endeavors was meticulously tracked and measured in points, that there were levels to complete and you were given prizes for excellence. That every workplace action provided a tangible sensation of winning or losing as part of a system engineered to keep you addicted, thrilled to come back every morning.

Imagine if you worked at an office and giant blocks started crashing down near you. Imagine that you had to spend your days arranging the blocks to fit perfectly together so that they’d disappear instead of stacking up continuously and eventually crushing you to death. Would surviving each day make you thrilled to come back to the office every morning? Or would you mostly spend time panicking over the fact that you are destined to be crushed to death because games really aren’t your thing?

Okay, but seriously, if you don’t already have a clear sense of what your tasks and goals are at your job, and whether or not you’ve successfully met your goals, “workplace gamification” probably won’t do much for you. Also: “Your company might give you a wearable health tracker that awards badges for your weekend activity.” No thank you!

Photo: Christopher Patterson

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