Beck, John and Mitchell Wade. (2 January, 2005). “The Generation Lap,” The Boston

Globe.

 

 

Overview

This editorial, written by two businessmen who recently authored Got Game: How the Gamer Generation is Reshaping Business Forever, is a rousing endorsement of the virtues of gaming technology. While technology seems to have put adults “out of the running,” today’s youths have a native savvy for mastering the Internet and conquering video games.

 

For a generation that handles a Google search as though it were “second nature,” the benefits for the business community are just around the corner. Professionals who grew up playing video games, say Beck and Wade, “actually make better business people. They’re more serious about achievement; more attached to the company they work for and the people they work with; more flexible, persistent problem-solvers; more willing to take only the risks that make sense.” The point is not the technology, but the way technology changes the way you think.

 

Beck and Wade are quite serious about this. They cite studies of children ages 5-15 - who average 13 hours a week playing video games – a time in life in which the basic neural pathways of the brain are being formed. The same propensity for foreign language skills in youth is also what allows them to be “wired” for seeing the world as a “game.” And this metaphor is precisely what prepares kids to become “winners” in the marketplace.

 

The authors justify their enthusiasm by noting the following:

 

·        Video games help kids see themselves as “experts” and “heroes” in all they do.

 

·        They value success more than anything, which means homework assignments and tasks can be tailored to serve this attitude.

 

·        Gamers are the most wired and globalized citizens in history, and their ascendance will mean a tighter-knit world.

 

·        The will be able to turn threats into opportunities, and understand how many global ‘players’ can learn to work together effectively.

 

·        They invest their money in technology, which is good for Wall Street.

 

·        They believe in competence, independence, and the idea that authority must be earned.

 

·        They demand leaders who will interact with them.

 

·        Video-games reinforce the “goodness” of the world, inspiring kids to be benevolent.

 

All of this makes for a rather optimistic view of the new cosmopolitanism and business savvy that today’s gamers will bring to the marketplace and world. The authors “believe there is a hope for a more tightly-knit world of people who believe in goodness, expect to work hard, and will get involved in unimaginable ways.”

 

Consider the following data taken from a Pew Internet and American Life research project:

College students on the web

• By the time they were 16 to 18, all of today’s college students were adept at using computers.
• 86% have gone online, compared with 59% of the general population.
• 85% own their own computer.
• 79% agree Internet use has a positive impact on college/academic experience.
• 73% use the Internet more than the library for information searching.

 

Outlooks and attitudes: Gamers v. Non-gamers

• 26% of Gamers and 14% of Non-gamers believe ‘winning is everything.’
• 51% of Gamers and 39% of Non-gamers believe ‘it is ingenious to take advantage of cheaper conditions in other countries.’
• 63% of Gamers and 55% of Non-gamers believe ‘competition is the law of nature.’
• 45% of Gamers and 39% of Non-gamers believe ‘I have a greater need for human relationships.’
• 75% of Gamers and 66% of Non-gamers believe ‘if it needs to be done right, I’d rather do it myself.’

 

The video game universe

• 29 – the average age of US gamer.
• 126 – millions of gamers expected in US by 2008.
• 31 – billions of dollars in worldwide video game sales.
• 50 – percent of 4-6 year-olds who’ve played video games.
• 170 – millions of Sony PlayStations in existence.
• 8 – billions of dollars in online gaming revenue by 2008.

 

 

 

Questions for Reflection and Discussion:

 

1.      Do the teenagers you know spend considerable time playing video games?

 

2.      Do they see this as a healthy way to prepare for careers in business?

 

3.      Is the arguable claim that gaming improves the lives and minds of young people a sufficient reason to promote gaming?

 

4.      Have you witnessed any negative effects of gaming in the lives of people you know?

 

 

Implications:

The authors of this article flatly assume that whatever makes for good business is worth supporting. This is not unlike the assumption that whatever is good for the economy is good for America. But the hazards of such myopic ways of thinking should be self-evident. If we were to raise a generation of game-crazed teenagers the pay-off in terms of their competitive skills would do little to diminish the likely fact that they will be unable to cope with a non-fantasy world of real challenges and real relationships.

 

Christopher S. Yates cCYS