Many times viewed as mindless playthings meant for introverted teenage males, it’s no wonder that video games continue to get such a bad rap in the mainstream press. But as Forbes was recently kind enough to remind readers, interactive outings have tremendous power to teach, inform and empower – a fact that isn’t being overlooked by current and future generations of female executives.
Similar to the concepts expounded upon in this sizable feature article we wrote on the benefits of games as management training tools for AirTran’s in-flight magazine Go, Forbes Woman writer Meghan Casserly explains how electronic entertainment can be a highly-effective tool for business education. And, as an exploratory medium within which each user’s experience is unique, also reminds that games can further prove a tremendously effectively means of generating empathy, facilitating dynamic decision making and provide a unique sense of perspective as well. Among the potential lessons they can teach, according to commentators: “Budgeting, rank, supply-chain optimization, team communication, transparency and time pressure.”
From preparing players to handle emergency situations or better anticipate the consequences of various actions to demonstrating how to assess scenarios from a varied range of approaches and viewpoints, it quickly becomes apparent: Video games can make players smarter, more informed and sharper at engaging with customers. Interestingly, as the working world becomes more virtualized, even the most seemingly innocuous time wasters – e.g. massively-multiplayer online (MMO) games like EVE Online and World of Warcraft - can now teach players how to operate and coordinate within distributed team environments as well. And what’s unsurprising to see, as pointed out in the piece, is just how rapidly more women, especially highly-educated, career-driven individuals, are flocking to the pastime as a facilitator for continuing education and personal growth as well as a simple, mind-flexing means of killing time. (Although, in fairness, the same holds true for men as well – we’re just seeing women arrive in seemingly greater proportion to what were traditionally minor levels of participation in the past.)
Either way, this can only be a good thing for the hobby, helping reinforce its cultural and practical relevance, not to mention remind us all the oversexed “grrl” stereotype so commonly played up in the media can be perilously misleading. To hear more about how play is uplifting women in general, as well as doing so throughout corporate America (including our thoughts on the overall business-minded benefits of gaming as a whole), see the following link:
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Scott Steinberg is the CEO of video game consulting firm TechSavvy Global, and founder of GameExec magazine and Game Industry TV. Hailed as a top technology and video game expert by dozens of publications from USA Today to Forbes and NPR, he’s covered the field for 400+ outlets from Playboy to Rolling Stone. A frequent on-air analyst for networks like ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN, he’s also the author of Video Game Marketing and PR.