tl-dr

Hello! Today is a repost of the tl-dr inaugural post last year on 12-7. That’s right! One year strong! (I also updated the $$ count in the middle of the post)

Thanks to everyone for reading!

Welcome to the inaugural post for tl;dr, a blog dedicated to bringing together games, gamers, librarians, information scientists, and information about games.

In keeping with the tongue in cheek title of this blog, let’s get right to it shall we?

Child’s Play

To give a brief summary from the Child’s Play Wikipedia entry:

Child’s Play is a charitable organization founded by the authors of the popular computer and video games-based webcomic Penny Arcade that organizes worldwide toy drives to children’s hospitals. Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins founded Child’s Play in 2003 to improve the lives of sick children by donating toys and games to hospitals worldwide. The charity is also seen as a way to refute mainstream media’s perception of gamers as violent and antisocial.^[1] Through Child’s Play, donors have sent over ten million dollars in toys, games and books to children’s hospitals all over the world.

Short and sweet: gamers are people too, and they care. This is coming to be a more mainstream idea because of advocacy from gamers, and studies that have been done, but I think Child’s Play is a hallmark example of how gamers are good people.

Statistics:

Annual totals

• 2003: $250,000
• 2004: $310,000
• 2005: $605,000
• 2006: $1,024,000
• 2007: $1,300,000
• 2008: $1,434,377
• 2009: $1,780,870
• 2010: $2,294,317
• 2011: $3,512,345
• Running Total: $12,510,909

The best part about gamers and the Child’s Play charity, is by their very nature of playing competitive games, gamers are competing against themselves for a new high score every year (read: beating last year’s donation numbers). To add to the sense of contributing and the feeling of being a fellow gamer, check out the xp bar they have on the Child’s Play Homepage.

Why should gamers care about Child’s Play?

Because this is how you (we) are portrayed to the media and the world. Would you rather have them think of gamers as a group of thugs from GTA? or like this?

Why should librarians and information scientists care about Child’s Play?

Did you read my last link? It’s ok, I’ll post it again. That person writing in to Penny Arcade is a Health Sciences librarian. Libraries and librarians are helping the world, but they were also helped by gamers. The new world of the internet and cyberspace is not limited to a web browser; the cutting edge is games.

tl;dr

If you have the spare change, donate it to Child’s Play, it will be doing something great.

Ding! You’ve leveled up! Please see your local librarian for training.

What is Knowledge Management? The short answer is that it is What Valve Does. (note: The jury is out on whether this is really from Valve, but either way, all my arguments still apply. I’m going to act like it’s real.) The long answer is much more complex, but bear with me because it will bear great fruit at the end.

What is KM? (The boring part that makes the rest of the post really cool)

(Side note: The main concentration of my Master’s in Library and Information Science was in Knowledge Management, so I’m not just making all of this up, I do have experience with it)

Knowledge Management is difficult to define easily, and means something different to a lot of people because it can be implemented in many different ways in many different business structures. (Note: Information is stuff that you can easily organize and hold in your hand or put on a computer. Knowledge is what you keep in your head. Don’t know what I mean? Try to explain to someone who is blind what the color blue is.)

Wikipedia has a definition, but it’s kind of confusing.

Strangely, I find the best way to describe KM is to talk about what it’s not. Quotes that follow are from here.

“If only HP knew what it knows it would make three times more profit tomorrow”

Lew Platt, ex CEO Hewlett Packard

And what that really means is what follows:

“Knowledge Management is the discipline of enabling individuals, teams and entire organisations to collectively and systematically create, share and apply knowledge, to better achieve their objectives”

Ron Young, CEO/CKO Knowledge Associates International

So the trick with KM is to take all of that Knowledge in a company (not information), and be able to use it.

Valve uses KM, and I do not even think they meant to (The beginning of the cool part)

Valve released/leaked an Employee Handbook a little while ago, and I highly recommend you read it. (I know, you didn’t even read the employee handbook at your current job, but trust me on this one, it is AMAZING.)

The employee handbook is a way to help new employees integrate into the Valve system, which is very unique. In a nutshell, Valve is completely flat. Completely. There’s a founder, but he has no more power than the guy who was just hired. There are no managers. No hierarchical structure whatsoever. Because, according to Valve:

“The hierarchy will begin to reinforce its own structure by hiring people who fit its shape, adding people to fill subordinate support roles. Its members are also incented to engage in rent-seeking behaviors that take advantage of the power structure rather than focusing on simply delivering value to customers.”

So Valve instead focuses on hiring the best person for the job. And then having the people working at Valve hire someone who is even better than they are, thereby growing the awesome of the company.

It is brilliant, and it is KM because of the elimination of silos.

The idea is to take all of the ideas within a company and let them run wild and work as they will. Do not stifle the company with bureaucracy or a hierarchical structure. Just get the job done. It is such a brilliant idea, and yet it almost never happens because it is extremely difficult to make happen. Valve even acknowledges this on Page 49.

Q: If all this stuff has worked well for us, why doesn’t every company work this way?

A: Well, it’s really hard. Mainly because, from day one, it requires a  commitment to hiring in a way that’s very different from the way most companies hire. It also requires the discipline to make the design of the company more important than any one short-term business goal. And it requires a great deal of freedom from outside pressure—being self-funded was key. And having a founder who was confident enough to build this kind of place is rare, indeed.

One of the main key points that they acknowledge is the hiring process, and hiring of great talent. Hiring the right people that can work in this type of system is really key. If people are not self motivated and do not know how to form their own teams or work on their own projects, this system would fail utterly.

So what else does Valve talk about in the Employee Handbook that is different from most institutions?

They are absolutely and completely supportive of their employees both at work and in the rest of their lives.

for the most part working overtime for extended periods indicates a fundamental failure in planning or communication. pg. 17

Nobody has ever been fired at Valve for making a mistake. It wouldn’t make sense for us to operate that way. Providing the freedom to fail is an important trait of the company— we couldn’t expect so much of individuals if we also penalized people for errors. Even expensive mistakes, or ones which result in a very public failure, are genuinely looked at as  opportunities to learn. We can always repair the mistake or make up for it. pg. 20

Valve pays people very well compared to industry norms. Our profitability per employee is higher than that of Google or  Amazon or Microsoft, and we believe strongly that the right thing to do in that case is to put a maximum amount of money  back into each employee’s pocket. Valve does not win if you’re paid less than the value you create. And people who work here ultimately don’t win if they get paid more than the value they create. pg. 27

And they have an employee vacation for a week every year! So awesome.

Keeping your employees happy and fostering a “flat” organizational structure is great, but it is being able to utilize that structure that really matters.

Which brings me to my next point:

Communities of Practice

Valve calls them “Cabals.” Compare the Wikipedia definition to what was being described by the Cabal article about Valve from Gamasutra. To me, t hey are the exact same thing. The crazy/amazing part is not that Valve was able to discover this on their own, but that they followed through and took it as far as possible. This is an amazing case study of communities of practice. I can think of many Knowledge Managers who would give limbs to get into this company just to observe and see how it actually works on a day to day basis.

I guess the Information/Knowledge Community better start noticing the Video Game world a lot more then, because that is what Valve does.

Please, it can’t be that easy.

There are problems with the system, there are problems with every system. Valve even acknowledges them on page 52 of the Handbook.

What Is Valve Not Good At?

The design of the company has some downsides. We usually think they’re worth the cost, but it’s worth noting that there are a number of things we wish we were better at:
• Helping new people find their way. We wrote this book to help, but as we said above, a book can only go so far.
• Mentoring people. Not just helping new people figure things out, but proactively helping people to grow in areas where they need help is something we’re organizationally not great at. Peer reviews help, but they can only go so far.
• Disseminating information internally.
• Finding and hiring people in completely new disciplines (e.g., economists! industrial designers!).
• Making predictions longer than a few months out.
• We miss out on hiring talented people who prefer to work within a more traditional structure. Again, this comes with the territory and isn’t something we should change, but it’s worth recognizing as a self-imposed limitation.

In my mind, these are problems that other systems may not have, but they are not system breaking problems. It is just a system that people are not comfortable with and requires a lot of self motivation. It also requires a lot of collaboration and being able to work well in an environment that no one in many education systems are trained for. There is no teacher/boss/manager telling you what to do. Something needs to be done? Do it.

Inside the company, though, we all take on the role that suits the work in front of us. Everyone is a designer. Everyone can question each other’s work. pg. 37

In my mind, the biggest problems that Valve now would have are problems that no one except Valve employees could know about. I am sure they have Knowledge and Information Systems that could use looking at, that are inefficient, that store things in ways that are hard to find and just lose information in the mass of information they have. But that is a problem a good Knowledge Manager could solve over time, especially in an environment like this. (Hey Valve, if you’re looking for someone like that, I know a guy. /winkwink /nudgenudge)

There is no way a large company could do this. It’s too big!

I’ll let the book speak for itself:

Concepts discussed in this book sound like they might work well at a tiny start-up, but not at a hundreds-of-people-plusbillions- in-revenue company. The big question is: Does all this stuff scale? Well, so far, yes. And we believe that if  we’re careful, it will work better and better the larger we get. This might seem counterintuitive, but it’s a direct  consequence of hiring great, accomplished, capable people. Getting this to work right is a tricky proposition, though, and depends highly on our continued vigilance in recruiting/hiring.

Other thing I thought was cool

They have a glossary at the end of different jargon, lingo, and code words that employees use regularly. This is so helpful to new people and really just increases how fast they can be integrated into the company. Every office/group of people/community of practice should have something like this.

tl-dr

Valve has instituted a structure that allows for a very organic use of Knowledge Management. I hope they release more information about it. Plus, working there looks like it would be great.

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I would like to start this post out by really stating what addiction is, and what it is not. Just doing a basic Google “Define:addiction” search, you get:

The fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity.

This does not really help to define addiction to the level that I would like to talk about it. The layperson will (in many cases) enjoy doing something, and put off or procrastinate other activities because they are enjoying that activity, and call it addiction.

“Oh man, this game is so fun that it’s addictive!”

“Geez, I’m so addicted to this game; I stayed up until, like, 2 last night!”

These are colloquialisms, and are not actually addiction. Something being enjoyable and having a huge draw does not make it addictive.

Here is a short video explaining what I mean. This is colloquial addiction as I would call it. It is possible to have a life and play the game simultaneously, and it is also possible to go overboard with playing the game; without it being an addiction. I would not call this documentary an addiction, I would call it someone who decided to change the direction of their life. The life still involves gaming (making a movie about it), and the video also contains a section where the film maker logged back into game. That’s a key point to note. When was the last time you heard of a drug addict saying “oh, I just had a quick hit for old times’ sake” and then being perfectly fine afterwards? That’s not how real addiction works.

 

Clinical Addiction

Clinical addiction is much deeper and more venomous. Addiction produces stories like this:

A New Mexico woman has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for the death of her young daughter, who withered away from malnutrition and dehydration while the mother spent hours chatting and playing World of Warcraft online.

Imagine being drawn to playing a game in such a way that you would allow yourself or your child to not eat for days or weeks. That is what is I mean by “clinical addiction.” There is no control at all; all that exists is the desire for the focus of the addiction (i.e. drugs, alcohol, a specific activity). If you end up in a homeless shelter because of playing too many video games, it’s likely that you’ve crossed the line from “playing a lot” to “addiction.”

To get into more detail, clinical addiction is: (emphasis mine)

Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. Dysfunction in these circuits leads to characteristic biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestations. This is reflected in an individual pathologically pursuing reward and/or relief by substance use and other behaviors.

Addiction is characterized by inability to consistently abstain, impairment in behavioral control, craving, diminished recognition of significant problems with one’s behaviors and interpersonal relationships, and a dysfunctional emotional response. Like other chronic diseases, addiction often involves cycles of relapse and remission. Without treatment or engagement in recovery activities, addiction is progressive and can result in disability or premature death.

Please see the full definition of the American Society of Addiction Medicine to read in full about how they define addiction. It is much more comprehensive than my anecdotal examples that try to explain what addiction is. A good way to say it is there is a difference between “overuse”, “compulsion”, and addiction; where “compulsion” is the fuzzy line where it can become a behavioral addiction.

So now that I have said that I am talking about clinical addiction, and not colloquial addiction, the question becomes:

Does Video Game Addiction Really Exist?

There is no consensus on this in a professional sense, but I believe it does exist. There is no statistical evidence, but anecdotal evidence abounds.

Others have talked about it before, and in video format.  The video is ~16 minutes or so, but it is well worth your time. There are actual PhDs and video game big wigs talking about video game addiction (pretty good from a gamer site huh?).

The biggest argument that video game addiction can/does exist is the comparison to gambling addiction; down to the lights and bells and whistles to reward compulsions. If gambling addiction is considered a serious problem, should video game addiction be considered a serious problem as well? I would say “yes,” but with the same caveat that gambling has: gambling is still fine and healthy for a majority of the population; it is when gambling becomes an “addiction” that it is a problem. Same with video games.

What can be done?

I see three different realms that can focus on video game addiction for a positive outcome.

1) Video Game Designers

Video game designers can subsribe to the Google maxim of “Do No Evil” in their game design to limit the affects of addiction. This comes down to the idea of using “carrot on a stick” mechanics for compulsion satisfaction rather than compulsion manipulation. It is a very fine line, but it is the difference between the way of the Jedi or the way of the Sith, respectively.

Developers: Ask why you’re making something a certain way.

2) Enthusiast Journalists and the Community

Information has to come from somewhere, so it’s up to the community to be open and honest about issues. Educate the community, be aware of how things can go wrong. Be proactive with education and messaging rather than reactive.

3) Individuals

It is up to you (as a gamer) to be educated and aware of how video games affect you. Just like any other addict, it is a personal choice whether to be wrapped in addiction or not. Some of it might be wired into our brain, but not always. To quote the Junglist from the video I posted above, “The ability to be exploited is built into our brains,” so we must be aware of that and not fall into the traps.

You as an individual are the only one who is responsible (in the end) for whether gaming is a fun pastime, or an addiction. Let’s keep it fun!

tl:dr

If gambling can be an addiction, why can’t video games? Be proactive in preventing video game addiction!

Ding! You’ve leveled up! Please see your local librarian for training.

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Just a brief post today to wrap up what our inaugural post was all about.

From Tycho over at Penny Arcade:

Robert sent me a mail entitled “Child’s Play” which included the following in the body of the message:

$3,512,345

There was little in the way of context, but I got the gist; there was also a short coda about how we’re ever going to top that number, which is a fear I understand completely.  I understand it because I felt the same way in 2003.  And 2004.  Also, 2010.  If it were something that “we” were doing, maybe it would be impossible.  But look at the events calendar: 2011 was more of a collaboration than any year before it, and the result was profound..

$3,512,345.  What that means is that in the space of a single year, donations eclipsed the first five years of the charity combined.  I don’t really know how to contextualize that; it would be as though a loose association of individuals, bound by a shared interest, created a wholly organic charity network that defies every available trend and model.

Except it’s not “like” that, it’s precisely what happened.

Diane and I like to think that we had some small part in that with talking about Child’s Play on our blog.

tl;dr

$3,512,345

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Welcome to Gamer Classification Week! This week, Jacob and Diane are providing a 5-part series on the categorizations related to gamers and gaming. Understanding these many aspects of gaming is essential to helping you understand games, gamers, and the information with which we collide. Make sure you catch up with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4!

The concept of gaming spans parts of life that most people do not even think of as “gaming.” Most of the time, they are just enjoyable hobbies, or a way to spend a few extra minutes while killing some time. The biggest example of this that I can think of is Board Games. Monopoly. Sorry. Life. Risk. These are all games that have been around so long, they’re just a part of everyday life for most people. Some board games even start to look like video games.

Video games are no different than board games; the background structure of them remains the same, they just become more complex, faster, have a different story, different format etc. Video games and board games are both still games. They both provide community, socialization, and learning.

Some games are just better at it. The best example I can think of for an educational video game is Fold.it. It’s a video game (that can be played by anyone), to figure out the structure of proteins. It’s highly educational, so much so that the players of FoldIt are all authors on an article in Nature for the work that they did. These are laymen, without advanced degrees. Gaming is changing the world. The gaming trend is even continuing, with a new game that has come out more recently than Fold.It called Phylo. It’s about DNA rather than proteins. Games and gamers are making the world better by doing what we all like doing: playing games.

A step away from the “serious games” is the idea of gamification, the idea of turning anything in life into a game; to make it more fun and more productive. A great idea is turning grad school into a game.

Perhaps the problem with graduate school, like the problem in many bad video games, are the mechanics behind the way we do graduate school. Here is my proposal, game graduate school. If we look at the game mechanics that make games successful, we can approach grad school in a way that might make it easier on us, and also more fun.

Gamification is also simple. It doesn’t have to be grandiose and change a lot of lives or make something serious better. It can just be about playing a game with coffee beans. 

What games do you play that aren’t video games? Did you realize they were games before?

tl;dr

Video games are just the new kid on the block, humans have always played games.

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Welcome to the inaugural post for tl;dr, a blog dedicated to bringing together games, gamers, librarians, information scientists, and information about games.

In keeping with the tongue in cheek title of this blog, let’s get right to it shall we?

Child’s Play

To give a brief summary from the Child’s Play Wikipedia entry:

Child’s Play is a charitable organization founded by the authors of the popular computer and video games-based webcomic Penny Arcade that organizes worldwide toy drives to children’s hospitals. Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins founded Child’s Play in 2003 to improve the lives of sick children by donating toys and games to hospitals worldwide. The charity is also seen as a way to refute mainstream media’s perception of gamers as violent and antisocial.^[1] Through Child’s Play, donors have sent over ten million dollars in toys, games and books to children’s hospitals all over the world.

Short and sweet: gamers are people too, and they care. This is coming to be a more mainstream idea because of advocacy from gamers, and studies that have been done, but I think Child’s Play is a hallmark example of how gamers are good people.

Statistics:

Annual totals

• 2003: $250,000
• 2004: $310,000
• 2005: $605,000
• 2006: $1,024,000
• 2007: $1,300,000
• 2008: $1,434,377
• 2009: $1,780,870
• 2010: $2,294,317
• 2011: $1,225,000 (as of 01-Dec)
• Running Total: $10,223,564

The best part about gamers and the Child’s Play charity, is by their very nature of playing competitive games, gamers are competing against themselves for a new high score every year (read: beating last year’s donation numbers). To add to the sense of contributing and the feeling of being a fellow gamer, check out the xp bar they have on the Child’s Play Homepage.

Why should gamers care about Child’s Play?

Because this is how you (we) are portrayed to the media and the world. Would you rather have them think of gamers as a group of thugs from GTA? or like this?

Why should librarians and information scientists care about Child’s Play?

Did you read my last link? It’s ok, I’ll post it again. That person writing in to Penny Arcade is a Health Sciences librarian. Libraries and librarians are helping the world, but they were also helped by gamers. The new world of the internet and cyberspace is not limited to a web browser; the cutting edge is games.

tl;dr

If you have the spare change, donate it to Child’s Play, it will be doing something great.

Ding! You’ve leveled up! Please see your local librarian for training.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.