Massively Connecting People For Results

Over time, some of this blog's readers may have noticed that The TrueTalk Blog has a tagline up there in the banner: "Connecting People For Results."  We wrote that line years ago because it succinctly captured our consulting philosophy: we believe getting the right people together, at the right time, talking about the right things in the right ways, enhances effectiveness and improves efficiency.  In the world of connectivity today, nothing is as impressive as the power of the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, or MMORPG.

Now, I'm 58 and don't spend a lot of time playing games, online or off.  I've following the growth of gaming as a social/psychological phenomenon for a long time; I think Steven Johnson's book highlights some very important cognitive implications of the rise of  gaming. 

But I wasn't prepared for this post on the pointlesswasteoftime website entitled, 10 Ways Gaming Will Change The Future.  Read them, they're startling.  Why?  Well, how about the fact that there are, as of post time, 742 EBay auctions for World of Warcraft "items."  Why the quotes?  'Cause these are everything from $5,000 offers to buy a character (who knows how legitimate that one is?) to an offer to sell the little critter pictured above (known to cognoscenti as a Horde Priest Blackrock) for $700. 

Joke, right?

Oh no, no joke.

How about people killing other people for defrauding them on a magic sword sale?  Yup, we got that; Beijing, in June.

Well, if people are selling game stuff on EBay, where the  heck are they getting it from?  How about macro-driven bots tended by sweatshop laborers in Asia and Mexico?  Yup, that's how they're doin' it.  If you scan that piece, you'll find this little tidbit:

Since 1998, the second-party market for MMORPG loot has steadily grown. Last year alone, this newfound industry grossed roughly $500 million...

So, let me get this straight: last year there was an industry that grossed $500 million selling virtual goods to gamers?  Well, where's this market going?  Glad you asked: it's doubling every two years.  Here's what that looks like on a chart:

Steep, huh?

So, why do I care?

Because the psychological/social/economic implications of this shift in the definition of self and the nature of affiliation are enormous.  When connectivity becomes this massive, and portrayal of self in this virtual world important enough for people to spend significant time and dollars to design and enhance themselves, then we're ready to flip over into a set of conditions we've not seen before.  The "10 Things" piece cited above points out some of the consequences of this flip, but by no means all.  The kinds of changes this phenomenon brings are so difficult to imagine that the meaning of practically evey social institution could be impacted by them.

One more quote:

We'll stop thinking of the online world as a game right around the time you find yourself strolling through Witchblade Village, or some such fictional online town, and see a Target store open there. You'll enter it just like you do the in-game stores, and you'll be able to view the merchandise in realtime 3D, pick up objects and turn them over in your virtual hands, and buy them the same as if you did it on Amazon.com.

Oh yeah, this is connecting people for results, alright.

Comments

[John Wagner]

Tom:

I read your post, then the article, then your post again, and I'm still wondering ... what is your opinion of this shift in human interaction (which I agree is inevitable)?

Do you see it as a good thing or a bad thing?

[Tom]

I'm having a hard time with your question, John. I believe it's a little like asking if I think "urbanization" is a good or bad thing. It's a matter of cultural and economic evolution; it defines a time in human history. We once slept when it was dark and awoke when it was light; we once interacted with only 10 people over the course of our entire lives; we once earned our livings through the sweat of our brow. None of those things are true any longer and I'm not sure of the perspective from which to judge them.

We will connect with one another in these new ways we will create new kinds of futures that are completely beyond my imagination. What I do know is that since the beginning of time there have been people who are more afraid of the future than they are confident in humanity's ability to create meaningful lives in that future. I'm not one of them. In the end, nostalgia's not very fulfilling.

What do you think of the massively connected universe described in the article, John?

[John Wagner]

Tom:

Thanks for your thoughts ... as for my opinion, I think it's kind of exciting.

I'd read (in Newsweek, I believe) about the people making money selling the tools and weapons they'd created in multi-player games, and I thought that was fascinating.

If you have "mad skillz," as the kids say, you ought to be rewarded, whether it's shooting a basketball or creating online characters. It's a talent that is seen by others as valuable ... so it is.

And I have a daughter who plays The Sims for hours (not the online version though) because I think it gives her a sense of control and confidence that she doesn't always have in the real world. She is an expert in the game and her friends and cousins often call on her for advice and assistance.

That's a validation she could never get in sports or other "cool" kid activities.

So I see the value and benefits of these types of games. To me it's no different than enjoying sci-fi movies or books about castles.

As long as people are able to distinguish between the real world and the online world -- and I think most people can and will -- there is value in the role-playing and self-projection they allow.

Plus, I've been known to waste a few hours here and there playing Tropico.

[Jon Husband]

For at least 5 years now, at conferences where i have been asked to speak about the future of work, or *wirearchy*, I have been suggesting that more and more the gaming *idiom* will find its way into applications, making the work more like a strategic game of choices, enahncing the engagement of the worker. It has for quite some time seemed to make sense to me, given the evolution of the demographics of ganers, and the observable fact that kids (mostly boys) spend massive amounts of time with games between the ages of 4 and .....

Electronic Arts and Cisco have evidently been working jointly on some projects like this inside Cisco, and of course there's lots of role-based *playing* in much online training/learning .. as well as increasing use of scenario simulation.

Just last week I went to dinner with my 87 year-old Dad to a Chinese restaurant here in Vancouver, and he tapped me on the shoulder and pointed out a family at dinner where the three little boys were sitting there at the table with their parents, totally absorbed in their GameBoys ;-) What will these boys *expect* in their workplace, 20 years hence ?

[Jon Husband]

Flickr grew out of the insights and experience gained by the founders from their previous initiative .. Gameneverending, a massive multi-player game for building social worlds online.

[David St Lawrence]

Your post got me thinking outside the box again.
MMORPG is not all that different from the LiveJournal and Xanga environments except in the choice of rules and other conventions.

The Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game of "life" is being played out in the blogosphere. I would expect to see some artifacts of blogging appear as marketable items on ebay and elsewhere once we figure out what is valuable that can be bought and sold.

[Tom]

"Marketable artifacts of blogging on sale at eBay...." That one will keep me noodling for a while. Thanks, David.

And Jon, I somehow missed your comments. I love the image of the boys at the Chinese restaurant, partly because it violates so many of the rules we've defined for "quality family time."