Gaming Puts the Fun In Corporate Training
Business Week, Thursday, March 23, 2006 10:31 AM
A Cold Stone Creamery store manager counts a game developed by her employer--designed to teach portion control and customer service--as one of her favorites. The 24-year-old grad student includes the game in a list of favorites alongside such classics as Halo and Tetris. The game she likes so much is a cartoon simulation of a Cold Stone Creamery store; players must scoop cones against the clock and try to avoid serving too much ice cream. "It's so much fun," she said. "I e-mailed it to everyone at work." According to the company, more than 8,000 employees voluntarily downloaded the game in the first week of its release. Is video game training becoming a trend? The U.S. military has used video games as training since the '80s and it would appear that big corporations are catching on. Cisco Systems and Canon Inc. also use video game training to teach new employees. Game interactivity and fun seem to resonate with new, younger employees, but they also seem to teach resource management, collaboration, critical thinking and tolerance for failure, said one expert, who works at a game consultancy. He estimates that games make up 15 percent of the market for corporate training products. Big companies like games because they're cost-effective: why pay for someone to fly to a training campus when you can put them in front of a computer? It's even better when employees take the games and play them on their own time.
Read the whole story at Business Week »
Recent Around the Net In Online Marketing Articles
-
Is Google Just An Amazon Copycat? May 24, 11:59 a.m.
Despite its image as an innovator and a maverick, Google appears to be borrowing liberally from ... -
Hulu's Future Less Uncertain Than Ever May 24, 11:58 a.m.
With Hulu hanging in the balance, the first round of bids were reportedly due this week ... -
Google Faces New Antitrust Probe Over Display Ads May 24, 11:57 a.m.
Once again, U.S. regulators are reportedly pursuing an antitrust probe into whether Google’s ad sales business ... -
Waze Stirs Bidding War Between Google, Facebook May 24, 11:55 a.m.
Threatening a bidding war, Google is said to be eying Waze -- that social driving app ... -
Gadget Use Soaring Among Fliers May 23, 12:23 p.m.
Don’t tell your flight attendant, but frequent fliers are greatly increasing their use of tablets and ... -
Microsoft Employs Siri To Bash Apple May 23, 12:22 p.m.
Say it ain’t so, Siri! Seemingly against her will (if she even has one), Apple’s oracle ... -
Yahoo Buys Gaming Platform Provider PlayerScale May 23, 12:21 p.m.
Continuing its buying binge, Yahoo just scooped up gaming platform startup PlayerScale. “PlayerScale, which was founded ... -
Twitter Streams Network Fare With "Amplify" May 23, 12:20 p.m.
Twitter on Thursday unveiled a new way for TV networks to broadcast real-time video on the ... -
"Social Expressions" Startup Urturn Raises $13.4M May 22, 11:48 a.m.
Urturn -- a so-call “social expressions platform” -- just closed a $13.4 million Series A funding ... -
Apple To Embrace More Social Networks May 22, 11:47 a.m.
Apple reportedly plans to give third-party social networks -- including Flickr and Vimeo -- a bigger ...
Be the first to comment on "Gaming Puts the Fun In Corporate Training"
Leave a Comment