Play at Work: How Games Inspire Breakthrough Thinking

by Adam L. Penenberg

A fascinating look at how games can help us learn, create, and innovate
 
Once thought to be nothing more than diversions for children and nerds, games have become an integral part of everyday life. Educators are trying to make learning more fun by introducing games into the classroom while cutting-edge managers are doing the same in the workplace. Doctors, scientists, and entrepreneurs are deploying games to help solve some of the world’s most pressing problems.
 
But according to Adam Penenberg, it’s not the games themselves that improve our lives, but rather smart game design and its impact on the brain that can lead us to become immersed in a task we find enjoyable. The individuals and institutions that have used games to achieve this effect are often rewarded with astounding results.
 
Drawing on the latest brain science on attention and engagement plus his own firsthand reporting, Penenberg shows how organizations like Google, Microsoft, hospitals, and the military have used game design in bold new ways.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Audiobook, Technology, Game Design

256 pages, Hardcover

First published June 13, 2013

About the author

Adam L. Penenberg is a journalism professor at New York University who has written for Fast Company, Forbes, the New York Times, The Washington Post, Wired, Slate, Playboy, and the Economist. A former senior editor at Forbes and a reporter for Forbes.com, Penenberg garnered national attention in 1998 for unmasking serial fabricator Stephen Glass of the New Republic. Penenberg’s story was a watershed for online investigative journalism and portrayed in the film Shattered Glass (Steve Zahn plays Penenberg).

Penenberg has publishedseveral books that have been optioned for the movies and serialized in the New York Times Magazine, Wired UK, and the Financial Times , and won a Deadline Club Award for feature reporting for his Fast Company story “Revenge of the Nerd,” which looked at the future of moviemaking. He hasappeared on NBC’s The Today Show as well as on CNN and all the major news networks,and been quoted about media and technology in the Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, Wired News, Ad Age, Marketwatch, Politico.

Reviews

[Mk · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book more than I did - especially since we've been tasked with being innovative at work. The book was a series of story of (what the author considered) "games" in the workplace. Nice but I would have liked some ideas on how to incorporate some of these things in my own workplace.

For whatever reason, the author equated experiential learning with "play" or gamification at work. I don't think these things are the same at all. He spoke of medical students using dummies to practice techniques and procedures to ensure they're using proper form, etc. I don't think hearing that they're "wrong" or "killing" the dummy is a game to medical students - at least I hope not! Rather this is an educational technique used to help them LEARN proper procedure.

Overall, I had high hopes for this book but it unfortunately didn't live up to expectations.

[Kirsti · Rating 1 out of 5]

It seems odd to write a book about exciting new technologies and then fail to include photographs, diagrams, URLs, or opportunities for reader feedback (except for one email address and one Twitter handle in the last paragraph of the acknowledgements, at the back of the book).

The part about Duolingo was fascinating and inspired me to try it and to get my spouse to try it too. But that's only five pages out of 200.

I think this book could have benefited from the approach Ha-Joon Chang used in 23 Things They Don't Tell You about Capitalism. At the start of the book, he suggested seven ways to read it; if you're most interested in X, read Chapters 4, 7, 8, and 11, but if you agree with Y statement, read Chapters 2, 6, and 15, and so on.

Also, I think Steven Johnson covered some of the same topics in a much more exciting way in his book Future Perfect.

Some interesting facts from Play at Work:

* Would you like to guess how much time each month Americans spend on Facebook? Take a guess. It's the equivalent of 100,000 years.

* A 2011 Pew Foundation report said that the more time people spend on social networks, the more trusting they become.

* Robert Hacker, a Yale professor, has calculated that income instability (a 50% change in income, up or down, year to year) has tripled since the 1970s. Today's college-educated employees have as much income instability as those without high school degrees did in the '70s. No wonder people aren't loyal to companies anymore. (Actually, Penenberg says the professor's name is Robert Hacker, but Goodreads and Google tell me his name is Jacob Hacker.)

[Joel P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came into this book hoping for some strategies, opportunities, or thoughts from the authors on how to bring games to the workplace, and while he provides some good stories about how other have succeeded with it, there is little discussion on the here's how their success translates over to your workplace. Good stories, but little to no follow through. Disappointing.

[Karen JEC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overview: I listened to the audiobook on my daily commute, which was suitable for x2 speed. I enjoyed how the book connects our ways of thinking to our methods of entertainment, although it's a little creepy to find out exactly how intimately game designers know us and can peg our habits. Fascinating perspectives are discussed, and you can start to see how they might apply in areas inherently unrelated to game design but could perhaps adapt the processes (like in teaching).

Favourite quotes:

"The rules don't need to be laid out before playing, but they do need to be fully understood for maximum gains."

"Infovores - the innate need to learn"

"Play is the highest form of research." ~ A. Einstein

[Koen Wellens · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I expected from this book was to get some tips in doing gamification at my own job. However, that's not what I got out of it. The book covers lots of stories about gamification and studies behind it. What works and what doesn't? They explain this by providing success stories. Most of these stories are overly detailed. That makes some parts of this book a real struggle to get through.

Read the full review at my blog.

[Michael MacDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stimulating and well written.

A romp through a series of case studies and concepts arguing that we are applying games to our world of work quite effectively.

There’s not a great deal of “how to”, but the author does offer a compelling examination of why we shouldn’t ignore play at work.

It’s a companion read. It shouldn’t be read for its own sake. Instead, read it along with Stuart Brown’s Play and McGonnigle’s SuperBetter. I’m looking forward to levelling up to the next stage.

[Maya Senen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much of this work felt disjointed and off task. While there were a few case studies in gamification, sometimes the work get lost in other broader technology issues. (Trust me, the conclusion was actually, “Guys- what if we are all in a simulation right now?!”)
Perhaps I’m in the wrong place, and should be reading works more focused on game design where I can then draw my own parallels to how these principles can be better driving work? That’s what I was hoping for here, and while there was a bit of it, it was largely unfocused and bloated writing.

[Marwa Albaadani · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a lot of thoughts on this but I forgot them.

Edit; Okay I remember now. The last chapter of this book was kind of unhinged. Other than that, I learned a lot. This is one of those books that point out things that are hidden in plain sight, but are all there by design. It was really insightful to have the elements of our environment that have been ‘gamified’ pointed out and what makes us so responsive to them explained by this expert. If there is a phenomenon like this one that can be leveraged to such a powerful extent, then learning about it can teach us a lot about our psychology.

The last chapter was basically a sci-fi free-write suggesting that a ‘post human/advanced hobbyist’ from the future put us all in a simulation to see how we’ll act since we are all so prone to engaging in game-like environments. It seemed a lot like the author was suggesting he would believe in a higher power but only one that fits his sci-fi story contingency.

[Monica Dix · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obviously there was a lot of care and effort put into constructing a compelling 3-part argument for understanding play at work, but I was relatively disappointed at the strong bias towards male inventors and creators, enough that I stopped reading about halfway. Once you realize the trend, it's hard not to be distracted by how few times they use she/her pronouns in the hypothetical examples, or the real-life examples of innovators in the field.

[Evan · Rating 2 out of 5]

//Audiobook

This book didn't really know what it wanted to be. At some level it was a survey of "games" outside a traditional "gamespace", on another level it was the author's experience with games and some pop psychology.

The interrogation of game mechanics didn't go much deeper than crowdsourcing and points.

This is a topic that really interests me, but I was left wanting.

[Tina Chaffin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is great if you are a neurosurgeon, MIT grad, or really good at math algorithms. As other reviews mention, there isn't any information in this book that relates to a typical job. I was really disappointed it didn't give me any tips for the workplace.

[Fikri Fadzil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find this book very helpful and interesting. The effort the author took to interview all the people for his book is truly commendable. I got lost in some of the scenarios where gameplay is used because they are very complex, but in others, I was left in awe.

[Charla Burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great real-world examples I have never heard of. Kept me interested for sure.

[Adso · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to force myself to finish this. It took a lot of willpower. Play at Work reads like marketing copy, or a series of press releases for the companies it profiles. There's nothing wrong with an optimistic, or positive, point of view, but this goes way beyond that, into fawning cheerleader baloney. Play at Work is a great example of how access can turn some reporters into stenographers for the subjects they should be looking at critically.

Firstly, the author doesn't seem to understand the difference between an actual game and simple Taylorism with cheesy badges. He also seems to think that slapping a leaderboard on any project "gamifies" it. If that's true, then Glengarry Glen Ross was WAY ahead of its time.

"As you all know first prize is a Cadillac El Dorado. Anyone wanna see second prize? Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired."

Innovative!

Ugh. I can't go on. I'm not usually so snarky in my reviews. Writing a book is hard, I get it. But this is just dreadful.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. The title makes this sound interesting, especially the subtitle's use of the word "how." It leads one to believe that this book will be about how You could use gaming to further your goals in your workplace. Unfortunately, this isn't a how-to book. The "how" of the subtitle means "what games people have created to (hopefully) improve some aspect of their job or society."
You may think that seeing what others have done could at least be inspirational, and you may be right. If you can readily connect-the-dots between their world and yours, then maybe you can be inspired. Unfortunately, the result of the case studies isn't inspiration, but a 200 page advertisement for how cool a bunch of businesses you've never heard of (and some you have) are. Yay.
It gets three stars because it introduced me to Duolingo. But that's about it.

[Preston · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mediocore book which addresses the topic identified in the title. The author admits in the epilogue to not actually playing video games himself which I find to be somewhat of a contradiction. He does provide some interesting facts and studies but many of his assertions are undermined by lack of evidence, i.e. "China & Russia routinely outperform the U.S. in math", my reaction is according to what? What age group? At what level of education? How did you measure this? Regardless the book does provoke some interesting table conversations at least and the cover is catchy.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gave some good examples of ways to encourage participation at work (Microsoft -- last chapter). May be able to draw something from his example of gamifying remote work. Was hoping to find more about using games for training.

[Ellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some useful examples of games in work and other context, however, this book is designed for people with no knowledge in this area. A description and clothes of everyone mentioned in the book was provided. This book could be of interest to people with no previous exposure to this information.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an educator I'm always looking at ways to help my students be more engaged. Games definitely work. I picked up a few ideas and a lot of motivation to try to gamify more of what I want my students to do.

[Uğur Mutlu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unless you are new to the term of Gamification, the book would offer nothing but long paragraphs on popular success stories to you. It may still be a good read if you need a recap.

[Holly Claxton]

After putting this book on hold, I decided I really wasn't enjoying it. I may give it a shot at another time again, but for now this just isn't something I'm interested in.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the early part of the book interesting and then the latter part. In the middle, some of the information did not seem so directly related to "play at work."

[Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's one of the best books which starting the discution of gamefication