Techlearning blog

One evening back in December 2005, three guys gathered in Stillwater, MN. Will Richardson was visiting family in the area and gave Tim Wilson and I a shout to join for dinner. The infamous angst factor was deep and strung itself throughout our conversations. Tim's instructional technology position had just been eliminated from their upcoming budget. Will was writing a book and in deep reflection about leaving his school. I had recently quit my educational technology position.

"What are you going to do? Are we nuts?"

Will finished his book and went on tour.
Tim got the great job he had been looking for.
I bought a copy of World of Warcraft, went into seclusion, and spent the next eight months stabbing wolves, slaying demons, and figuring out first-hand what this "gamer disposition" was all about.

I've spent 131 days, 21 hours, 56 minutes "in game" between then and today. Early on I joined a guild named "We Know". Guild is defined by the New Oxford American Dictionary as "a medieval association of craftsmen or merchants, often having considerable power", and "an association of people for mutual aid or the pursuit of a common goal". The experience of being part of this vibrant, online community is well worth the completely insane amount of my life I have invested.

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Trying to answer "why" is much like introducing a colleague to blogging or Twitter.

I recently came across a piece in the Harvard Business Review by John Seely Brown and Douglas Thomas titled The Gamer Disposition. They do an incredibly simple layout of five attributes that gamers bring into these worlds and that these worlds reinforce.

1. They are bottom-line oriented.
2. They understand the power of diversity.
3. They thrive of change.
4. They see learning as fun.
5. They marinate on the "edge."

"Together, these five attributes make for employees who are flexible, resourceful, improvisational, eager for a quest, believers in meritocracy, and foes of bureaucracy. If your organization is receptive to these traits (and it should be), look for gamers and the disposition they will bring you."

Click through for the rest of the "conversation starter". It likely goes a long way towards describing those characteristics about your own "play" in this "networked learning" sphere that you struggle to put your finger on.