“I see tremendous latent demand for game design expertise outside of the traditional gaming industry.” - Kevin Werbach, Associate Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics, Wharton University of Pennsylvania
I was able to catch up with Professor Kevin Werbach, Associate Professor of the Wharton University of Pennsylvania, after his presentation on gamification last week at the 2013 HRO Today Forum in Philadelphia. The presentation was perhaps the best summary of just how and why products of all sorts are seeking to adopt game like design, and why not all efforts are all that successful. Perhaps one of the most significant details of Professor Werbach’s hour-long discussion was the fact that his courses at the Wharton School are incredibly popular, always filled to capacity, and made up of students in just about every major imaginable.
This is what motivated me to grab some of his time. Recently, Yoh has been conducting research on how the disruption of the video game industry is impacting not only the decision and strategy of companies in the space, but also how the disruption is introducing new bigger and better funded competitors. Inherent in this new settling landscape is the reality that the demand for game designers and developers is almost certainly going to spike in the not too distant futures. This increase in demand almost seems counter-intuitive with the steady parade of major game publishers closing or laying off scores of employees. Professor Werbach does a very good job explaining just way this demand will be on the steady rise in this brief 5-minute interview. Take some time and give it a listen. I promise, it is worth the time.
[audio:http://blog.yoh.com/wp-content/uploads/Yoh_ProfessorWerbach_Podcast_Final.mp3]
Also be sure to check out Professor Werbach’s book For the Win: How Game Thinking Can Revolutionize Your Business, and also check out a great example of a company that, in Professor Werbach’s opinion, has figured out how to apply game design in an industry in which one would never expect it – restaurants.
