IBM's Vice President of Innovation Francoise LeGoues says World of Warcraft gamers are "definitely developing business skills companies like hers want." More in this PBS Frontline video report.

  • oasisob1

    HR Manager to staff: Any resume that says ‘Farmville’ on it? Right in the bin.

  • http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

    Anyone witnessing the Devilry in Eve Online can see that someone successful at that game could be useful to any corporation engaged in devilry or in opposing it in another.

    Did I say devilry, I meant business skills. Dammit

  • peregrinus

    It’s a beautiful thing.  You don’t necessarily want the kid who spends 7 days shut away in a fantasy world sweating and panicking, but someone who knows how to work a people network and get to their objectives – that’s a different kettle of fish.

    What’s beautiful is the differentiation between the 1988 scorn poured on gamers vs today.  The gamers haven’t changed much, but what they do has, and how they are perceived has.

    I spend a lot of time in my working life getting firms to believe more in this stuff.  I don’t say “recruit gamers”, but I do demonstrate how games teach people to absorb massive amounts of information rapidly and usefully.

  • Emo Pinata

    As an added bonus, the MMO player enjoys the daily grind for little reward.

    • http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

      Oh? Can I interest you in a meaningless inter-clan title in exchange for a 75 hour work week? 

      It is, like, the only one there is, when you use it people will all be, like, Wow, lookit that peasant has a gilded cowl!

  • jimh

    Business skills like not leaving your desk for three days at a time, and pissing in a milk jug to stay productive.

  • CH

    Well, no, my CV doesn’t include the kind of games I play, but I do include it in the cover letter. And I do expect to get the question at my job interviews.

    But outside of the industry, no way in h*ll I would put it in the CV. Sure, the VP may say that they appreciate skills gotten in gaming, but I would not be too sure about the HR department.

    • DewiMorgan

       Yeah – in the games industry, I definitely get asked what games I play. And it *matters* to those managers. They want someone who will get really, deeply invested in the game they are making, not someone who just sees it as a job to pay the bills.

  • Joe Vanegas

    Working at IBM lets you develop skills that you can use playing WoW. Training is commutative!

  • bob s

    Well if this is not an IT related job I would not consider putting such an experience into your CV. I work in the banking industry and once I saw a CV with ”professional experience” in Dance dance revolution and WOW. As this was a position for a business analyst I sent the CV straight to the bin…