Gamers at work

Slashdot says there's a new book out on how gamers are fundamentally different than non-gamers in the workplace. I didn't read the book. I read the posts about the book. But I am going to say something anyway.

While I agree that Games can teach a whole host of skills that can't easily be learned elsewhere, I don't necessarily believe that games automatically make you a better employee. I believe that the keys to being a good employee are the ability to communicate and the ability to remove one's ego from the work and view it objectively. Other things like skill, inventiveness, persistence, they all are very important indeed, but an inventive, skilled, persistent worker who can't really communicate is going to end up working by themselves. And someone who thinks their way is the only way will end up working by themselves. Out of all the people I've had to work with the ones that produce the best and the most are inevitably the ones who understand this. I've had the fortune of working briefly with people (some gamers) who don't. And when they've been let go, I've had the fortune of cleaning up after them. It's a good lesson. Takes a while, but it's a good lesson.

I work with a lot of gamers. Most of them understand this but some don't. What gamers really and truly understand is sleep deprivation. 10 hours of gaming until 3 am does it's damage.