The benefits of playing games

Why do we love to play games? And is it all a bit of fun? Or are there serious things we can learn?

Laser tag. Escape rooms. Even team quizzes.

All designed to bring people together, forge bonds and create a team where perhaps before there was just a bunch of people who called themselves colleagues.

And all examples of common games that your employer might organise to boost morale, improve teamwork, and yes - have fun and be a bit of a treat.

The history of games goes back to 1200 BC, to a country called Lydia. Playing games literally helped the Lydian culture survive an 18 year famine by focusing people’s minds on games and not rumbling, empty stomachs.

Research shows that when we’re playing a game we’re the best versions of ourselves and that we experience the 4 following things:

🔷 Urgent optimism - we believe we can fix things and fix them NOW!
🔷 Tight social fabric - we like people more after we’ve played a game with each other
🔷 Blissful productivity - we are happy doing meaningful work
🔷 Epic meaning - we are contributing to a greater good that makes a positive difference

These are all serious benefits that we can take from playing games and build on in real life.

Imagine the team that you’re on becoming more optimistic. Imagine there being a stronger sense of trust between folk. Imagine getting into a state of flow with your work. And imagine feeling that what you do makes a real impact for the better.

Playing games can be reduced to a treat at the end of the quarter for hitting sales targets.

But perhaps games are a serious business that boost our organisations and empower us as individuals and teams.