The ability to be creative leads to boundless ideas, but it’s often the result of in-person interaction. Creativity is what prompted Steve Jobs to redesign Pixar’s offices with serendipitous exchanges in mind. And it’s why I built a series of dedicated brainstorming spaces during my time as head of innovation and creativity at Disney. Although Zoom can bring faces and voices together, it fails to digitize that creative environment over our Wi-Fi connections.
But there’s a solution, and it comes from an industry that’s been crafting addictive virtual experiences since the crude lines and dots of Pong emerged 48 years ago: video games. Why? Because they’re a surefire way to spark creativity. According to a report by the Entertainment Software Association, 65 percent of American adults already play video games with some sort of regularity.
If that sounds surprising, it shouldn’t. Modern video games are incredibly engaging for players of all ages, and blockbusters like Fortnite are dominating with their ability to immerse players in a new world. Gamers no longer control just the player on the screen. They are the player on the screen, interacting with others through live audio feeds as they work together to win. This means video games also prompt the types of behavior companies want to encourage in their employees.
In fact, recent research from Iowa State University suggests open-ended video games can actually foster the creativity that Zoom fatigue kills. Imagine the inspiration your company could create if you could bring the joy of immersive video game environments into remote workspaces. As it turns out, this future might be closer than we think.
Several forward-thinking startups have already begun applying the video game format into work-suitable solutions. And having been a keynote speaker at virtual events in several of these digital worlds, I can say with certainty that this is the future of remote work. Whether users control an avatar on the screen or are fully immersed with VR’s help, these solutions make work fun, interesting and creative again. Read more via OZY