This week, Forbes contributor Jacob Morgan published an article about the evolution of work and the workplace, along with the obligatory Infographic -- albeit a well-made one. He based the work on extensive research, so unlike this column, it was not pulled directly out of his … imagination.
Looking over the infographic, though I was struck by the differences between the evolutions he's describing and D&D. So, this week, lets take a close look at the evolutions in the workplace that Morgan describes and try to apply them to D&D, and tabletop gaming at large.
View attachment 59102
Hierarchy >> Flattened Structure
Like many of these points of comparison, what we see will depend a great deal on what angle we choose to look at. Certainly the central hierarchy of D&D remains -- there are players, and there are DMs. There was a progression, through 3rd and 4th editions, that tended to move some power from the DM to the player by providing comprehensive, player accessible rules, but even if D&D continued to progress in that direction, I have a hard time imagining D&D played without a DM.
That said, there are non-D&D games that make that possible (Fiasco, for example) -- so it's an option.
Fixed Working Hours >> Flexible Working Hours
Some of these aren't going to fit very well at all. And this is one of them. Skip it.
Hoarded Information >> Shared Information
Here's a real change we can see -- the advent of web-based SRDs and the DDi has created a D&D environment where we all have the game rules and practically everything that has been published available to us at our fingertips -- in some cases for free, in most cases with no regard for the user's role in a game (player of DM).
A DM may still have their own notes or published adventures that the players probably don't have in their grasp, but they could certainly purchase them, and unless the DM is making up his own monsters, it's entirely possible that a player could look up the creature they're fighting while they're at the table.
Luckily, one of 4e's innovations that is apparently going to stick around going forward was the way the game encouraged DMs to build their own misters -- and made it quick and easy to do so. In the end, we're left with a world of shared innovation where the only true secrets and information that a DM can reasonably hoard are the products of his or her own creativity.
Command & Control and Fear-based Leadership >> Engaging, Empowering, and Inspiring Leadership
Actually, assuming we're talking about Game Masters as leaders, there's a lot of movement away from the sort of uncaring Gygaxian killer DM to one that sees the game as a collaborative storytelling experience, and sees herself as the ally of the players, rather than the opponent.
This is obviously a continuum, and the OSR movement is bringing some of the top-down death metal back, but at the very least we've seen a lot of development on the cuddlier side of that continuum over the decades.
On-Premise Technology >> Cloud Technology
Actually, this is an area where I think we will see a lot more development in the future, but we're lagging behind, for the most part.
The gaming analog for this business topic would be where we access and use our game resources, references, and tools. I'd be willing to bet only a minority of us are still making characters on paper, but there seems to be a pervading "I want to buy my books, not rent them" attitude about cloud services.
Still, the convenience of a well bookmarked SRD, or a searchable database like the DDI Compendium, make the cloud a very powerful player that will only become more important in the future, as it becomes easier for other publishers to take advantage of those sorts of tools.
Email is Primary Form of Communication >> Email is Secondary Form of Communication
When I wrote a column about using Social Media alternatives like Facebook to communicate and organize your game group (taking advantage of event calendars and other functionality) the consensus response was pretty clear.
I was burned at the stake for suggesting such a thing. I'm still getting skin grafts to repair burns after the flames in those comments.
Seriously, though, I think as a community we're also a little behind the ball here -- email has it's place, but it seems less and less like the best tool for the job given some specific communication use cases.
So, as a group we may be slow to adopt them, but I still think it's fair to say that email is going to be less and less important going forward. It may never go away completely (after all, how else are we going to recover our passwords when we forget), but it's days at the top of the heap are limited.
Corporate Ladder >> Create the Ladder
For our purposes, the corporate ladder is the publishing industry. And it's never been easier to publish your own games, or your own supplements, than it is now. PDF publishing, then Print on Demand, eBooks, and now Kickstarter and other crowdfunding have created a world in which every one of us has the potential to become the next Monte Cook.
This means all kinds of things for us -- lots of opportunity, lots of competition, and lots of choices. It's one of the most exciting times to be a gamer, thanks to those technologies and innovations.
Siloed and Fragmented Company >> Connected and Engaged Company
The rise of the massive public playtest does create the appearance of connected and engaged companies, but for my money, the real measure of how connected and engaged these companies are is how directly they interact with fans. Size creates big problems for this, but it does seem like many of the more prominent designers are a lot more accessible now than they would have been 10-15 years ago -- and most of us would never have expected much more than a response to a letter to the editor of Dragon Magazine back in the early years.
Still, most of us would love even more access to the game designers of the games we love. But, like most creatives in fields that drive a lot of rabid fandom, a certain amount of distance is often necessary between the creator and the audience -- especially given the vicious criticism nerds and diametrically opposed opinions we can muster up. So, it can be easy to be a bit frustrated with not being able to have more direct contact with designers, so we can tell them what we think.
Work at Office >> Work from Anywhere (Mobile)
This, perhaps, is the most true of all of the changes in the workplace applied to gaming. Today, thanks to innovative game accessories, smartphones, tablets, and a host of web-based tools, resources, database, and gadgets, it's possible to play an RPG in almost any place, in any situation.
In the end, though, the essence of the game is what's most important. All of these evolutions in gaming that we've seen over the years, no matter how they twist and change the experience of gaming, the most important things are still true. We still gather around a story, still band together against adversity, and still crack each other up with movie quotes and dick jokes.
So, if you're going to the fridge, get me another Diet Mountain Dew. Some things must never change.
Looking over the infographic, though I was struck by the differences between the evolutions he's describing and D&D. So, this week, lets take a close look at the evolutions in the workplace that Morgan describes and try to apply them to D&D, and tabletop gaming at large.
View attachment 59102
Hierarchy >> Flattened Structure
Like many of these points of comparison, what we see will depend a great deal on what angle we choose to look at. Certainly the central hierarchy of D&D remains -- there are players, and there are DMs. There was a progression, through 3rd and 4th editions, that tended to move some power from the DM to the player by providing comprehensive, player accessible rules, but even if D&D continued to progress in that direction, I have a hard time imagining D&D played without a DM.
That said, there are non-D&D games that make that possible (Fiasco, for example) -- so it's an option.
Fixed Working Hours >> Flexible Working Hours
Some of these aren't going to fit very well at all. And this is one of them. Skip it.
Hoarded Information >> Shared Information
Here's a real change we can see -- the advent of web-based SRDs and the DDi has created a D&D environment where we all have the game rules and practically everything that has been published available to us at our fingertips -- in some cases for free, in most cases with no regard for the user's role in a game (player of DM).
A DM may still have their own notes or published adventures that the players probably don't have in their grasp, but they could certainly purchase them, and unless the DM is making up his own monsters, it's entirely possible that a player could look up the creature they're fighting while they're at the table.
Luckily, one of 4e's innovations that is apparently going to stick around going forward was the way the game encouraged DMs to build their own misters -- and made it quick and easy to do so. In the end, we're left with a world of shared innovation where the only true secrets and information that a DM can reasonably hoard are the products of his or her own creativity.
Command & Control and Fear-based Leadership >> Engaging, Empowering, and Inspiring Leadership
Actually, assuming we're talking about Game Masters as leaders, there's a lot of movement away from the sort of uncaring Gygaxian killer DM to one that sees the game as a collaborative storytelling experience, and sees herself as the ally of the players, rather than the opponent.
This is obviously a continuum, and the OSR movement is bringing some of the top-down death metal back, but at the very least we've seen a lot of development on the cuddlier side of that continuum over the decades.
On-Premise Technology >> Cloud Technology
Actually, this is an area where I think we will see a lot more development in the future, but we're lagging behind, for the most part.
The gaming analog for this business topic would be where we access and use our game resources, references, and tools. I'd be willing to bet only a minority of us are still making characters on paper, but there seems to be a pervading "I want to buy my books, not rent them" attitude about cloud services.
Still, the convenience of a well bookmarked SRD, or a searchable database like the DDI Compendium, make the cloud a very powerful player that will only become more important in the future, as it becomes easier for other publishers to take advantage of those sorts of tools.
Email is Primary Form of Communication >> Email is Secondary Form of Communication
When I wrote a column about using Social Media alternatives like Facebook to communicate and organize your game group (taking advantage of event calendars and other functionality) the consensus response was pretty clear.
I was burned at the stake for suggesting such a thing. I'm still getting skin grafts to repair burns after the flames in those comments.
Seriously, though, I think as a community we're also a little behind the ball here -- email has it's place, but it seems less and less like the best tool for the job given some specific communication use cases.
So, as a group we may be slow to adopt them, but I still think it's fair to say that email is going to be less and less important going forward. It may never go away completely (after all, how else are we going to recover our passwords when we forget), but it's days at the top of the heap are limited.
Corporate Ladder >> Create the Ladder
For our purposes, the corporate ladder is the publishing industry. And it's never been easier to publish your own games, or your own supplements, than it is now. PDF publishing, then Print on Demand, eBooks, and now Kickstarter and other crowdfunding have created a world in which every one of us has the potential to become the next Monte Cook.
This means all kinds of things for us -- lots of opportunity, lots of competition, and lots of choices. It's one of the most exciting times to be a gamer, thanks to those technologies and innovations.
Siloed and Fragmented Company >> Connected and Engaged Company
The rise of the massive public playtest does create the appearance of connected and engaged companies, but for my money, the real measure of how connected and engaged these companies are is how directly they interact with fans. Size creates big problems for this, but it does seem like many of the more prominent designers are a lot more accessible now than they would have been 10-15 years ago -- and most of us would never have expected much more than a response to a letter to the editor of Dragon Magazine back in the early years.
Still, most of us would love even more access to the game designers of the games we love. But, like most creatives in fields that drive a lot of rabid fandom, a certain amount of distance is often necessary between the creator and the audience -- especially given the vicious criticism nerds and diametrically opposed opinions we can muster up. So, it can be easy to be a bit frustrated with not being able to have more direct contact with designers, so we can tell them what we think.
Work at Office >> Work from Anywhere (Mobile)
This, perhaps, is the most true of all of the changes in the workplace applied to gaming. Today, thanks to innovative game accessories, smartphones, tablets, and a host of web-based tools, resources, database, and gadgets, it's possible to play an RPG in almost any place, in any situation.
In the end, though, the essence of the game is what's most important. All of these evolutions in gaming that we've seen over the years, no matter how they twist and change the experience of gaming, the most important things are still true. We still gather around a story, still band together against adversity, and still crack each other up with movie quotes and dick jokes.
So, if you're going to the fridge, get me another Diet Mountain Dew. Some things must never change.
