Using Massive Multiplayer Online Concepts to Build a Shared Architecture
How can we leverage the power, and draw, of massive multiplayer online game experiences to build a shared vision of architecture for an enterprise?
I'm not in to multiplayer online games. I have a lot on my mind between being a dad and being supportive of my student-wife, so I don't really have time to devote to something so self-focused. On the other hand, my kids love massive multiplayer online (MMO) games and I can see the draw. You can join and leave any time you want. You can communicate with friends, work with friends, or work alone. You are rewarded for the goals that the game wants you to achieve. Add interesting animation, lively music, and very few bugs, and you get a pretty compelling environment.
What I haven't seen yet (and perhaps it is the nature of the child-like games my kids play) is a MMO game where every person plays a role to build something instead of defeating something. It is easy to tear something down. Divide and Conquer. Building something up is much harder. It is not in human nature to oppose entropy.
But my goal, and my job, is to build. I want to create a framework for all the architects in Microsoft IT to cooperate, contribute, and conspire to make the company more efficient, more agile, more responsive, and more reliable.
Is it possible to draw on the lessons, and perhaps the environment, of the MMO game, to build that architectural framework? Can it be so compelling that people will want to spend thousands of hours making it real? How would we score the 'points?' What would be the scenarios?
If anyone knows of someone else trying to combine these ideas, could you drop me a link? If you know of an MMO game that conspires and rewards the construction of a large and difficult thing that is not within the experiences of any of the players, could you drop me a link to that as well?
It's an interesting idea. Not sure it could work, but if it could, it would be very powerful.
Comments
Anonymous
July 28, 2007
I was thinking about writing a similar blog but using Second Life as an example. People are able to create anything they want in Second Life. I don't know what the under lying architecture is for that product but that's a great example to get inspiration from.Anonymous
July 29, 2007
Go look at A Tale in the Dester atitd.com to see an example of an MMORPG based on construction rather than destruction.Anonymous
July 29, 2007
@Steven, I had never heard of ATITD, so thanks for the link. Fascinating. --- NickAnonymous
July 29, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
August 11, 2007
If you're willing to consider "an approach to customer service" as a form of architecture, Wikinomics--here are my takeaways from this book: http://craigrandall.net/archives/2007/08/wikinomics/--includes an example "shared architecture" via Best Buy's Geek Squad and how GS "agents" leverage MMO's to brainstorm service ideas and improvement.