Social Media and Computer Gaming – Their role in Government computing

The stimuli for today’s posting are the ‘news’ that Super Mario reached the ripe ‘old age’ of 25 on Monday and Microsoft released the latest version of the Halo game for Xbox 360 – Halo:Reach. Computer gaming has definitely come of age and its revenues are the envy of many a Hollywood movie studio.  Halo:Reach is forecast to exceed 6 million unit sales this year.

 Fans will know that Halo is one of the leading franchises in ‘first-person shooter’ gaming. Most of the readers of this blog will now be wondering what this has to do with Government ICT.

The answer is Generation Y. This is the ‘digital native’ generation that has grown up with their own PC, social media and gaming – and is now increasingly entering your workforce. I am not advocating that this new, fully IT-literate workforce needs access to gaming consoles in the workplace but their use and application of technology to every aspect of their personal and professional lives is changing the culture, environment and expectations of ICT in the workplace in both commercial and public sector organisations.

Microsoft has recently produced fascinating reports on the role and relevance of organisations in a future defined by economic uncertainty, changing workforce demographics, globalisation and rapid developments in social and business technologies under the title of the Hybrid Organisation. You can download the Hybrid organisation white papers here and listen to a Financial Times(FT) podcast about the concept here. 

So, whether your experience of computer gaming stopped with Super Mario or you are already engrossed in Halo:Reach gaming is here to stay and a whole new world of possibilities is about to open up with the imminent arrival of Microsoft Kinect.

Posted by Ian