DNAphil

“I didn’t spend all those years playing Dungeons and Dragons and not learn a little something about courage.” — X-Files
That quote has been a running joke in my gaming group for years, but as I started to create Encoded Designs with its dual emphasis on creativity and productivity, I began thinking about the fact that I have transfered ideas and skills from the business world to enhance my gaming style and techniques. Then, just the other day I asked myself, was there anything I have learned from my years playing RPGs that would apply to the business world? So, I started to put a few ideas together, and soon I realized that a number of skills I utilize at work started behind the GM Screen.

Playing a Role

JOEY: Yeah, turns out our kids go to the same school. Small world huh?
CHANDLER: Weird world. Your kids?
JOEY: I figure my character has kids.

CHANDLER: Ya know there isn’t a part of that sentence I don’t need explained.
JOEY: Well, see when you’re acting you need to think about stuff like that. My character, Joseph the processor guy, has two little girls, Ashley and Brittany. Ashley copies everything Brittany does.

–Friends: The One with the Chicken Pox

Sometime in my late 20s I realized that the person I was outside of work was not the same person as the one I was at work. That’s not to say I am putting up some kind of front, but there are things I do outside of work that I do not normally speak with my co-workers about, and that includes gaming. Over time “Work Phil” became a kind of a character of mine. It’s basically me at the core, but filtered to be more appropriate for the workplace. ”Work Phil” is a bit more tolerant of things than “Home Phil.” “Work Phil” also doesn’t listen to Eminem, Three Inches of Blood, or Man ‘O War at the office like “Home Phil” does. Being able to be “Work Phil” day in and day out without slipping up is largely because of my ability to play different characters as a role player.

In my office, I am privy to a certain amount of information based on my reporting structure within the company the type of corporate data with which I work. Many of my friends in the office are not privy to the same information, and when we get talking about office politics, I often can’t say what I know. My ability to separate in-game knowledge and meta-game knowledge, in my gaming sessions, has been a tremendous help in this area. I can easily, and quickly, determine what things to say and not to say in the course of a conversation based on whom I am talking to and the context of the conversation.

Thinking on My Feet

Several times in my career, I have been called into a meeting and told that I am going to lead some critical part of a project in an area about which I have little direct knowledge. In every case, my bosses talked as if they assumed that I knew what I was doing and that I would shepherd the project to completion. I don’t know if that is some kind of guerrilla management tactic or not, but in those cases I have found myself sitting in my chair thinking that I need to figure out what to do next to reinforce my bosses’ confidence in their decision. In these moments I have drawn strength from my ability to survive the moments during a game when my players have decided to go left and all the session notes I prepared expected them to go right.

As a GM, you spend a lot of time thinking on your feet to keep your game running. Behind the screen you are listening to the players as they make decisions and quietly adjusting your session to their actions. All the while, you are sitting with a calm look from behind the screen as your mind races to shuffle encounters, ad lib dialog, and improv scenes that you never thought you would need, making it look as if you planned it all along. That GM skill has been a key factor in my ability to allow my superiors to believe that “Work Phil” can handle just about any problem they throw at me. That is a great perception of people to have for you. It has allowed me to participate in some very exciting projects and has provided me a number of tangible rewards in the office.

Reading Comprehension

I work in a technical field where there is plenty of new material to learn, and not nearly enough time to get it done. Sure, all of my colleagues have been to college, and most to grad school, but have they had to read and fully comprehend a 1000 pages of D&D Core Rules, and be able to not only remember the rules, but be able to apply them to situations outside of the written rules? We gamers devour a large amount of text every year, but in addition to just reading the text, we have to fully understand it. You cannot just casually read combat rules for most games and hope to run a combat. You need to read the rules in a way that allows you to understand the concepts of how the dice mechanics work, what the task resolution systems are, etc.

More advanced gamers take that a step forward. They quickly grasp how the mechanics work, and in minutes can show you all the weak points in the rules where rules from other books will be able to exploit the mechanic, etc. In the business world this is a valuable asset, giving you a mindset that looks for potential problems before they happen. On more than one occasion I have been able to look at a block of code or a diagram of a new business procedure, see the weak points, and be able to ask the relevant questions that allowed the team to address the potential issues before they were finalized.

Group Dynamics

Being the GM for over 20 years has given me some insights about group dynamics. As a GM, you routinely navigate a personality minefield as you deal with the different personalities at your game table. You negotiate squabbles within the party and deal with spotlight-stealing players, rules lawyers, non-engaged players, etc. Then you join the workforce and find out that those same personality types are in the office but without the cool dice. You find yourself navigating micro-managers, glory hounds, and slackers while trying to get your projects completed and yourself closer to that next promotion or bonus (read: “level-up” and “treasure”).

Your ability to keep your table running and your session moving along are the same skills it takes to make a productive meeting. Your ability to diplomatically end side discussions and to be attentive to everyone’s issues around the table is what makes you a good leader in the meeting room. Those skills do not go unnoticed in the business world. Most people in the business world loathe meetings. Anyone who can make a meeting run better, and shorter, is a hero. All GMs have those skills; if you work the meeting room the same way you work your gaming table, you can become a valuable asset.

So it does appear that all these years of role playing have not been just for fun. It’s comforting to know that all those nights huddled around battlemats and pizza boxes, laying on my floor reading rule books, and rolling dice with my closest friends has not only yielded some of my fondest memories, but has provided me valuable skills in the workplace that have helped me to become successful.

What skills did you learn from RPGs that have helped you in the workplace?