Bringing video games to work

My passion for video games will probably never be in question. And like anyone else, I like to share my passions with other people. It doesn’t really matter if that person doesn’t care about video games…I’ll still talk about them and I’ll still sound excited when I do talk about them. It’s never boring to listen to passionate people, even when you don’t really care. And passionate people can be very convincing.

In many ways I know that I’m responsible for at least four people buying the Guitar Hero video game. I didn’t just say, “you should by the game because its good,” that rarely works. I just talked about how much fun I have playing the game. I talked about how I play, the songs I love in the game, and how much fun it is playing with other people - I talked about the experience. I like to think that my own excitement can be seen and they then choose to get the game because they want to have the same experience. Will they? I dunno…some do some don’t. (I think I’m three for four so far)

Guitar Hero is the most recent video game that I have devoted a lot of time, effort, and passion towards. It’s a great game that’s fun to play and I want others to have that fun too. But even with a plastic guitar slung over my shoulder, the root of my passion lies in good ol’ Nintendo - the 80s version. I’ve talked extensively here about my quest for Nintendo items, games, and my experience with it otherwise. Not only did it make up a large part of my childhood, it laid the foundation for quality home video games and the culture that followed (Atari be damned). And, naturally, I want to share this passion with others.

The proof that passion can only go so far, is the fact that most of my closest friends didn’t join me on my classic Nintendo love boat. And let’s face it, we all know it’s a lot more fun to have some other people along for the ride. So with my first attempt falling upon weak hearts, I set my sights on the next set of people I see everyday, my co-workers.

I’m fortunate enough to work at a small radio station made up of mostly 30-somethings, many of which also long for the days before on-line play and fancy 3D graphics. With a small core group of folks looking for some classic gaming action, I had to find a way to get Nintendo into the work place and this week I did just that.

We have a small committee at the station dubbed the “Quality of Life committee,” which is basically nothing more a small team that thinks up fun activities to host in the office. Essentially they’re team-building and morale type events, like ice cream day, cook-outs, raffles, etc. Well, being the co-chair of the station’s QOL team, I proposed a video game day to The Boss and he graciously agreed to let it happen. I was pretty surprised he was so into the idea. I was honestly expecting a little fight about why it would be good, fun, and how it would benefit the company, but I got the idea passed without a hiccup. It’s always nice to find a boss that sees and knows the value of employee morale.

So now every Friday is Video Game Day where my co-workers can play NES games for 15-minutes or so during lunch. I took my NES deck to work along with my ROM Power Pak, so we have just about every game at our disposal, which should hopefully make playing more accessible. To help kick things off we’re even having a Tecmo Super Bowl tournament. I’m not sure if enough people will sign-up, but I figure it’s worth a shot - after all, the AM radio station is a sports talk station, so everyone one that side is excited for Tecmo Bowl, Blades of Steel, and other sports classics.

This is a case where I did nothing more than express my passion for gaming and found others with that same passion. Together that was enough to get the ball rolling and get the Nintendo inside the office. I’m not sure if it is something to be proud of, but I am pretty proud of my efforts and that it has seemed to have paid off. I’ve managed to spread my video game love to just about every facet of my life, both personal and professional. The way I figure it, if you can have fun everywhere you go, you don’t mind going there - whether that be at home or at work. Plus, I spend more time at work than I do at home, so I feel my place of work should be just as fun, exciting, and inviting as my home. And it’s no secret that happy people work better and produce better results.

Of course, this next week is the first Video Game Friday, so it could all fall apart if no one shows up to play, but at least I tried and made progress towards having some (more) fun at work. Eitherway, The Boss knows the Nintendo is in the house and won’t be shocked or angry when he sees it being played, even if it’s just me.