I’m not so much a competitor as I am one that likes to watch people compete. I enjoy organizing and getting people psyched about competition but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m good at whatever it is I’m organizing - usually some sort of video game. But as many times as I’ve tried to organize things to have fun, very rarely do they turn out well. No, it’s often the things you don’t plan for and don’t foresee that end up working.
Case point was today at work when a somewhat impromptu Galaga tournament got heated. It happened entirely by accident. On Fridays I have the TV in my office on all day running through game demos in hopes of luring people in for a quick game break. One day I just happened to pick Galaga as the demo game and one after another people would pass by the door, stick their head in a go, “Galaga! I rock at that game,” and then walk away. All bark and no bite.
Well one of them finally did stop and play and we posted his score, and then we proceeded to taunt the others that had also claimed they were great to try and get something going. That worked so-so without much result, so it ended up being the one guy basically competing against himself. But then today I decided to join in. I sat down and laid down a hefty score that topped the list…that is until everyone else showed up - finally!
I don’t know why today ended up being video game day. I was at work in body only, that much is for sure. And apparently nobody else had any serious work to do either because everyone go into it today. I sat and watched and the same three guys kept coming back to check the scoreboard and then play a quick 10-minute game in attempts to out do the other guy - or in some cases, themselves. It got pretty crazy at lunch and a high score of around 90,000 quickly looked like crap as scores of 110k, 120k, and 150k were posted before the end of the day.
I pretty much gave up and just sat back and watched the show, egging on each player so they’d hang out longer and play. It was interesting watching to see how something like this simple (and somewhat random) competition brought out the game in people. What started as a friendly work break turned into a hardcore competition. Maybe I’m getting caught up the moment, but it seems Galaga is a sweet spot of games. Just hard enough, just easy enough, and just quick enough. I’m too young to remember when Galaga was the shit, but it seemed to hit a nerve with folks. Who woulda thought? After all the Tecmo Bowl and Pac-Man attempts, and Galaga ends up being the game to make a difference.
But whatever works…lord knows we’re not the ones working. Ha!
Is there no supervision at your job? I have never worked anywhere that I and other coworkers could play video games at work. You might be able to sneak in a quick game of solitare on the computer, but to hold a tournament in the office is a different story.
There is supervision…but they’re playing the games too! Usually people aren’t playing so constantly - this past Friday was very unique. Half the day was blown thanks to a mandatory staff meeting anyway, so people knew they weren’t going to get work done anyway, so why start?
Plus, employee morale is very important.
My director told me to go get my Wii from my house so our team of 10 could all play on the projector in our conference room. Morale is indeed important! Now it’s become a semi-regular thing.
That’s cool - a projector beats a 13″ TV anyday!
Our station has a Wii too, but it’s all locked up and used only out at events for promotions. Although if we get this “rowdy” playing Galaga, imagine what would happen if we were all rocking out with Guitar Hero or playing Tennis! Workman’s comp! Workman’s comp! Hehe
Not fair. That’s all I have to say about that! Brian and Andrew suck! :-P
I need a new job.