WOW: a career booster?

　　魔兽世界:职场必备良物?

　　Video games have long been thought of as distractions to work and education, rather than aids. But there is a growing school of thought that says game-playing in moderation, and in your free time, can make you more successful in your career. The younger people coming into the workplace who have had experience playing online games are the highest-level performers because they are constantly motivated to seek out the next challenge and grab on to performance metrics.

　　长期以来，电子游戏都被冠以使人在工作与学习上都心不在焉的恶名，而远非工作学习的助手，但是如今，越来越多的学派认识到，适度游戏能让职业生涯更为成功。在职场里，有过玩网游经历的年轻人往往表现最为出色，因为他们会积极主动地去寻找新的挑战，并努力争取表现卓越。

　　WHY?

　　原因何在?

　　--Games can cultivate "dispositions" that are valuable in a corporate setting. Video games are often a trial-and-error process where players become accustomed to failure, and learn from it.

　　玩游戏能帮助玩家培养出在企业中十分宝贵的"品性"。玩电子游戏本身就是一个不断尝试和失败的过程，玩家已经对失败习以为常，并学会了在失败中吸取教训。

　　--Video games can also present players with unexpected challenges and new situations. Gamers learn to respond to, and even seek out, new challenges in order to progress. They also learn to improvise, and are thus more likely to be able to solve problems creatively when there is no solution to be found in a manual.

　　玩家在电子游戏中常常会面临始料未及的挑战和局面，他们学会了对此从容应对，甚至自己去主动寻找新任务，以求升级。玩家也因此学会了随机应变，碰到攻略里无法解决的难关，玩家往往会发挥出创造性思维能力，使问题迎刃而解。

　　--Games can train you to manage and organize high volumes of information.

　　此外，玩电子游戏还能训练玩家学会管理和驾驭大储存量的信息。

　　Case Examples:

　　案例:

　　--Elliot Noss, chief executive of domain-name provider Tucows, has spent the past 5 years training to become a better leader. How? By playing World of Warcraft (WOW) for 6 to 7 hours a week. In WOW, each action, even a small task like hunting an animal, has a purpose and fits into a broader framework. Similarly, Noss has set up frameworks at Tucows that allow employees to understand how day-to-day tasks affect the company. Noss's efforts seem to be paying off. He says he has seen employee satisfaction rise and turnover decrease by a noticeable percentage.

　　域名提供商Tucows公司首席执行官艾略特·诺斯在过去5年一直潜心于将自己训练成一名更的领导，他的做法就是每个星期玩《魔兽世界》 6-7个小时。在《魔兽世界》里，即使是像捕猎这种低级别任务都有其目的性，并和游戏的整体框架相契合。诺斯在Tucows公司也构建了类似框架，从而使员工能够理解每天的琐碎小事是如何影响整个公司的运营的。诺斯的努力似乎已经渐收成效，他表示员工对公司的满意度大幅提升，员工跳槽的频率也明显降低。

　　--Stephen Gillett, a gamer who became chief information officer of Starbucks while still in his 20s. By playing WOW, Gillet developed the ability to influence and persuade people through leadership rather than trying to order them around.

　　史蒂芬·吉利特在年仅20来岁即成为星巴克公司的首席信息官，作为一个玩家，吉利特通过玩《魔兽世界》练就出依靠"灵活领导"而非"死板命令" 去影响和说服周围人的能力。