Angie McKaig - E-Business Consultant and Entrepreneur
on game theory and entrepreneurship2004.05.06
I realized something about myself last night. I realized that I play games the same way I manage my business.
I'm on holidays this week, which meant I had time to indulge an old obsession: Master of Magic. Made in '95, it may not have the prettiest graphics, but it has some of the best gameplay I've ever seen in a strategy game. I wrote more about it here, if you're interested.
While I was playing last night, frantically managing armies (dozens) and cities (many) and spell research and random looters and trying to keep my opponent appeased so he wouldn't attack me, I began to recognize a feeling in my belly; a tight controlled stress that wasn't completely unpleasant. And I realized that it's the exact same feeling I get when moving the pieces around the chess board when it comes to my business, as well.
Truth is, I've always played games the same way; for the strategy. I just never realized it. And over the last twelve hours I've come to realize that I can understand the way I do business more clearly by looking at the way I play. I can also learn how to do business better by keeping in mind the way that I play.
1. Short term sacrifices are sometimes made to pursue long term goals. I'll run some cities very low on resources, nearly bankrupting certain reserves, in order to position myself properly for the future goals. This is done in a balanced way, never running the risk of losing everything. Calculated risks, determined by the payoff I think I'm most likely to be able to achieve.
2. Cooperation is preferable to hostile competition. I'd much rather work without competition (SimCity) or with a partner (Euchre), if I have the choice. If I don't (Master of Magic), I placate my opponents to keep the peace for as long as possible. It actually stresses me out to see an opponent on my screen, declaring war or hostile negotiations. Stress aside, it just makes good sense. If I keep up the hostility, it takes me away from the big goal - winning the game. Poking the tiger with a stick will just awaken a beast.
3. Build quietly and carry a big stick. I don't reveal to my opponents what I'm up to, or what my final goals might entail. I do everything I can to win their trust and stay under their radar until my army is so powerful and my magic so great, that victory is practically guaranteed.
4. Amass only good resources. Many people might go in and build armies right away from lesser soldiers and send those armies off to do battle; they suffer losses, sometimes great ones, just to capture a few questionably valuable prizes. I stack the deck. I concentrate on building and resources in the early stages, gathering the things I'll need to build not a whole bunch of scattered, semi-valuable armies but large, powerful, unstoppable ones, even if it takes me dozens more turns to accomplish it.
5. Invest in your people. SimCity, Master of Magic - regardless of the game, I give my people the best tools to succeed. I'm a library and museum queen in SimCity, maximizing my educational contributions to build the best damn workforce there is. And I'm a goddess of spells in Master of Magic, casting city enchantments and unit spells equally to ensure that my people have the best tools possible to accomplish the goals I set out.
6. Avoid conflict and keep successes tactical rather than bloody. Master of Magic has a wonderful ability to make all battles strategic; you don't see them, you don't have to fight them, it's purely a numbers game. Do you have the numbers to win the battle or not? I have always played with this setting on. I have no desire to play out battles. I just want to build things, amass resources, strategize, and win.
7. If I could win the game without decimating my opponent, I would. It's a shame that most games require there to be a winner and a loser. Can't someone clearly have the advantage, be stronger and more powerful, without decimating the opponent and shipping them off to purgatory? Just because I want to be the most powerful wizard doesn't mean I can't coexist peacably with smaller opponents.
8. In choosing between overtaking an opponent through brute force or your own skills, choose your own skills. One of the things I've always loved about Master of Magic is that while you *can* choose to win the traditional way by sending armies to overtake the cities of your opponents, you could also choose to just keep learning enough spells until you get to learn the Spell of Mastery. Once learned and cast, this spell proves your outright mastery in the magical arts and makes you the de facto winner, no matter how many opponents you have.
Interesting way to look at things. It will have me thinking for quite some time.
Makes me wish I could play Master of Magic with my competitors. What a great way to quickly determine how my competitors do business.
Is this why "good old boys" play golf?
This is a very interesting point- and I have more or less have come to the same conclusion. I am writing my dissertation on "What Makes a Winner Win?" this isn't to the detriment of others. I play Monopoly a lot and once I was on the verge of keeping all players alive so that I was the clear winner, but everyone else was still alive! A bit like an ecosystem... Sometimes in life it is cruel to keep others in competition- you just have to look at the Roman Empire! Have a look into the cruel game of Poker and you may change your opinion. It may give you an understanding of why some people use the strategy of brute force, it's worth looking into! Otherwise you may never know!?
Brilliant post. I referenced it on my weblog, the [non]billable hour at www.nonbillablehour.com. Thanks always for the great stuff.