In reply to Harold Jarche.

Indeed. John Seely-Brown’s research on World of Warcraft rings similar to this as well. Here is also an IBM paper on the subject as well.

Virtual Worlds, Real Leaders
https://www.ibm.com/ibm/files/L668029W94664H98/ibm_gio_gaming_report.pdf

BTW while these gaming environments can foster growth and development, as well as leadership, my framework steps beyond this and sees life as a gaming environment itself. But it’s not so much about “gamifying” life, as it is about understanding the never-ending growth and development cycle in life through a “life as a role-playing game” allegory which helps you to understand the myriad of metaphors that comprise it.

In simpler terms, it’s really just about learning to “play” with life but at a much deeper “level” than most people can imagine, well beyond the conventional concept of play. This to me is what’s missing in most organizational development settings. In effect, without the ability to step out of your own worldview and play within a larger unknown sandbox of life, one often can’t let go of one’s sense of “self” and thus is limited by it (which is why it’s extremely difficult for most organizational leaders to let go of who they believe they are and get out of their own way).

So play in this sense is deeply developmental. It’s similar to Rupert Spira’s work on non-duality, whereby he sees life like a stage play, where most of us are so immersed within the roles we are playing, that we forget that we are playing them. When you can become aware of this and remember you’re just playing a role, your potential for growth and development is enormous because you can let go of who you believe you are (or what society expects you should be) and become who you truly are (and have always been at your very core). This mirrors what I mentioned in my previous comment on triple-loop learning in your other post.