Secure the BaaG
Close followers of Beach Reads have likely picked up on my fascination with the metaverse, which continues with another post about a metaverse-esque theme: business as a game, or BaaG. While this piece is a bit out-there, I enjoyed how it framed the increased "gamification" of life, and potentially work as well. With the backdrop of COVID, it isn't much of a stretch to consider further gamification of parts of our lives. "At the simplest level, BaaG is just a shiny new interface on top of existing tools that makes work feel more fun," the article says. "One way to think of it is, 'What if developers built business-in-a-box software in the Unreal Engine?" The wide variety of work-from-home tools available today, combined with platforms such as Stripe and Shopify represent the skeleton on which a BaaG service could be constructed. "When you start to think about all of the disparate, 2D tools we use to work as compared to the rich, contained environments in which gamers play, the way we do things seems bland. And we're getting to the point at which developing game interfaces for work is technically feasible." Some business dashboards today already take a step towards "gamifying" business management but I think a broader, more encompassing virtual work environment, especially in a WFH world, could be helpful in maintaining engagement, motivation, and even collaboration.