“游戲化”辦公時(shí)代即將來(lái)臨？

工作就像是玩游戲?應(yīng)該是這樣嗎?

Imagine if at the office you were made to feel like you were playing 'Candy Crush Saga.' Envision that every one of your professional endeavors was meticulously tracked and measured in points, that there were levels to complete and you were given prizes for excellence. That every workplace action provided a tangible sensation of winning or losing as part of a system engineered to keep you addicted, thrilled to come back every morning.

想象一下，你在辦公室干活時(shí)就像是在玩《糖果粉碎傳奇》(Candy Crush Saga)，你的每一項(xiàng)專(zhuān)業(yè)努力都會(huì)被嚴(yán)謹(jǐn)?shù)刈粉?，并給出分?jǐn)?shù)，每打一關(guān)，都會(huì)因?yàn)楸憩F(xiàn)卓越獲得獎(jiǎng)品。公司的所有行動(dòng)都讓人有實(shí)實(shí)在在的輸贏之感，而這正是旨在讓你上癮、激發(fā)你每天早上回來(lái)上班的系統(tǒng)的一部分。

If your job worked like that, would you become a better employee? Or would you feel just the opposite-crushed by metrics, constantly watched over, infantilized by your boss's attempt to turn you into an automaton?

如果有一份這樣的工作，你會(huì)變成更上進(jìn)的員工嗎?還是恰恰相反──被標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化的要求摧殘，時(shí)時(shí)刻刻受到監(jiān)督，因老板想把你變成自動(dòng)工具而被當(dāng)成幼兒對(duì)待?

I'm asking you as if your opinion here matters. In fact, it does not. All evidence suggests that your work one day will operate like a videogame to be conquered, rather than a craft to be perfected.

我這樣問(wèn)你，好像你的看法很重要似的，但實(shí)際上并不重要。所有證據(jù)表明，有一天你的工作會(huì)像一個(gè)需要通關(guān)的視頻游戲，而不是一件有待完善的工藝品。

The high-level name for this trend is 'gamification, ' an ugly neologism that has seen terrific hype and terrific backlash in Silicon Valley over the past few years. The term refers to transferring the features that motivate players in videogames-achievement levels, say, or a constantly running score-into nongame settings. Gamification systems are possible because much of what we do in the workplace is conducted through software that can track our productivity, constantly measure our value and apply incentives that prod us to do better.

這種趨勢(shì)的專(zhuān)業(yè)名詞是“游戲化”，這個(gè)晦澀的新詞過(guò)去幾年在硅谷被大炒特炒，同時(shí)也受到強(qiáng)烈抵制。它指的是把視頻游戲中激勵(lì)玩家的那些指標(biāo)(如過(guò)關(guān)水平或累計(jì)得分)拿到游戲外。實(shí)現(xiàn)工作體系的游戲化之所以可能，是因?yàn)槲覀冊(cè)诠咀龅脑S多工作都是通過(guò)軟件完成的，這些軟件可追蹤我們的干活效率，頻繁衡量我們的價(jià)值，并采取激勵(lì)機(jī)制來(lái)敦促我們更上一層樓。

At the moment, the stats on gamification's effectiveness are murky. There are several startups pushing the idea, and they could offer me only the barest evidence that gamelike systems might significantly improve how people work. But some gamification companies have grown rapidly, especially in systems for workers in sales and customer service.

有關(guān)“游戲化”有效性的數(shù)據(jù)目前還不明朗?，F(xiàn)在有幾家力推這個(gè)概念的初創(chuàng)企業(yè)，而它們幾乎拿不出能證明那些系統(tǒng)可顯著改善人們工作方式的證據(jù)。但一些致力于搞游戲化系統(tǒng)的公司發(fā)展迅速，特別是在研發(fā)針對(duì)銷(xiāo)售人員和客戶(hù)服務(wù)的系統(tǒng)方面。

Their nascent success should be a warning to us all: If you work in the information business; if you sell, market, create, track or are involved in any other endeavor that can be quantified, gamification is coming for you.

它們這種嶄露頭角的成功應(yīng)該是對(duì)所有人的一個(gè)提醒：如果你在信息行業(yè)內(nèi)工作，或者從事銷(xiāo)售、市場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷(xiāo)、發(fā)明創(chuàng)造、追蹤或其它任何可被量化的工作，你就會(huì)面臨工作的“游戲化”。

I, for one, am dreading it.

我個(gè)人對(duì)此是誠(chéng)惶誠(chéng)恐。

It's no surprise that salespeople will be the first guinea pigs.

毫不奇怪，銷(xiāo)售人員將是第一批接受試驗(yàn)的“小白鼠”。

'Sales guys tend to be competitive by nature, ' says Steve Sims, the vice president of solutions and design at the gamification-software company Badgeville. People in sales are used to thinking of their trade as a game. It's not unusual for them to compete for monthly incentives and to see their performance ranked on a company leaderboard.

“游戲化”軟件研發(fā)公司Badgeville負(fù)責(zé)解決方案和設(shè)計(jì)的副總裁西姆斯(Steve Sims)說(shuō)，銷(xiāo)售人員一般有好勝的天性。從事銷(xiāo)售的人習(xí)慣于把自己的工作看作是玩游戲，他們?yōu)樵陋?jiǎng)爭(zhēng)得頭破血流，看到自己的業(yè)績(jī)登上公司排行榜，這不是什么稀罕事。

Badgeville's software, which plugs into sales-management systems such as Salesforce.com's, simply adds sophistication to the old sales-rank whiteboard in the break room.

Badgeville的軟件可被植入一些銷(xiāo)售管理系統(tǒng)(比如Salesforce.com的系統(tǒng))，但不過(guò)是讓休息室里以前那塊銷(xiāo)售排行榜的黑板顯得更先進(jìn)了而已。

Here's one scenario Sims describes. 'Sometimes sales guys tend to not care about the details, they just want to close the deal and get the money, ' he says. Managers, meanwhile, might want salespeople to do more: accurately enter their clients' information into a sales tracker, assess the quality of sales leads or track how often they are going to sales meetings. Badgeville's software can give points to salespeople who add in that information, turning what would otherwise be an annoying part of their jobs into a point of competition.

以下是西姆斯描繪的一種情形。他說(shuō)：有時(shí)候銷(xiāo)售人員可能不在乎細(xì)節(jié)，他們只想達(dá)成交易，拿到錢(qián)。與此同時(shí)，管理者可能希望銷(xiāo)售人員做更多的事：在銷(xiāo)售跟蹤系統(tǒng)中準(zhǔn)確地輸入客戶(hù)的信息，評(píng)價(jià)銷(xiāo)售領(lǐng)先產(chǎn)品的質(zhì)量，或追蹤其參加銷(xiāo)售會(huì)議的頻率。Badgeville的軟件能向輸入這類(lèi)信息的銷(xiāo)售人員獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)分?jǐn)?shù)，將這項(xiàng)原本令人討厭的工作內(nèi)容變成一個(gè)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的熱點(diǎn)。

Getting people to do things they don't really want to do turns out to be a key mission of workplace gamification. Last fall, American Express Co.'s business-travel booking office teamed up with Badgeville on software that gives employees incentives like points and virtual goods when they abide by managers' travel preferences. Badgeville says that in one test deployment, among employees of software company Citrix Systems, the system yielded positive results, if just slightly. In the first month of using the service, Citrix experienced a 4% increase in employee bookings with preferred airlines and a similar shift to bookings made further in advance.

讓人們?nèi)プ鏊麄儾幌胱龅氖?，事?shí)證明這是職場(chǎng)游戲化的一項(xiàng)重要任務(wù)。去年秋天，美國(guó)運(yùn)通(American Express Co.)的商務(wù)旅行預(yù)訂辦公室與Badgeville就一款軟件進(jìn)行合作，當(dāng)員工選擇管理者傾向的旅行方案時(shí)，這款軟件會(huì)向員工獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)分?jǐn)?shù)和虛擬商品等。Badgeville說(shuō)，在對(duì)軟件公司思杰系統(tǒng)公司(Citrix Systems)員工進(jìn)行的一項(xiàng)測(cè)試中，該系統(tǒng)取得了積極結(jié)果。在使用該服務(wù)的第一個(gè)月，思杰員工預(yù)訂公司首選航空公司的人次就增加了4%，提前預(yù)訂的情況也出現(xiàn)了類(lèi)似改觀。

There are lots of similar scenarios where such systems might subtly influence the choices that employees make. Gamelike techniques are being used to push employees to live healthier lifestyles (your company might give you a wearable health tracker that awards badges for your weekend activity), collaborate with their co-workers (get badges for engaging with the office-based social network) and improve interpersonal skills (customers and co-workers might award you points for smiles).

有很多類(lèi)似的情形，這類(lèi)系統(tǒng)可能會(huì)微妙地影響員工做出的選擇。游戲式技術(shù)被用于推動(dòng)員工擁有一種更加健康的生活方式(你的公司可能給你一個(gè)可穿戴健康跟蹤器，會(huì)因你周末的活動(dòng)而獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)你徽章)，與同事進(jìn)行合作(參與基于辦公室的社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)也可獲得徽章)，以及提升人際交往能力(客戶(hù)和同事可能因?yàn)槟愕奈⑿Χ?jiǎng)勵(lì)你分?jǐn)?shù))。

Many of these sound benign. But what we can't tell is whether these measures are worth the cost-the psychic cost. What worries me is the potential for stifling creativity and flexibility in the workplace, and the growing sensation of being watched, and measured, in everything we do.

其中有很多聽(tīng)起來(lái)都是有益的。但我們不知道的是這些措施是否值得付出那樣的代價(jià)──精神上的代價(jià)。讓我感到擔(dān)心的是這可能扼殺職場(chǎng)中的創(chuàng)造力和靈活性，而且還日益感覺(jué)做任何事時(shí)都會(huì)被監(jiān)控、被評(píng)價(jià)。

I've noticed this happen in my own field. Digital journalism has ushered in the era of quantified journalism, a field in which readership, social-media mentions and my bosses' return-on-investment on my work can be measured. I've been lucky to work at publications that don't overstress metrics. But still, the pressure to make the numbers has to be a part of every journalist's life these days. Every time I write a story that doesn't make the paper's most-popular list, I consider it a tiny failure. If I do that many times in a row, I begin to wonder if I should look for a new line of work.

我注意到在我自己的領(lǐng)域出現(xiàn)著這樣的情況。數(shù)字新聞學(xué)開(kāi)啟了量化新聞學(xué)時(shí)代。在這個(gè)領(lǐng)域，讀者人數(shù)、社交媒體提及次數(shù)和我的老板們?cè)谖夜ぷ魃系耐顿Y回報(bào)都可以被衡量。我很幸運(yùn)供職的出版物不過(guò)于強(qiáng)調(diào)這些數(shù)據(jù)。但如今實(shí)現(xiàn)良好數(shù)據(jù)的壓力必須是每位記者生活的一部分。每次我寫(xiě)的文章沒(méi)有進(jìn)入報(bào)上最熱門(mén)文章之列時(shí)，我都會(huì)認(rèn)為是一次小小的失敗。如果連續(xù)很多次這樣，我會(huì)開(kāi)始懷疑我是否應(yīng)該改行干別的。

You might say workers have always felt pressure to measure up to one benchmark or another. And perhaps gamification is better than other ways of altering what workers do, say, if your boss simply orders you to book all your travel two weeks in advance.

你可能會(huì)說(shuō)，工作的人一直會(huì)感到壓力，因?yàn)橐_(dá)到這樣或那樣的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。相比其他改變員工行為的方式，游戲化或許更好，前提是如果你的老板只是命令你提前兩周預(yù)訂所有旅行的話(huà)。

Gamification, for now, does at least have the veneer of being fun. But as it spreads through the workplace, covering all aspects of your job and life, I wonder how long the fun will last.

目前，游戲化至少表面看起來(lái)是有趣的。但隨著它在職場(chǎng)傳播開(kāi)來(lái)，涵蓋你工作和生活的方方面面，我懷疑這種樂(lè)趣能夠持續(xù)多久。