What I Learned About Management From Online Gaming

Before the advent of the World Wide Web and the multiplayer games like EverQuest and World of Warcraft, there was an online free-for-all of gaming called MUDs, or Multi-User Dungeons. MUDs were a way for people to experience a Dungeons and Dragons-like experience on a network with other users. It was all text-based and you played the game like you would play Zork or other interactive text adventure.

Shortly after MUDs, several college students around the country developed systems called MUSHes and MUSEs. MUSHes (Multi-User Shared Hallucinations) and MUSEs (Multi-User Shared Experiences) were different from MUDs in that they allowed their users to modify the gameplay from within the game system itself. You could write MUSH or MUSE code on objects in the universe and then those objects could perform actions in much the same way your character did. In essence, it was hacking of the virtual world from within the world itself. It was awesome.

TrekMUSE

One game that I played (and I played many) was one called TrekMUSE, based on Star Trek: The Next Generation. My favorite TV show ever up until that point, I was drawn to it like a moth to a flame. One of the people I met there – I’ll call him Bonds – was high up in the virtual game’s hierarchy of Starfleet. He saw that I was energetic, that I was ambitious, and that I had a fair talent for writing MUSE code. He worked hard to get me into a position that had been ignored by the game for a long time – the Commandant of Starfleet Academy.

Starfleet Academy was a in-game educational institution that taught players game concepts before they went out onto starships. There were several disciplines – navigation, weapons, etc. – that players had to understand before they could effectively join Starfleet. And I was responsible for creating Starfleet Academy and getting all of the courses available for new players. I wrote a lot of code those days. A lot.

Good Things and Bad Things

After a while, I managed to acquire some additional responsibilities, including managing the entire merchant fleet of ships that the Federation owned. Merchant ships provided money to the different empires – the Romulans, the Klingons, and the Federation. But I was always working on doing things myself. It was only in retrospect that I realized what a control freak I was around this stuff. It was my way or, well, there was no other way. And I had to do it or it wouldn’t be done properly.

Eventually, though, I was asked by the management of the MUSE to lead the Federation directly as its president. It was obviously a huge honor and I spent months working on everything. I was holding down a full-time job writing software and then, in my “copious free time”, wrote more code and managed an entire player base of over a thousand. It was exhausting.

Then, something happened that I had to address. Bonds – the player who had seen so much potential in me and placed me on a fast track to become President of the Federation – was having some issues. He was the Commanding Officer of all Starfleet. He was responsible for the entire fleet of starships and we were having issues – the other empires were kicking our butts. And he was kind of checked-out. (If you’ve ever played online games, you know that “real life” has a way of distracting you from playing.) There had been enough complaints that I had to take some action and I decided to fire him. Over text.

Ouch.

Sort of like breaking off an engagement over a text message, I fired the first believer in my abilities over a text message. Yeah – tough lesson learned. PS – you should NEVER do that!

Eventually I, too, had to step aside. I was taking on more responsibilities at work and I had a lot going on in my personal life. It was beginning to interfere with my ability to lead the Federation and I retired. I was sort of pushed out, but I understand (now, in retrospect) that it was the right thing to do.

So What About That Management Stuff?

All of this is a prelude to the real conversation here – what I learned about management. When I was interviewing for a manager job at Hewlett-Packard, I was wondering whether I had any of the skills required to do that job. I had been an engineer. I hadn’t led any teams. What skills could I have developed that would let me be successful as a manager?

Then I realized that I learned a lot of that stuff on TrekMUSE. In a backhanded way, perhaps, but I had learned what NOT to do in some cases. And what TO do in others.

Delegation

The first thing I realized was that I was a control freak. And by the end of my time on TrekMUSE I had learned to delegate. I had learned that great quote from General George S. Patton:

“Don’t tell people how to do things; tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.”

I’d realized that my need to do things my way or no way was causing problems. It was distracting me from real life. So I began to delegate some of the smaller things. Then the larger things. By the end of my time on TrekMUSE, I had handed over both the merchant fleet and Starfleet Academy to new people who took them in new directions. I could not have been happier with their results.

Doing Things in Person

My experience with Bonds was an unmitigated disaster. I did the absolute wrong thing. I learned that I needed to handle everything with an in-person touch. If there was a problem, I couldn’t just “send an email” – I needed to have a face-to-face conversation with the person. I had come from the position of “what do you think the problem is?” perspective. Have a shared understanding of what was happening, what needed to change, and – if that wasn’t possible – what needed to happen next. It was a hard lesson and one that I regret to this day.

Find Good People and Help Them Succeed

The last lesson I learned was from Bonds, actually. He exemplified the exact leadership qualities that I lacked at the beginning. He found an enterprising, ambitious person and gave him some responsibility. Then some more. Then some more. Every time I proved my abilities, I got more responsibilities and more recognition. It was exactly the way I should have been treating people who “worked” for me in Starfleet. And I failed. Utterly. It wasn’t until later – when I was interviewing for that manager job – that I realized what a great natural leader Bonds had been. He’d really stuck his neck out to help an up-and-coming young “officer” and helped him excel. And THAT was the best lesson he could have taught me. If only I’d been able to listen at the time.

Closing Thoughts

Management is a tough business. It’s hard when you think you have to have all the answers (you don’t) and have the weight of the entire organization on your shoulders (you don’t). It took me some deep searching to understand the lessons I’d learned from a game, of all things. But people are people. Whether online via text or in person in your cube or office, you need to understand how to manage. Delegate. Do things in person. And above all, find good people and help them succeed. And then you’ll be going Warp 9.

Happy coaching, my friends!

Subscribe here to get notified when new posts are added!

[email-subscribers namefield=”YES” desc=”” group=”Public”]