Counter Point: Gamers do make better employees!

Recently, fellow WalletPop writer Zac Bissonnette recently wrote about IBM's David Laux, who told the BBC that gamers make better employees. Laux cited the case of his daughter who, at age 11, was already dealing with complex business decisions and the implications of each choice by managing her own zoo online. The skill transference from gaming doesn't stop there, IBM has also found that playing games like World of Warcraft led to increased leadership skills; which my colleague Zac disagrees with.

Zac questions how, "sitting alone in your underwear eating Hot Pockets and drinking Jolt has anything to do with business -- even it is combined with controlling a cluster of pixels." This is an excellent question and if anyone can answer it please clue me in, but this tired gaming stereotype needs to be taken out back and shot. This kind of thinking is exactly why some employers are explicitly telling their recruiters to avoid gamers.

To be clear, gaming doesn't lead to increased aptitude in business due to pushing pixels around a make believe world -- if it did then the business world would have been singing the praises of video games back in the 80's and 90's. The reason that games, specifically World of Warcraft, have lead to leadership abilities and other transferable skills is due to the fact that to get anywhere in the game you have to work with others and manage a team of far-flung individuals whose only similarity to you may be that they enjoy playing World of Warcraft.