The future of sustainability is a game

The future of sustainability is a game.  I tripped across a prominent vendor’s ad for a sustainability game -  that has real world implications.  The game is so cool and fantastic that I don’t even want to tell you which company has put it out because they are kind of a competitor to me.  Still I was drawn into the format and realized that it is the future of sustainability and maybe all business reporting and analytics, - OK not maybe....  My mind went racing ahead to a time of global online interaction where the success and consequences of decisions and actions are visually reflected.  It all seems so natural and normal and scalable – and immediately usable.  In fact, back in 2000 I was laughed out of an elevator at another larger Enterprise - that I won’t name -  for saying that the future of  business software was in gaming.   Vindication is so sweet sometimes.  Nonetheless, the sustainability game is here and right on the heels of a massive generation raised on sophisticated online gaming.  This sort of approach to mixing gaming with real world implications is long overdue and I believe it is the “game changer” and “blue Ocean” that will lead us into the next millennium of planetary management and business reporting and analytics.  Though I am not part of the organization that produced the sustainability game I have to acknowledge it as a real winner.   For all you out there that have played SimCity – it is like that and here now to help us actually manage the planet.  The only review I have to search for now is how the foundations of the data – inputs, implementation and beyond actually measure up.  The concept is great – I just hope when the rubber hits the road – so to speak – that this works – it just seems so easy and fun.  Easy and Fun is what we need  now as we face down the doom and gloom of climate change and the like. I find it especially fantastic that TRON is re-released this weekend.  Wow, I am actually a geek…..how did that happen?