You Play World of Warcraft? You're Hired!

There is something to learn in everything that we undertake. In school we 'learn about' lots of stuff but we also learn 'to be' via what was called the 'hidden curriculum' when I did my training.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.04/learn.html

This article talks about that learning 'to be' that happens (accidental learning) as a by product of playing multi-player games

It's learning to be - a natural byproduct of adjusting to a new culture - as
opposed to learning about.

Where traditional learning is based on the execution of carefully graded challenges, accidental learning relies on failure. Virtual environments are safe platforms for trial and error. The chance of failure is high, but the cost is low and the lessons learned are immediate.

the process of becoming an effective World of Warcraft guild master amounts to a total-immersion course in leadership. A guild is a collection of players who come together to share knowledge, resources, and manpower. To run a large one, a guild master must be adept at many skills: attracting, evaluating, and recruiting new members; creating apprenticeship programs; orchestrating group strategy; and adjudicating disputes. Guilds routinely splinter over petty squabbles and other basic failures of management; the master must resolve them without losing valuable members, who can easily quit and join a rival guild. Never mind the virtual surroundings; these conditions provide real-world training a manager can apply directly in the workplace.

Perhaps we should use WOW as one of our leadership training tools?