Trailing Facebook by about 15 years, LinkedIn has become the latest social media platform that wants to get into games.
By “get into games,” I mean it appears to be throwing a few team-building browser games into its sidebar, where they will languish or prosper, depending on fate.
“One of the best ways to deepen and reignite relationships at work is simply by having fun together,” reads the announcement post. “That’s why we’re excited to roll out a series of thinking-oriented games on LinkedIn soon.”
Couple of things to pick apart here.
First, having fun at work has been frowned upon at most jobs I’ve ever had. Does this mean LinkedIn’s gaming gamble is off to a bad start? I suspect that might depend on your boss. Mine, for instance, understands that playing games occasionally is part of my job. Yours might take a somewhat dimmer view, depending on their individual temperament and your specific field.
Second, ‘thinking-oriented games’ just sounds like … games? Do games, in general, not require some degree of thought to succeed at? Though we don’t have any specifics just yet, I think this gives us reasonably picture of what sort of game LinkedIn will want to spotlight. You know the type of game. Real Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training type gear. Maybe a Wordle clone.
I’ve reached out to LinkedIn for comment on this piece and I’ll update it if/when they come back to me.
LinkedIn, I have ideas for games, let me list them now
I do have a few pitches, if anyone at LinkedIn would like to hear them.
First: Quiplash. Just Quiplash, straight out of the Jackbox Party Pack. Can you imagine playing Quiplash with dedicated LinkedIn heads? I feel it would be hilarious, and easy to implement.
A Dreamcast emulator with Marvel vs Capcom 2 on it. No more “taking this offline.” We’re sorting our grievances here and now, like adults.
No one is allowed to log off Slack for the night until they’ve all 1v1’d the CEO in Quake 2.
A ragdoll physics game where you push a LinkedIn-pilled AI evangelist into traffic and see if you can set the high score.
Deliverables Kart, a four-player kart racer in which you and three colleagues try to run away from your looming deadlines, dodging client amendments and requests. Last one standing wins.
Please invent some LinkedIn games in the comments for fun.
My thanks, as always, to Alex Walker, internet prospector, for bringing this to my attention.
Image: LinkedIn, Kotaku Australia
Leave a Reply