"A video game operates at twitch speed when 'your thumbs are going a million miles a minute,' explains Marc Prensky who has been using the phrase to describe how today's younger generation absorbs and uses information. Mr. Prensky created some twitch-speed training games designed to keep younger workers from lapsing into narcolepsy in traditional training sessions."

"Marc Prensky......has jumped enthusiastically into the new you-can-do-everything-at-once culture of a new generation of employees and says businesses need to embrace it too.

TRAINING the VIDEO GAME GENERATION
"Some managers might dismiss the idea of learning through play as excessive pandering to a generation raised on Nintendo and MTV. In fact, that was Cernikovsky's (Reuters' vice president of information services) first reaction. But he came around once he saw [Corporate Gameware training games] in action. 'To teach people these days you need to disguise it as a game,' he says. 'Later on, they realize that they've actually learned something.'

Pinder Grewal, a training and development consultant in Reuters' London bureau can attest to that. 'The reaction [from reps] has been very positive,' he says. In fact, the games have been so effective in training the burea's sales staff that Grewal is now customizing versions for help desk employees as well. 'The beauty of [the games] is that you can make them interactive and get people involved with them,' he says. 'They let people learn from each other, and that works very well.' "

CAN GAMES BE TRAINING TOOLS?
"Ever feel guilty about playing a game of solitaire on your corporate computer? You wouldn't have to if you worked at Bankers Trust New York Corp. In fact, you'd be encouraged to pull out your joystick and even involve co-workers in competitions. That's because the NY-based international bank holding company gas added gameware to its corporate training arsenal."

"Bankers Trust has a population that is skewed young, so we had to consider the cognitive styles of a generation raised on Sesame Sttreet, MTV, action movies, Nintendo and the Internet," said Marc Prensky, head of the banks internal game-design division."

HE GOT GAME
"Trying to convince your boss that office Doom tournaments somehow help productivity? Maybe Marc Prensky, founder of Corporate Gameware, can help. He replaces corporate training strategies with something you can get into: video games. 'We simply took corporate policy-based content and formatted it into games,' explains Prensky, who thought up the concept while watching business travelers play laptop solitaire. He's created programs for companies like Reuters and American Express. "

VIDEO GAMES AS A WAY OF LIFE
"In the last five years, Prensky's team has created 12 games, complete with jazzy graphics and in-depth tutorials, on everything from derivatives training to diversity in the workplace. The games have been played by more than 1,000 of [Banker's Trust's] 18,000 employees. Modeled loosely on bestsellers such as Doom and Quake, the business games are colorful, fast-paced, and competitive - but not violent.....The bank started using the system to certify its new derivatives employees last January. It plans to adapt it for other uses, from help-desk training to compliance programs in the near future" (Sept. 1998)

LEARNING GAME
[Marc Prensky] is the person who developed business videogames styled after the popular Doom and Quake, getting rid of the violence but keeping the excitement first-person motivation. For example, in the new Straight Shooter employees race through a virtual business world of offices, airports and conference centers in New York, London, and Paris. Their challenge is to catch up with clients even as they face down problems. Prospects become clients only if the player provides the right answers to those problems.