Good news for Gamers

Roy Evans has written an interesting article about job skills of the gamer generation. Perhaps all that time spent building and destroying virtual civilisations in Age of Empires wasn't such a waste after all?

It's All a Game

Just when you felt it was safe to think you understood how to be a leader – think again.

If you are employing people in the 18- 30 year age bracket on your Graduate Development Program, pick up a copy of “Got Game: How the Gamer Generation is Re-shaping Business Forever” by John Beck and Mitchell Wade.

Our workshop programs “The Human Factor” point out that we don’t see the world (or anything in it) as it actually is, we see it as we are”. Managers and leaders in their 40’s and 50’s have a generational filter regarding how we see and deal with people, based on (amongst other things) the fact that we grew up without the computer. We note that strange affliction which compels our off-spring to play games on computers and consoles with who-knows-who on the internet, instead of wanting to play Dolls and Dress-ups or Cowboys and Indians in the back-yard, as we did. So how do we manage the development of this new batch of employees to enhance their organisational abilities?

According to Beck and Wade, there is a whole lot to gain – if we clean out our own filter. The authors suggest:

The “Gamer Generation” are:

• Team-workers


• Creative entrepreneurs


• Problem solvers


• Believe nothing is impossible


• Evaluate risk, rather than being risk-averse


• Skilled Resource Managers

They have been attending a professional development program since they were old enough to handle a mouse, which most trainers above the age of 40 would only dream about. They have attended hours of simulation exercises to create and tell stories, explore social conventions, interpret rules, assemble resources, use a wide range of social skills, apply caring attitudes, and also consider the ethics of destroying civilizations if necessary to reach a goal. And all before even setting foot in your company door.

The authors suggest these range of competencies probably contribute to their view of organisational life as a game, with colleagues as “players”. They are potentially more competitive, keen on winning, optimistic about finding a solution to every problem, suspicious about rules (which they probably see as obstacles to winning) and the people who quote them (i.e. the typical manager), confident of their own abilities, entrepreneurial and resilient.

A big point here – gamers are good team players – unlike Pac-man of my generation, games can be played in teams of people from anywhere in the global internet community, or with friends from school or the local community in the local internet café. Tactics are discussed, teams are managed and focused communication takes place, all in preparation for the next challenge. There are also large face-to-face meetings (akin to a National Conference) arranged in controlled surroundings where gamers gather to share their learning (a new dimension to experiential team games).

The authors go on to suggest that rather than complain about the work-ethic of the under-30 Roy Evansgroup, it is probably more a matter of the savvy manager understanding how to harness the skills, energy and creativity of this group in order to focus their energies on the organisational vision, replacing the games “mission” with the organisation’s business plan and letting them go… just watch their dedication and productivity in action.

Search Engine FAQ

This post by Stymiee was made on the Sitepoint forums some time ago, but it's always worth revisiting. The basics of Search Engines in FAQ style.

Sure, it doesn't cover everything, but there is quite a deal of knowledge here - including dispelling a few common myths.

Although the author makes a bit of a disclaimer:

Since SEO is not a science this is a gutsy post to make so cut me some slack!

I'll cut you some slack Stymiee - it's a great post!

Search Engines Like Blogs

Why is this the case? It's nicely summed up here. The author states:

So, here's my take on why blogs rank high in search engines.

* Keywords, key phrases
* Straight to the point
* Each post's page structure
* Coding
* One subject per post
* The blog site's information structure
* Links then...?

I've seen referrals from Google within a day or two of posting - I'm wondering of Google recognises a blog and visits it more regularly as a result? Or is that just a case of good timing?

WAMP - the easy (lazy) way

Following up on my recent post about installing WAMP (Apache, MySQL and PHP on Windows), I discovered a recent post on Gadgetopia about some apps that install the AMP part on Windows for you.

No doubt easier, but when you get wizards to do something you always seem to lose some control that you have if you do it manually. Although, I should mention that I'm making that comment without having tried any of these, so maybe I should keep my mouth shut!

2005 Colour Predictions

Adam Polselli has come up with his colour predictions for 2005. And I like what I see, especially his "browns and naturals" palette.

As with these sorts of things - they tend to come true (to some extent), as other designers read this, and then adopt the predictions in an effort to remain "current". Is this what 2005 will bring in the colour department?

Probably!

WAMP

There are other tutorials on how to set up Apache, PHP and MySQL on a Windows machine, but for what it's worth, this is how I do it. It's important to note that this is used on a testing server in a trusted environment. I have not gotten involved in any security issues here as it's not necessary in my particular case.

For the record, this applies to the following versions:

• Windows XP Professional


• Apache 1.3.31


• PHP 4.3.10


• MySQL 4.1.7

Let's get started!

Setting up Hosts

If you plan to use Apache's virtual hosts feature AND your testing server is on a different computer than the one you use, then you'll need to do some sorting out first. Virtual hosts allow you to run more than one website on a single web server. What this means is that you can have individual sites set up for each client, and be able to reference files in that site from the site root (or /) instead of just creating subdirectories for a single site as I have seen done elsewhere. For example, you can call http://client1 and pull up their test site, and http://project3 and see a completely different site, that can possibly be saved in a completely separate location on your hard drive.

For this to work, the computer running as your webserver should have a fixed IP address. And therefore each one of the computers in your intranet should also have fixed IPs. In Windows XP, click Start -> right-click My Network Places -> left-click Properties. (If you can't see it in your Start menu you can also get there via the Control Panel.) Then right-click the network connection that corresponds with your network card and left-click Properties. Scroll down the list if necessary until you can see TCP/IP. Double-click that and you'll see something like this:

In this example, my workstation is called 192.168.0.5 and the computer that actually connects to the internet is 192.168.0.1. (Actually that's the address of my modem/router, but that's another story!) Assign a number along these lines to each machine in your intranet and adjust these settings accordingly. You will probably also need to obtain the DNS server addresses from your ISP and enter them into the lower section.

On a standard Windows installation you will find a file called hosts (with no extension - ie it's not called hosts.txt or anything like that) in C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc. Open it in Notepad (or any other text editor) and below it add the hostnames you want to use next to the IP address you've allocated for your testing server. If the IP address of your testing server is 192.168.0.200, you might add:

192.168.0.200     client1 project3

You can keep adding hostnames, separating them with a space. When you fill the line, start a new one with the same IP address, a tab, and keep going with more names. I'm not sure how many names you can legally put on a line, but I found it stopped working for me if I had too many, so if that happens to you reduce the number on each line.

You will need to copy this file into the directory mentioned above on each computer in your intranet.

Now we can move on to setting up Apache!


Apache

1. Download the instalation file from www.apache.org and run it.


2. When prompted, use your computer's name (intranet in my example) as the server name


3. Choose the desination directory. I prefer to keep all these things together, so I used C:\webserver\apache


4. After the installation has finished, fire up your browser and enter your computer's name or ip address. You should see something like this:





5. Now comes the fun - editing the httpd.conf file!




• Line 342 - change AllowOverride to All (for htaccess files to work)


• Line 385 - add extra filenames for the default document:
  DirectoryIndex index.html index.php index.php4


• If you're using Virtual Hosts, uncomment Line 972 - NameVirtualHost *:80


• Add details for your own virtual hosts as below:







6. Don't forget to restart Apache after making changes to httpd.conf, which you can do via Start -> Apache -> Control -> Restart

PHP

1. Download the zip version of PHP from www.php.net and extract to C:\webserver, then change full php directory from php-4.3.10-Win32 to just php.


2. There's a note in the install instructions: "Note: In PHP 4, you should move all files located in the dll and sapi folders to the main folder (e.g. C:\php)." - so do that. In this case, move them to c:\webserver\php


3. To add the php directory to the system's path, right-click My Computer, choose the Advanced tab, and then click Environment Variables (near bottom of box). Find Path in system Variables, click Edit, and add ;c:\webserver\php to the end of what's already there. Don't forget the initial semi-colon. Click OK, then OK again. See below:





4. Rename php.ini-recommended to php.ini (it's in the main php directory)


5. Now to edit the php.ini file:

1. Line 397 deals with Magic Quotes. Check what your remote host has them set to and make this the same.


2. Line 443 - change to extension_dir = "C:\webserver\php\extensions"


3. Line 565 - uncomment the extension to load GD2


4. Line 611 - add your ISP's SMTP server address


5. Line 829 - Change to session.save_path = "C:\webserver\php\temp" and make sure you add a temp folder to your php folder

Go back to Apache's httpd.conf, and add this before the Virtual Hosts stuff at the bottom of the file:

LoadModule php4_module "c:/webserver/php/php4apache.dll"
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps
# specify the directory where php.ini is
SetEnv PHPRC c:/webserver/php
# AddModule mod_php4.c

Create a PHP page with phpinfo() in it and make sure it works!

MySQL

1. Download the 'essentials' version from www.mysql.com


2. Choose custom install and change the installation directory as below:





3. Choose Standard Config when prompted


4. Install as a service


5. Add root password (and don't forget what it is!)


6. When done, create new file in the root of C called my.cnf, and add:



[mysqld]
basedir = C:webservermysql
datadir = C:webservermysqldata



7. If you haven't already, now is a good time to download phpMyAdmin and install that in a new folder with it's own hostname. Adjust the setting in its config file and fire it up. With a bit of luck you'll see two databases and you can start creating your own!

Politically correct seasons greetings

In this age of the global village and the associated political correctness, you need to be careful what you say to people at this time of year.

So it is timely I stumbled upon this:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, this wish for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the coming holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all; and a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2005, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures, and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform, political inclinations, favourite sports team or sexual preference of the wishees. By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

Courtesy of Steve Davis