(From Fast Company) -- Playing video games is often viewed as a sedentary or slothful activity. But as educators, thought leaders and the world’s largest corporations secretly know, gaming is also potentially the best thing to happen to management training since the advent of company off-sites and career workshops. With the world’s largest firms quickly turning to principles of “gamification” to educate new recruits, be forewarned: Blistered thumbs may be a signature hallmark of tomorrow’s most successful executives.

Credit conceptual frameworks and gameplay elements that inherently teach players how to manage limited resources, respond to stressful simulations and problem-solve in real-time within a variety of both plausible and fantasy contexts. Even traditional titles found on GameStop’s shelves teach kids basic everyday management skills, claims Ian Bogost, associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology and founder of software maker Persuasive Games. “Look at World of Warcraft: You’ve got 11-year-olds who are learning to delegate responsibility, promote teamwork and steer groups of people toward a common goal.”

Gaze beyond the colorful 3D environments, larger-than-life characters and outsized storylines peppering so many digital diversions, experts say, and you’ll clearly observe basic leadership principles at work. Just ask the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), which claims that kids need more, not less, video game play, arguing that video games directly address one of America’s most pressing problems – preparing students for an increasingly competitive global market. "The success of complex video games demonstrates that games can teach higher-order thinking skills such as strategic thinking, interpretative analysis, problem solving, plan formulation and execution, and adaptation to rapid change,” the Federation announced in a recent report. “These are the skills U.S. employers increasingly seek in workers and new workforce entrants."

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