Author: Scott Novis
Appreciating Your Child’s Interests
A friend of mine recently reached out to me and said that she was concerned about how much her child was playing video games. She was afraid she was losing her child to them. Now, for many parents, that’s a common concern, and it may be a concern you have. My advice took her by surprise, because what I encouraged her to do was appreciating your child’s interests and lean into them. I asked her if she had ever played video games with her child, and she said no. I encouraged her to make the effort to sit down, give it a try, and see what happened.
Minecraft’s Hidden Depths: Uncovering the World of Engineering in Gaming
Her child was playing a game called Minecraft which is extremely popular. When my friend jumped in, she was shocked at the complexity of what he was building in that game. She told me “Oh my gosh, he’s learning engineering!” It turns out, in the game of Minecraft, there’s a material called redstone you can collect and use to build simulated electrical circuits. People have built devices like calculators, even computers, using the tools available in-game that function like their real-world counterparts. She had no idea the depth of the world he was exploring and the complexity of what he was constructing. She said it reminded her of a lot of the type of creative work her employees did at the graphic design agency she runs.
Transformation through Understanding: Changing Conversations and Strengthening Bonds
The experience radically changed the conversations she was able to have with her son. She could see and understand what he was building. He used to quietly hide away in the corner because she wouldn’t understand it, but now he couldn’t wait to share with her what he was doing and what he was learning, and a whole new world opened for both of them.
I’m not saying there aren’t any legitimate concerns about our children gaming, but I’m not so much worried about how much time children spend playing video games. I’m worried instead about the quality of play and the social dynamics.
Leaning into your child’s interest isn’t necessarily about playing more games with them, though I do encourage that, but it can also be looking for opportunities to use the game to get them out of their room. Enroll them in a local video game league.
Expanding Horizons: Utilizing Gaming for Social Engagement and Learning
More and more cities are adding esports programming, for example. Esports is competitive video gaming, but there are also casual gaming programs, at libraries, for example. There’s an increasing number of groups that are trying to provide safe, secure environments for kids to play together online, because it’s important to know who the children are interacting and playing with. I’m a fan of local gaming because it gives you the best chance to play with other kids. You could actually hang out with them from those connections.
Another idea to think about is that, for many kids, gaming is about more than just playing games. Typically people that play with technology are also interested in learning how it’s made. There are opportunities to learn how to do animation for video games, art for video games, programming for video games. There’s a very popular franchise in Arizona called Ninja Coders who will teach you how to code video games. That’s only really scratching the surface in the industry; games also involve writing, cinematography, sound design, music, the artistic use of game mechanics themselves, there are so many creative and technical interests wrapped up in a typical video game that you could use to redirect your child’s interest into something they can get paid for in the future. More and more schools are offering summer camps and programs that use these interests to engage kids in developing valuable skills. Instead of resisting and trying to pull back from gaming, lean in and redirect your child’s interest.
Exploring the Massive World Together: Encouraging a Journey of Discovery
Create more social opportunities for play, maybe inviting other players over to your house so they can play. Something we’ve seen in our work in the video game industry is that when we get gamers together and get them to play together, especially in the same space, the amount of energy and connection and comradery that unleashes is tremendous. You don’t have to have a Gametruck party or a Gameplex party or a Bravous event to do that. You can do that in your own home by sitting down and playing some games together with your kids. We had an amazing Thanksgiving last year which I’ll write about another time where we got our entire family, including my wife who wouldn’t identify herself as a gamer, into a video game together, and it was an awesome experience. When you see your child developing a strong interest in gaming, even if you’re not worried about it, I would encourage you to lean into that interest and see what’s there, because there’s a massive world that may be waiting for both of you to discover together.
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GameTruck Core Value – Apply What You Learn
As a business owner, I have learned the importance of sharing both company (GameTruck core value) and personal values. Dr. Sabrina Starling’s advice resonated with me, prompting me to reflect on the values that guide my business and personal life. Among them, the value of “Applying what you learn” stands out. In this blog post, I will explore how this value drives innovation and positive impact in my business and beyond.
Dr. Sabrina Starling encouraged me as a business owner not just to share values from our company culture but also my personal values. It made a lot of sense to me. It’s intuitive that a business owner would strongly impact the culture of the company they founded. So I sat down and created a list of 8 values that are important to me personally. Once I started looking at them I could see that, yes, I do see those values playing out in my business virtually every day.
The Value of Applied Knowledge
One of the values I wrote down reads “Apply what you learn.”Coming from an engineering background and a family that values education, I have always prioritized learning. However, knowledge without practical application holds limited value for me. While interesting facts and trivia entertain me, I find true value in using knowledge to make a difference. This mindset stems from my responsibility as a business owner to deliver value and positively impact the lives of others. By going beyond mere entertainment and actively seeking ways to apply new knowledge, I can drive innovation and create meaningful change.
Applying Knowledge to Make a Difference
Whenever I learn something new, I immediately ask myself how I can apply it to improve my world or the lives of those I care about. This broad category includes my family, colleagues, and clients. As I consume information, I constantly question its usefulness and potential applications.
Adopting Time Feriss’ Process
Inspired by Tim Ferriss, I have incorporated a useful process when reading physical books. I draw a box in the front of the book, listing page numbers next to it to serve as an index for ideas and highlights. By the end of the book, I ask myself how the acquired knowledge should impact my practices and habits. This reflection helps me create an action plan rather than simply gaining new information.
Promoting Knowledge in Others
As the learning chair for a non-profit organization, I always consider the takeaway value for the audience when inviting speakers. My aim is to generate movement and change in their lives and the causes they care about. This approach aligns with my core values, emphasizing the importance of applying knowledge rather than letting it go to waste.
Bringing together all my knowledge and experiences has led to remarkable innovations. One such achievement was the design and construction of the first mobile video game trailer, which fostered a shared gaming experience. Unlike previous endeavors that isolated players, I envisioned a setting where everyone could see and participate in each other’s games. This vision gave birth to GameTruck, a successful franchise that has entertained millions of kids and adults over the past fifteen years.
Applied knowledge is a core value that fuels innovation and impact. As business owners and individuals, we have the power to leverage the knowledge we acquire and translate it into meaningful actions. By embracing this value, we can drive positive change, create innovative solutions, and make a difference in our lives and the lives of others.
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GameTruck Core Value – Share from Enthusiasm
A Day at Pixar: Unleashing Creativity and Collaboration
One cool but sunny day in Northern California, inside the cavernous old pineapple processing plant that Steve Jobs had turned into Pixar’s Emeryville headquarters, my team and I sat down to discuss making the Cars video game with the people making the movie. The conference rooms at Pixar are amazing because they are covered with giant “bulletin” boards and every room has white note cards, pencils, pens, and push pins.
You see, everyone can draw, and at the drop of a hat, practically any team member from Pixar would produce a drawing while they were discussing ideas. “Oh, you need a trophy?” one artist asked. “You mean something like this?” and within seconds the man had crafted a quick sketch that matched Radiator Springs in style and tone but looked like a race trophy. I asked him if he would autograph that so we could frame it at our offices. He smiled and apologized. We could not take his original drawing. They would have it scanned and sent to us.
This was classic Pixar. Brilliant talent coupled with humility and grace.
You know what they didn’t do at Pixar?
Passion without Lecture
No one ever lectured us about the movie. If anyone had earned the right to explain to outsiders in excruciating detail what they were trying to do, it was the amazing people at Pixar. Yet no one, not one single artist, producer, engineer, or director ever talked down to us. They were never pedantic or arrogant and seemed to want us to be as excited about their work as they were. They authentically shared from enthusiasm. I heard someone describe this as “geeking out.” Whether it was how they animated the eyes in the windshields, or the incredible depth and complexity of the rendered paint on the close-up of the cars, everyone working on the project seemed to be consumed by a passion for it that made the air crackle.
It also helped that anything Pixar did share with us was so amazingly awesome that whenever we saw it, we were in awe.
Discovering the Big Secrets: Lessons from Favorite Professors
Pixar was such an outlier in sharing from enthusiasm that it helped me see it in other domains. I thought about the professors I’d had in college or high school. My favorites did not make me feel like they were teaching me. I felt like they were letting me in on some big secret. It was as if every lesson started with them saying, “Look at what I found out! Isn’t this cool?!” One of my favorite teachers of all time, Mr. Lubke, taught Calculus, if you can believe it, as if he’d discovered real treasure. His favorite calculous book started with the introduction, “What one idiot can do, so can another.” He was calling himself an idiot and he wanted to let us other “idiots” know we could do what he did.
Later in college I ran into another professor who matched Lubke’s spirit. He taught thermodynamics. I am embarrassed to say I cannot remember his name. But when we sat down to take the tests he said simply, “I’m not here to prove I know more about the subject than you do. That would be pointless.” In contrast, my coding professor was obsessed with proving he was smarter than the students. Every assignment had a “size limit”. How efficient could you be with your code. If anyone wrote a piece of code that was more efficient than the professor, he would rewrite the exercise until his code was the smallest.
The Expanding Shoreline: Embracing the Unknown
Mr. “Small code” was definitely not sharing from enthusiasm. In fact, he exhibited a behavior that most of my least favorite authors and teachers demonstrated. That was the need to prove they knew something. Instead of working to share knowledge, it was almost like they needed to defend it. Over the course of my career, I have learned that there are many kinds of smart people, but the ones I am most compatible with are the ones that find joy in excellence, not insecurity.
Reality seems to be structured in a way that the more you know about something, the less confident you might feel about it. I once heard it described this way. “Knowledge is like an island in the sea of ignorance. The more you know, the more you realize how much you don’t know.” The act of learning expands how much ignorance you become aware of. Some people obsess over that, and they let the expanding shoreline of the unknown make them feel insecure. Others, my kind of learners, feel excited that the island of knowledge has gotten so big, and they are happy to invite others to join them.
Unleashing Enthusiasm: GameTruck Core Value
When it comes to developing expertise, there is no doubt that my favorite kind of expert has a musician’s mindset. They view expertise as something not only for their own enjoyment, but something they enjoy sharing with others. That is why, “sharing from enthusiasm” is one of GameTruck core value. Because knowledge should connect us, not separate us.
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