Edu-gaming (Gamification of Education) has gained some traction in recent years because teachers (especially from primary schools) have started to realize the locked potential of video games to provide essential skills for the students. Moreover those who are born after the gaming revolution in the 90s are more receptive to games than traditional curriculums in learning. For example, a 12 year old is capable of doing PhD level mathematical analysis on how to build the best looking castle in Minecraft. That same 12 year old may be bored out of her mind when listening to the teacher but willingly watch hours of Minecraft guide videos on YouTube. This is an unprecedented development. Unfortunately it would take many years before universities even consider using video games to enhance their degrees. In the meantime, video games have surpassed universities in delivering essential life skills and instinct training that degrees inherently lacks. However transferring the skills from video games to real life is a difficult process that requires careful reflection. Nonetheless it is cheaper than going to a university.

Dragon Age Inquisition is one great example of a game that trains the players to acquire business and social instincts. It is a complicated role-playing game that is filled with enticing narratives and characters. The game contains valuable emotions of triumph, tragedy and hope. It is not boring like writing an assignment for a professor. Not to mention, the game constantly demands your complete focus in order to solve complex problems. The player has to apply their management skills to increase influence of the Inquisition.

Here’s what I mean:

· The game teaches how to manage an organization through artful delegation. You have three advisors/executives: the spymaster, the ambassador and the military commander. They each have different opinions on how to solve different problems. The ambassador is best suited to tackle problems regarding nobility and diplomacy. The spymaster is best suited for intelligence gathering and sabotaging the competitors. The military commander is best suited for showing muscle and to intimidate potential enemies. You have to use your common sense to choose which advisor to tackle which problem. Sometimes they fail. Sometimes they succeed splendidly. Over time you build an instinct of delegation that cannot be taught in a classroom.

· It teaches how to make an important decision. Early in the game, the Inquisitor (the player) has to recruit either the Mages or the Templars in order to help stop the demonic crisis. You can either acquire them completely or choose to cooperate with them on equal grounds. Your companions and stakeholders react strongly to your decisions. If you acquire the Mages, the antagonist will take over the Templars leaving you with tougher enemies for the rest of the game but you gain valuable allies. If you work with the Templars, the antagonist acquire the mages but you have a stronger military base. No one decision is correct but they lead to vastly different consequences just like in real life.

· It teaches strategic planning and tactical thinking. Before you go out into the field that is filled with the Red Templars, demons and dragons, you need to craft weapons, armors and tools that serve both fun and functionality. You need to constantly test how your strategies performs in real battle situations. You tweak your equipment a lot until the build becomes a destructive force of nature. This kind of experimental thinking is harder to achieve in a safe university environment. The game doesn’t restrict on what you can do since there are no grades in the game. Only the fact that poor equipment and planning lead to longer and harder fights, and sometimes leading to catastrophic losses (especially when a high dragon destroys you). Moreover the game rewards fast responses to unforeseen developments in the battlefield. In the business world, the battlefield is the market and salespeople are the warriors who fight for the company. Coming up with the best strategies for the sales department is one of the hardest jobs in the world. Dragon Age Inquisition train their players to come up with the best strategies for each unique situation.

Inventory management. Testing different items.

· It teaches complex social skills. There is an approval system in the game in which your companions react realistically to your actions and your attitudes. In order to gain their approval points, you need to do loyalty missions for them which are often their personal challenges. If you solve these missions as they want you to solve, they will be compelled to risk their life for you. Later in the game, the player is required to attend a royal ball in order stop an assassination attempt on the empress. In that prestigious event, you have to be discrete with your words and your gestures since the Imperial Court is constantly evaluating your weaknesses. If you fail to impress the court, you will be thrown out of the ball and the game is over. If you manage to win their approval by solving the crisis in the background, you will gain the power to choose who will rule the Empire of Orlais. This is the kind of delicate social skills that are required in the business world and the game portrays them quite well using the fiction layer.

· It teaches spatial skills. As the leader of the Inquisition, you have the sole responsibility of increasing its influence in the local areas by establishing camps, putting up flags, exploring caves and raiding castles. Based on the difficulty of the area, you have to decide when it is ready to establish your presence. Then you become better at the Chinese Postman Problem in finding the fastest path to reach your goals. When I play the game for a second time, my spatial skills from the previous playthrough help me conquer the lands more quickly.

If you are planning to study a MBA by paying $150,000 dollars, think about buying Dragon Age Inquisition for 12 bucks and learn the essential business skills while having a blast playing it. The main problem with MBAs and other business degrees is that they don’t instill the necessary instincts you need in the business world. Instead they fill your head with unnecessary theories that are borderline common sense and uninspiring case studies that are often not at all related to your field of interest. I do admit that it does require a lot of reflection and effort in order to translate the in-game skills to real life but it’s certainly better than paying $150,000.

Dragon Age Inquisition is better than a MBA degree (sarcasm!)

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