McDonald's Serious Game Controversy |
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Written by Lisa Galarneau
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Tuesday, 06 June 2006 |
UPDATE! Turns out that there is quite a lot of speculation
that this was in fact a hoax, though the facts are not entirely clear
and there is quite a lot of confusion between this occurrence and the
release of the McVideogame parody a while back. But it does
explain why the business cards the two fellows gave me had that feeling
of not being quite as solid as a big corporation might ordinarily use,
unless they were seriously trying to cut some corners. When will
I learn to be more skeptical?
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I've been at the International Serious Games Event
in Birmingham, England where yesterday the most extraordinary thing
happened. A fellow from McDonald's by the name of Andrew
Shimery-Wolf was scheduled to do a talk about a nice training
application that his group, McDonald's Interactive, had developed to
train managers on the ins and outs of the business. Think Burger
Tycoon. Standard serious games stuff. But at some point we
all realize that this isn't just a talk about how this training tool
had proved its ROI... rather it's an expose...
The training
application, a game-based simulation of the McDonald's business (called
McMarketplace), based on verifiable economic and resource usage data,
had made it clear to everyone in the interactive division that the
business model was not viable long-term unless they were to cut
emissions by 70%, something that seems impossible within the current
business climate. Otherwise what they were doing would not only
spell the end of McDonald's, but might also contribute to more general
planetary calamity. They took the story to their management,
where they were ignored, then to legislators in the U.S., who said
there was nothing that could be done. Now they have decided to
break the whole story in hopes that McDonald's might cut the whole
division loose. Andrew Shimery-Wolf and Sam Grossman, the
Division CTO, fully expect the full wrath of the corporation to fall on
them. But they don't seem bothered.
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