Gamestorming is a set of practices for facilitating

innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or service (economics), services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a n ...

in the business world. A

facilitator A facilitator is a person who helps a Social group, group of people to work together better, understand their common objectives, and plan how to achieve these objectives, during meetings or discussions. In doing so, the facilitator remains "neut ...

leads a group towards some goal by way of a game, a structured activity that provides scope for thinking freely, even playfully. The word ''gamestorming,'' itself as a

neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...

, is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

suggestive of using ''games'' for ''

brainstorming Brainstorming is a creativity technique in which a group of people interact to divergent thinking, suggest ideas spontaneously in response to a prompt. Stress is typically placed on the volume and variety of ideas, including ideas that may seem o ...

''. A game may be thought of as an alternative to the standard business

meeting A meeting is when two or more people come together to discuss one or more topics, often in a formal or business setting, but meetings also occur in a variety of other environments. Meetings can be used as form of group decision-making. Definiti ...

. Most games involve 3 to 20 people and last from 15 minutes to an hour and a half. A game suspends some of the usual protocols of life and replaces them with a new set of rules for interaction. Games may require a few props such as sticky notes, poster paper, markers, random pictures from magazines, or thought provoking objects. Gamestorming skills include asking questions (opening, navigating, examining, experimenting, closing), structuring large diagrams, sketching ideas, fusing words and pictures into

visual language A visual language is a system of communication using visual elements. Speech as a means of communication cannot strictly be separated from the whole of human communicative activity which includes the visual and the term 'language' in relation t ...

, and most importantly, improvising to choose and lead a suitable game or invent a new one. The Gamestorming book is used in classes on interactive design and user experience, and social media marketing and referenced in innovation, product development, visual note taking and self-realization.

Origins of games

The gamestorming culture originated in the 1970s in Silicon Valley. Some of the games have earlier roots, for example, ''Button'' is inspired by the Native American

Talking Stick A talking stick, also called a speaker's staff,Wade 31 is an instrument of Indigenous democracy used by a number of Indigenous communities, especially those in the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Pacific Northwest nations of Nor ...

tradition, and Show and Tell is known from

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

References

{{Reflist Innovation

Origins of games

See also

References