Everything I Needed to Know About Running a Business I Learnt From Warcraft.
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Back in the old days before video game sequels became all the rage, well before online gaming and 3D became all the rage, there was a game called WarCraft put out by Blizzard. The game was one of the first quality war games which allowed you to build up an army and defeat opponents in head to head combat.
I was pretty at it and what I learnt from playing Warcraft directly lead to my understanding of how to run a successful business.
Chop Chop
First, ask a lot of Warcraft players what the most important character is and they’re tell you the knights but personally, I knew it to be the Peon’s. These little guys had no armor, could do little damage and didn’t stand a chance in combat but what they could do is make you money.
I once attended a seminar at the University of New Brunswick hosted by New Brunswick Innovation Foundation in which the guest lecturer (Barry Lydon) made a starting statement. In just a few easy lines, he outlined the secret to business success using Schulmann’s laws of cash flow:
- Fast Money is better than Slow Money. In WarCraft this was critical, getting your Peons to the mines and back to a place to drop if off made for higher incomes and with more money, you could build larger armies. In business, having your clients play you today rather than in 30 days also allows you to buy better equipment and employ staff reliably.
- Safe Money is better than Risky Money. Sometimes in WarCraft it was impossible to find a safe source of income but if you could it would save you from horrible disaster at the hands of marauding opponents. In real life? A friend once told me clients who might not pay their bills are not clients, they’re time thieves and just like marauding Orc bands, they’ll kill your business in the end.
- More Money is better than Less Money. With two gold mines to choose from, in the game you always picked the mine with a larger quality of gold to mine. Similarly, in real life if you have to choose between two projects it’s important to select the one which ensures a steady income stream.
- Never run out of Money. Ever run out of money in WarCraft? It ends badly, quickly. Ditto for real life.
Now, those four rules may seem pretty simple but in WarCraft much as in life you need to have a strategy for dealing with opportunities. Before I venture into a business decision I look at those four rules and ensure that at least three of the four are met.
Here are a couple of situations in which you can use these rules to guide your decisions:
WarCraft Situation: You have 5,000 gold but your mines have run dry. To get access to more gold you’ll have to run a group of Peons close to enemy territory which would leave part of your village undefended. Since you have money (#4) and the situation is risky (#2) this opportunity is not worth the risk. If on the other hand you didn’t have resources, the risk would be worth it.
Business Situation: A prominent local business with a reputation for taking 90-120 days to pay their bills offers you a contract worth great money but only if you meet a deadline. This is a risky business move (#2) and will take a long time for money to arrive (#1) but is also dependent on how much money you currently have (#4).
While running a business is never easy, using these four simple rules and remembering your training from WarCraft, you should be able to build a successful and prosperous company.
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Posted on: Friday, October 31st, 2008Tags: Business Advice, warcraft
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November 1st, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Great article. I love finding inspiration in unexpected places.
November 1st, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Nice. Although most of that rules aren’t works in warcraft 3. For example - the first one. Although I must agree, it’s right for business.
November 1st, 2008 at 6:28 pm
hi! your blog is very interesting :)
moreover, i like to you to visits my site in your free time ..and give suggestion to improve
November 1st, 2008 at 6:31 pm
interesting site it really learns me a lot
November 2nd, 2008 at 3:57 pm
lol! That game was uber. I play Warcraft 3 now.. And cannot wait for Starcraft 2 or Diablo 3.
But it was a great comparison and I read the entire thing.
November 3rd, 2008 at 6:53 am
Like I always say in my comments, your articles are inspirational for most gamers, warcraft 3 is still different in it’s ways.