World of Warcraft has over 11 million subscribers – it is by some distance the most successful online game in the world. I am a casual player myself, but can’t help wondering sometimes why it is so addictive. I often find myself playing at the end of a frustrating day at work – with the unbidden thought in my mind: ‘at least I’ll get something done today’

And I think that this is the key. Warcraft represents a perfect job. In the Warcraft universe everything you do is important, and you are promptly rewarded and thanked for your efforts.

With Questhelper running, a WoW players screen looks like a heads up display for a cyborg using Dave Allen’s Getting Things Done system.

Imagine completing tasks in real life was as pleasing as in World of Warcraft: You can easily identify a customer or colleague by the glowing exclamation mark above their head. They quietly wait for you to approach them. They then clearly tell you what they want done, where you have to go to do it, and what you need to do it with. You are also told what you will get in return. All this information is added to your to-do list automatically.

As and when you complete any part of these chores, your progress is clearly flagged up. When you are finished, you never discover that your quest-givers priorities have changed: you just return to get thanked and paid. If you do this often enough, you get promoted.

You are not taxed.

Paradise, is it not? No matter what you do, you are always Getting Things Done. No matter how impossibly hard – or tedious – a task seems, there is no resentment, because you know what you are getting in return in advance. Don’t want a heroic mount? Then don’t get one. No problem. But if you do, here are the things you need to do to get one.

Perhaps World of Warcraft has some lessons for productivity experts. We don’t care what we do with our time, as long as we feel, in some part of our confused souls, that we are getting somewhere. That we are making progress.

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