How games can turn work into play

I’ve noticed something interesting lately. A lot of adults are playing games.
No, I don’t mean Parcheesi or tennis.
I mean games specifically designed to enhance one’s experience of another activity. And I am convinced that this is one of the simplest and most powerful tools for improving your productivity while increasing your enjoyment of the process.
First, let me provide some simple (and potentially obvious) thoughts on games.
There are two types of games: competitive games and play games.
Competitive games are the ones adults typically play. These games have rules. You keep score. There are winners and losers.
There is an endless list of competitive games including Monopoly, tennis, football, poker. Board games, cards games, and sports fall into this category.
Competitive games have rules that are defined by someone else (the sport’s governing body, the game manufacturer, or accepted conventions). The duration of the game is dictated by a clock, the score/points, or the amount of money you have available. Winning is good. Losing is bad.
Contrast competitive games with play games.
Play games are the ones typically played by children.
Play games typically have no rules. Or the rules are made up in the moment by the players. There are no winners and losers. The “success” of a game is solely determined by the players’ enjoyment. The game has no defined ending. It ends when the players decide it ends. The process is all that really matters.
The key to making any challenging task more fun and productive is to treat it like a play game.

Source: www.steveshapiro.com