Maddenification

The other day we learned of the passing of John Madden, the legendary football coach and commentator.

And throughout the day I have been reading the various tributes that have come through social media, but one in particular really stuck with me.

Joe Posnanski’s writeup on his blog.

You see, Joe summed up what Madden meant to my generation. But arguably one of his greatest contributions was lending his name to a video game that would take on a life of its own: Madden.

I can not stress how the ‘gamification’ of football lead to it overtaking baseball in regards to popularity, as I can remember playing for hours on end in dorm rooms while in tech school in Mississippi, with everyone seeming to be a brilliant coaching prodigy ripe for the picking (insert lots of sarcasm here).

But the reality is that this ‘gamification’ was so forward thinking…

Look at the world we live in now:

The military uses it to train, doctors to treat, and so forth – it is a standard training tool.

So much so that my wife and I, in an effort to help translate the “on the field” scenarios our kids experience in their sports so they can understand it better,  just broke down and purchased a game system, at the suggestion of one of their coaches!

Gone are the days of blackboards, whiteboards, etc.

Gamification is the replacement.

Who would have thought when that first edition was launched many years ago, that it would have such far reaching impacts?

It makes you look around and wonder what in our lives will drive a similar transformation.