Friday, March 6, 2026

Playing the Long Game

What games can teach us about teamwork, trust, and finding joy at work

By Karyna Chudesnykova, Health & Safety Team Lead (West)

I’ve been playing games my whole life. Video, mobile, board games, you name it, I’ve played it. When playing video games, I generally prefer single-player games where progress depends entirely on my own decisions.

These games strengthen my independence, problem-solving, and sense of responsibility. If something goes wrong, I have no one to blame but myself. I brought these skills to the workplace but quickly learned an important lesson. This single player mindset didn’t always lead to success, as in reality, most workplaces are more akin to a well-designed cooperative multiplayer game.

You don’t have to play games to understand this. Games are built on systems. They have rules, goals, roles, and consequences. When these are clear, people know how to participate and what they need to do to succeed. Workplaces operate in a similar fashion with policies, job descriptions, and processes.

When expectations are clear, roles are understood, and communication is consistent, teams function well. People feel confident in what they are doing and how their work fits into the bigger picture. If you do it for long enough, you may even start to enjoy the process. Just like a game. Here are a few more similarities (and a couple differences) between work and games.

Communication

In any team-based game, communication is key. If players don’t talk to each other, share information, or clarify plans, then everything falls apart. The same applies to the workplace.

Clear communication helps teams make fewer mistakes, reduce stress, and stay aligned and consistent. You feel comfortable asking for help or guidance and collaboration becomes easy and effective. When there’s silence, it often leads to an uneasy feeling that creates confusion and uncertainty. Open communication is required and it matters for a strong team to move forward.

Trust

At work or in a game, a strong team can’t function without dependability and trust. When you rely on others to do their part, trust becomes essential. If someone doesn’t follow through, everyone will feel the consequences and the situation can quickly devolve into a blaming match.

At work, trust creates psychological safety. When people know their teammates will show up, meet expectations, and support one another, dependability shows. But trust doesn’t appear overnight. It takes a long time to build and a shared effort to maintain.

Progress

Like games, life at work progresses differently for everyone. Some careers move like traditional games where you level up and unlock new stages that add additional responsibilities, challenges, and opportunities. Others look like games where the story expands over time with new characters and plot developments.

Both paths are valid. Some people are motivated by moving up, while others find fulfillment in their current role. Every game has its own fans, just as every career path has its own definition of success.

Choice and Consequence

For many story-based games, dialogue options are a fundamental part of the experience. What you choose to say and do can shape the story and change the outcome. Just like a game, how you choose to communicate at work will shape your relationships and results.

The beauty of a game is that you can save before you make a decision. If you don’t like what you did or said, you can reload the save and pick something different. Life at work allows you to pick your dialogue options, but unfortunately, there are no do overs. You need to live with what you said and learn from it.

Difficulty

Another difference is that, at work, you don’t get to choose your difficulty level. There are no automatic hints popping up at the screen telling you exactly what to do next when you feel stuck. Progress often depends on your ability to learn and figure things out along the way. Sometimes it means trying, making mistakes, and adjusting. Other times, it means asking questions instead of waiting for directions.

Despite these differences, work and games have more similarities than you might think. Many modern games try to reflect reality with how advanced they are, and many modern careers have evolved to be more like games by becoming less linear or one size fits all.

If there’s one takeaway from all of this, it’s to treat your life like a game. Build your skill tree, learn from each challenge, choose the path that feels right, and stay curious as the story unfolds. And most importantly, try to enjoy the process. Because having fun along the way is one of the true beauties of life.

Playing the Long Game

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