I turned my entrepreneur journey into a game | Hacker News Reader

I turned my entrepreneur journey into a game

fromdevtomaker.com

148 pointsjhow1542 comments

If I may: "I designed my blog as a video game interface." It's not really a game for anyone except maybe for you.

I initially thought the same, then again I realised that it is a game in a way:

- There are objectives.

- You can make choices, e.g.: subscribe to the newsletter or not.

- The game's outcome will depend on your choices, e.g.: main quest of getting 100 newsletter subscribers will be a bit closer to done.

True, it's not a video game, the action takes place in the real world. But it might still be a game.

So... I'm the NPC in this game?

Never thought about it that way, but in a sense, everybody except me is an NPC... until I make it a project where everybody can join in

From your perspective they will still be NPCs.

I found it quite charming in a nostalgic sense.

I actually found it quite enjoyable.

Salty

Would you build your startup, while following prompts from a dungeon master, and perhaps interact with other players, as part of an actual D&D game?

If so, please drop me a message on this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScsQVowUDsIOYM4OaqR...

I have been brainstorming this for a while and the design of this inspired me to post.

This could work out pretty well. I remember reading somewhere (can't find the article) that Brian Eno works with artists this way as a producer, creating artificial constraints to expand their creativity. Would be interesting to see how this affects the startup process where optionality can be overwhelming.

I think this is a super interesting idea. It feels like the natural progression of this would be a set of UI tools to rest on top of JIRA / Trello, or a new task management platform of its own. Basically, a way to create the "gameplay" automatically in the UI

D&D is role playing, and role playing is interactive learning.

multi user dungeons were used as the basis for the first interactive online learning systems.

so most certainly this idea is a great fit, whether it's online or offline.

I think that this site itself could be the basis of a SaaS product. It's awesome.

However, I also know from painful experience that time spent on this is likely a distraction from actually building the thing. The happy exception would be if this was indeed the core idea of the thing that you're building.

If so: well played. If not: get back to work.

ps. Most books are also distractions, but I've heard excellent things about Traction.

One of the major but rarely talked about causes of failure for startups is simply the entrepreneur getting demotivated. Gamefication could be an excellent way to deal with that. Beating yourself over the head and giving yourself a guild complex "Focus! Distraction! I should be..." Tend to build resentment and do more harm then good.

Except this isn’t how companies are built. If you have to rely on “motivation” to accomplish something, you’re finished. You’ll never do it, your motivation will run out. And then what’s going to carry you? This goes not just for companies, but for anything else in life, such as school or exercise.

The real way you build a company is by honing a hard discipline: getting up everyday and doing things you have to do whether you like it or not (and usually not). Whether you’re motivated or unmotivated, inspired or uninspired, sick or healthy, confident or afraid. You just get out there and fucking do it, and if you can’t, then be a failure.

A company can stay challenging longer than you can stay motivated.

That is not really how human beings function. Motivation causes "hard discipline". It does not exist in a vacuum.

Only initially, but motivation doesn’t last forever.

Some motivations last a lifetime, I don't think our desire to feed ourselves is going away anytime soon.. A lot of current thinking on the subject is based on Abraham Maslow's 1947 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation". Your "hard discipline" seems based on the "esteem" part of his "hierarchy of needs" while this might be a sufficient motivator for some, for many it will likely be beneficial to look for other motivators.

Honestly, xwdv is more right than wrong. If you lose motivation to work on your startup, your startup didn't really fail so much as you're doing the wrong thing for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIYXaa9IcxA&t=28m5s

Anecdotal evidence is no evidence. Here we have one, almost context-less, statement vs 50+ years of scientific research.

Besides, he doesn't really answer the question. Why does he choose to work on x rather than y? That's called motivation.

It's simple not to care about motivation when you have motivation..

I agree though that motivation primarily comes from aligning the purpose of your start-up with your values.

PS> Your name sounds familiar, did you used to know a Sarah in Portland, OR?

Wooooow. Small world.

I miss her very much.

Big hugs for you.

I thought about making it a SaaS product but I made the mistake to build without having any demands. Seeing how much people are enjoying it, maybe I can turn this into something.

I'll sleep on it.

Thanks for the recommendation, adding Traction to the list!

I think if some of the game quests are to improve marketing and design skills then op hit it out of the park. In his case it’s not a waste of time, it’s a genius marketing and design quest.

Focus, focus, focus.

This is actually cool, I like experiments with (semi-)gamifying work for myself. One thing you always struggle with is good measurements. I had been experimenting with giving myself points for improvements and work on various areas, and there were certainly problems with inflation and "underinvested" areas feeling a little less satisfying. Still, as long as I persevered, this was a nice motivation along with a way to actually track what I did with my time.

I wonder if the skill stats here points to the next level, or are they meant to represent his skills on an absolute scale. Not doubting this person in particular, but I think there is almost always a big room for improvement in any skill in life even if you're already masterful.

I love this UI! And, as a huge JRPG fan, also the idea behind it. Best of luck that you don't run out of health before finishing a few high-level quests!

Thanks, that comment really touches me the most coming from a fellow gamer!

You should get on to this Open Startup list at some point you will definitely qualify

[1] Show HN: Open Startup List - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22668802

I guess I'm not a startup yet but will definitely consider this afterwards!

What a neat application of game design elements and at work here... if nothing else for your own experiences and learnings as you seem to be on that journey :)

Thanks for sharing it. May I ask how much time and effort you've invested to get it to this point?

Further, there is some potential to turn it into a broader tool that others seeking to become more entrepreneurial could benefit from in their daily lives...maybe a freemium MVO model here (charging scrappy entrepreneurs is haphazard at best for both sides).

Beyond that, however, I can see more of an enterprise product potential...

I love it! It's really cool. I wish I had one.

But you shouldn't care what I think. You should care about what your target customer is prepared to pay you for, at least until you can lead a happy retirement with your runway.

Much love, and best of luck!

It's using this NES.css from what i can tell https://nostalgic-css.github.io/NES.css/

I would also recommend 'the mom test' audiobook. It's a wonderful book for new entrepreneurs.

Added The Mom Test in my list of books to read / listen!

Thanks for adding this on HackerNews!

On one hand it looks really cool, on the other hand it gives me flash-era flashbacks. But he is not trying to pass this as an useful homepage to unsuspecting small business owners who should know better, so I guess this is fine.

Very fun. Huge potential if turned into a product.

Can you elaborate? I don’t see it..

start small stay small is great.

Awesome book! I learned a ton from reading just 200 pages!

If you like this idea, look up http://pioneer.app/

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