#aaltoes

Ethics And Game Designers

Erica Neely, Ohio Northern University

Video games are supposed to be fun. Maybe when you’re grinding your way to max level it doesn’t always feel that way, but on the whole we play games because we enjoy them.

But what exactly does enjoyment mean?

[bctt tweet=”If you’re a game designer, what issues should you care about? ” username=”bizmastersglobal”]

If you’re a player, do you have to worry only…

This spring Kora  has launched a special offer for startup teams from Laurea Startup course and Aalto ES (Aalto Entrepreneurship Society). And first teams have already come.

Startup teams have free access to Kora coworking space for 2 months,  Kora events and one2one clinics with experts and investors, as well  as two business coaching sessions with Kora Innovation Director.

Management style, common error to avoid

Management style, common error to avoid

Being a manager is a hard job, and it deals with cultural, economical, corporate issues and rules. But being a manager is indeed an important job usually performed with a not clear idea on what a manager should do.

We can find Bad and Good managers, and most of the times they do not even realize where they stand in the good or bad dashboard, because usually…

I've eagerly been following the rise of this new-era of entrepreneurship. Mostly I've been really inspired by the bold risk-taking and it has been great to see the change which is happening in the overall attitudes. People are allowed to dream big and follow their dreams, no matter how dumb they might at first sound. People are having a lot of fun with doing business and, maybe the best part, people are allowed to have fun and be all out there. 

But as the trend grows ever stronger there seem to be some negatives changes happening. As "experimentation", "creativity" and "startup" are becoming everyday words they lead us to believe that businesses are only made to be created for the pure pleasure and the thrill. It seems to me that there is a growing number of people who see entrepreneurship as a purely hedonistic act, which delivers pleasure and quick cash-ins. So my question is, are startups becoming consumer goods for the business minded? Are they becoming disposable goods which are established only to get that few years of fun and hopefully a good chance to cash-in and move on?

I might be fussing over nothing but I'll fill you in with the reasons why this is bad. Firstly the world needs sustainability. If we were all to build these quick-fix-companies the world would soon be even more unbalanced and even more rapidly changing than it already is. Nothing new and exciting you find would be the same in a few weeks, when the original masterminds would have already moved on to the next project. Far less of the products and services would get polished to the jewels they could be, since the visionaries on whose insight the original idea was built on would just cash-in and move-on. Quality would deteriorate and everything would lack long-term stability and goals. Of course, my argument has this categorical imperative feel to it, and if you're familiar with game theory even a little you'll now that there are a few problems with this logic. Firstly the benefits to the individual from this shortsighted action is so immense that one simply doesn't care for the rest of the world when faced with the chance to have all the fun or cash-in. This is only human and there is very little wrong with this. Secondly, the first phrase of the argument is not logical in any way; all of us will never start building companies.

But why I still think this matters is because the forefront of the new entrepreneurial movement keeps repeating one word as their mantra "change". They (or should I say we, I'm not quite sure in which team do I stand in) want their actions to have an impact and change the state of the nation. But if this is truly the change that is going to happen, I think it's time to take a look in the mirror and ask "is this the dystopia I want to create?"

From my vantage point I also see one more problem rising. It the thinness of the ideas. I hate to say this but what started as something new and exciting has started to repeat itself as it grows. If entrepreneurship is all about breaking the old barriers of business, why am I seeing so many new walls being build up? Here's an example; AaltoES (Entrepreneurship society of Aalto-University, HQ can be found from Otaniemi very near to Helsinki, Finland) was founded 2008. From what I understand the model for the society was discovered from abroad and proved very good for Finland as well. Soon the same model started to get copied to other cities as well. There probably are differences between these organizations, but keep in mind, this is from my vantage point. 

See where I'm going with this one? If every entrepreneurship society is basically formed on the same principles, how can they create novel novel ideas and startups? Just like the massive corporations (the total opposites to startups) which are all based on the same boring bureaucratical systems and have middle managements which seem to be effective only at killing new ideas, so can the entrepreneurial ecosystem soon be built on clone societies all following the same principles and rules. Albeit these new principles might be more abstract, flexible and leave more room for the magical creativity, the risk still remains. And the model which so far has seemed successful might end up only able to create certain type of startups. We might end up with too much of the same kind.

So a few questions to think about and help reflect the current actions; are we headed the right way? Are we building something which we can take full responsibility of? Should we take a step back and try to find more sustainable, long-term business innovations and not just disposable apps etc. which to cash-in during the next few years? Are there other movements which would have a different change in mind and might help to generate a more heterogenous ecosystem? How can we keep challenging our selves and the world to improve the quality of life for all?

Big questions indeed, but they are necessary if we wish to make sure that entrepreneurship doesn't become a fad or a buzzword which dies as fast as it became popular? Remember, it's not at all long ago when career path was the it-word and people just like you and me couldn't get enough of repeating it.

My wine glass seems to be empty and the action in which my mind is at it's most creative (sleep) awaits!

Until next time,

Yours truly,

With the Aalto Venture Garage packed almost full Mårten Mickos, the former CEO of MySQL and the current CEO of Eucalyptus took stage. He started with success, a topic almost as difficult for Finns to handle as failure.

Mårten told the audience that he has always had this feeling that he's going to be successful, even as he admitted to being lazy at the same time. In his opinion success springs from three interconnected factors:

You have to believe in yourself

You must have supporters who have decided to believe in you also in times you yourself dont

You must build a team where different individuals support each others disadvantages

So it's of utmost importance to pay attention into the team building. There are always some kind of hardships ahead of you, so you should have people who don't need to be managed all the time thus letting the team to tackle real business challenges. Therefore every startup should have the "Magnet of Talent" who attracts those people you don't need to manage;

"You can listen as many Mårten Mickoses as you like but when you start your own company you are the only one who knows what to do"-M.M.

Who is going to buy your product and why?

Of course Mr. Mickons wasn't born successful. He got there by building and running businesses, and when it comes to this, our good guy from the Valley has a lots to say. First of all, you should get at least some assumption of that ((WHAT?)) before starting a new business.

Mårten pointed out some most common mistakes the first time entrepreneurs make when starting their business:

No focus on target market

The market for the solution is only temporary

Thinking it's good that there are no competition

The customers problem is not big enough,

"We are okay If just 1% buy"

Not asking customers

Believing customers behave like you do,

Not taking input and weak signals seriously

Wake up, Finland!

When you live abroad, you get a different perspective on things back here in Finland. And Mårten had clearly expressed some of these.

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First of all, what we necessarily don't realize, the Nordic countries have a head start when it come to business. Unlike many more individualistic or "cutthroat" nations (say India, Britain) we get trained to work together. Nordic people are also used to doing things by their own and living up to their promises.

Mr. Mickos ended with a strong statement that Finland has to wake up now and to realize its minimal place in the globalized world. Everyone else is building, growing and innovating much faster and we are fast loosing the edge we still have- We need to act now if want to maintain our welfare and prosperity!