Do Good Gamers Make Good Students? Sid Meier's Civilization and Performance Prediction

Simons Alexander, Weinmann Markus, Fleischer Stefan, Wohlgenannt Isabell

Abstract
Civilization is a popular series of turn-based strategy video games. The game is broad, so it confronts players with high complexity. Dealing with this complexity requires good analytical skills, but interpersonal skills are likewise important. These and similar skills are also relevant in the job market, especially for managerial positions, so the question arises whether Civilization can predict business managers’ performance. To explore this possibility, we conducted a series of multiplayer games with forty business students. While we cannot yet present data related to their job performance, this research-in- progress paper provides first evidence of a significant relationship between game per- formance and academic performance. Our future research will explore the participants’ analytical and interpersonal skills and how these skills are related to success in the game in order to show whether and how well strategy video games may also predict job performance and, as such, support personnel evaluation and selection.

Keywords
Civilization; Gamification; Performance prediction; Personnel selection