ITIL® and Me

Today I was reading the usual technical blogs and tweets and as always there’s at least one new “ville” game that someone is developing.  Whenever I read about these new ventures there’s always a specific point to the game, such as teaching people to be more energy conscious or to think about the impact of trash on the environment.  Then it occurred to me; I don’t think anyone has come up with an ITIL training game.  At a time when Facebook and Twitter are the leading marketing tools and small, web-based games are played by millions (if not billions) of people on these types of sites, it’s the perfect opportunity to increase exposure and knowledge of ITIL and the benefits in the I.T. world.  Another reason for this being an important training tool is that the next generation of ITIL practitioners are the “kids” that are constantly connected to the social marketing sites and are very familiar with simulation types of games.  So here’s my idea; just like several of the “ville” type of games there could be one for an IT department where you’re the CIO and have been given the task to build the business from the I.T. side.  A user can choose different market environments, such as healthcare or retail, and as the game plays out they start building the I.T. services to increase business.  For example an email service can save communication time or a server for file shares to store electronic information in case of a disaster.  As time goes on the business grows, new challenges show up (such as customers not being happy with service), and more mature processes and technologies need to be introduced to continue the growth.  Like some of the other simulation games a player can unlock certain technologies or skills based around ITIL.  Eventually the CIO earns enough money to buy a CMDB system, or Knowledge Base.  Maybe they simply hire more Service Desk staff to support the services and maintain customer satisfaction.  Like real life there could also be repercussions for trying to implement something when the organization is not ready.  Maybe that Problem Management tool shouldn’t be used because the Technical Function isn’t developed enough.  Now money has been wasted and the organization will have to function for another year on a useless tool.  The possibilities are endless and I think this is a great opportunity for those learning ITIL to have an interesting way on applying its concepts in a simulated and fun environment.  I doubt I can be the only one to come up with this idea but I have yet to see anyone create it.