Note: This is a journal entry I wrote for my office mates, which eventually and thankfully led my boss to personally sponsor our DotA tourney. =) By the way, the company I currently work for as a researcher is called NCCC, one of the leading retail organizations in Davao, Tagum and Palawan.
Two days ago, in one of our regular conversations, Jeff Duhaylungsod and I talked about the environment and the culture of Central Marketing in general. Both of us agreed, at least on a personal level, that it’s becoming more and more comfortable to work in the office. But we also recognized that it was not like that a year ago—a time when we still had a departmentalized orientation of the organization effectively promoting a culture of kanya-kanya or grupo-ko-ito-grupo-nila-yan. Assuming the role of detective Sherlocke Holmes that we felt we were, we figured that there must be a set of variables, not just one variable, that contributed to the change of culture. And we felt that it’s important that we understood the connection because such understanding would be crucial in helping us sustain and further improve the environment that we currently have. We tried to connect the dots and came up with a list of those contributing factors. It was then we realized that the game DotA had played a major role in shaping up our office environment. (You say, whaaaaattt?!?!)
For those unfamiliar with the DotA game, try imagining a computer version of Agawan Base in which two teams, the Sentinel and the Scourge, composed of up to 5 members each, battle it out on a map, defending and attacking, until one team destroys the enemy’s “Ancient” structure. (To know more about the game, just bing or google it.)
Well, it’s no secret that some of us in the office are DotAddicts whose almost daily regimen is to troop to NetExpress after work, play DotA until our eyes get droopy, and talk incessantly about the game the next morning. We even call each other in the office using our DotA aliases. “Kurim@u,” Boni’s alias, has become synonymous to God-like while “Sonz,” Jok-jok’s alias, was used to be associated with foods but is now not. We are also currently organizing a tournament to further improve our skills competitively. We’ve been playing the game together for more than half a year already and I have to admit that it has become so addictive that there are times I personally feel uneasy when I miss a game session. Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing” has become an anthem for some of us. And more than the addiction to the game, it has become our bridge to foster our friendship, openness, and camaraderie.
Although it’s just one factor, we think that it is one big factor along with other factors such as our fun-to-work-with colleagues, no-nonsense leaders, our twice-a-month brown bag seminars, weekly and monthly meetings, food sharing, mind map sessions, notes exchanging, etc. that when connected together, you can see the big picture of where central marketing is going—towards a more creative, fun-to-be-at working environment.
