Being a sales rep in a company as large as SAP, and selling technology in an area which is currently very dynamic can be a challenge. Not so much because nobody wants to buy your stuff, but more to keep up with all the information and changes that comes on a daily base and needs to be processed and prepared. I am of course talking about mobility and SAP's sales people, who are sandwiched between all the questions from customers and the flood of new technologies and mobile apps coming at them.

Yes, there are documents and videos teaching about all that, but who has time for that and it's a a pain to work yourself through that. Here is where Roadwarrior enters the stage. Roadwarrior is a game, that teaches sales reps through a simulated meeting with a customer how and what to respond to the customer's question. Offering information about the customer's company prepares the sales rep to tailor the needs and requirements. By offering multiple choices for the answers in what is called a "pre-call planning", sales reps can progress and unlock levels and earn badges and points for correct question and meeting preparation. Through their answers they create a 'cheat sheet', which later in the meeting with the customer can be used by the player to take a glance and use the information for answering. After the pre-planning, they are now meeting the customer. Answering the questions (and using life-lines, if needed), they can see immediately on the 'conversation meter', how well the meeting is going.

Coming to the SAP Labs offices in Palo Alto this morning, the first thing that caught my eyes were not the Angry Bird "post it wars" covered window front, that my team created a few days ago in a team event, but a blog on SAP's internal corporate portal. A little flash game called "Rocketeer" welcomed colleagues at the front page.

By controlling the speed and angle of a little rocket, you can navigate it through obstacles. The obstacles are nothing else than signs with a couple of facts about SAP. The farther you can fly the rocket without hitting any of the signs, the more you learn about SAP. This is what the blog said:

"Get ready to blast off for the new year. It’s fun, and it’s not rocket science: Just point your rocket correctly and give the right amount of thrust. As you soar to new heights, you’ll see some company highlights from 2011. And if you find the optimum trajectory, you’ll reach 2012 before running out of fuel."

A fun way to learn coding or improve your coding skills comes from Codecademy. This is a web-based, interactive platform, where players can learn to code and are rewarded with points and badges. They see their progress on progress bars and can connect with their friends and compete against them.

The website also includes encouraging feedback after each successful exercise.

RibbonHero is an application that encourages MS Office users to learn more about the different features by watching videos and taking short exams. Users can earn ribbons after each successfully completed session.

More about Ribbonhero.

A noncharter public school for 6th to 12th graders in Manhattan, bases its entire pedagogy on game design. It seeks to have children assume the roles of truth seekers--explorers and evolutionary biologists, historians, writers, and mathematicians--and engage in problem solving. There are no grades. Students are rated "novice," "apprentice," up to "master." A class might be devoted to engaging in a multiplayer game and working in teams to defeat hostile aliens or becoming immersed in a "sim" game and running an entire city. The kids even code their own games, which involve math, English, computer science, and art.

More about Quest to Learn.