Can Video Games Help Us Practice Creativity?
- Justin Matheson
- Mar 27
- 5 min read
Yes. At least, I think so.
You can tell when a team has creativity because the room gets louder. Not louder in the brainstorming sense, but louder in the "wait, what if we tried this instead" sense.
And you can tell when a team does not have it because everything sounds safe.
Most workplaces say they want creativity. Then they build systems that punish every early, awkward attempt at it. We ask people to take risks, but we only reward clean wins.
We say "think outside the box," but we also hand out invisible electric shocks for anyone who actually tries.
Creativity is not a personality trait. It is a skill, and like every skill, it improves under the right practice conditions.
Practice also involves a lot of failure, and when practicing being creative, I think that failure is messier than when practicing other skills. Creativity is such an intrinsic and personal skill, that it takes a special space and time to make groups of people feel comfortable practicing it.
What creativity looks like at work, in real terms
When I say "creativity," I do not mean writing poetry in a standup meeting. I mean the very practical ability to:
Notice constraints that other people treat as fixed.
Generate multiple options under pressure.
Combine partial ideas into something usable.
Test quickly, learn quickly, and try again.
Fail forward (my favourite educational cliché).
If you have ever watched a team solve a problem without falling into blame, you have watched creativity.
Why traditional creativity training usually disappoints
Most corporate creativity training has the same shape.
A workshop tells people to be more creative.
Everyone does a few low-stakes activities.
A facilitator says something about "divergent thinking."
Everyone goes back to work.
The system stays the same.
The issue is not that the ideas are wrong. The issue is that the practice environment is wrong (and that the system is probably built to punish unsuccessful creative attempts, but we can’t fix everything, can we?).
Creativity does not grow from being told to "be open-minded." It grows from doing reps where uncertainty is normal, failure is expected, and iteration is cheap.
Or, said differently, creativity needs a gym.
Games are a creativity gym, if you pick the right ones
Commercial games are full of constrained problem-solving.
They hand you a messy situation, limited resources, and a goal, then they say, "good luck." , and they make experimentation safe.
You can try a plan, watch it fail, adjust, and try again. That is the loop. And it is the same loop you want in the workplace.
The training analogy I keep coming back to is resisted practice.
If you want strength, you lift with load.
If you want creativity, you practice with constraints.
Good games create that load automatically. #gains
The three creativity muscles games build
1. Constraint-based ideation
Players do not get infinite time, infinite money, or infinite information. They get a limited toolset and a goal which forces an incredibly useful habit.
Instead of asking "what is the perfect solution," players ask, "what is possible with what I have?"
Boom! Creativity!
2. Rapid hypothesis testing
In a well-designed game, you are constantly running tiny experiments.
If I do X, will that unlock Y?
If I spend resources here, what breaks later?
If I change strategy mid-stream, do I recover or collapse?
This is the workplace version of prototyping, and it is the missing meat & potatoes of most creativity “training” programs.
Which, for the record, I don’t think one can always “train” someone to be creative. I think it is an inherent skill that everyone has, but some are more prone to practicing it than others. Might be a nature vs. nurture thing, but maybe that’s a post for a different time.
3. Comfort with ambiguity
In many games, you rarely have full certainty. You act on partial information. You commit, then you adapt. In the workplace, we often pretend certainty is the price of admission. In games, uncertainty is the point.
What this means for L&D: design for #gains, not inspiration
If you want creativity to transfer, you need more than a fun session. You need a practice design and here are three practical ways to build that.
1. Use constraints on purpose
Research insight: Creativity often emerges when options are limited.
L&D application: Do not ask teams to "come up with ideas." Give them a tight set of limitations.
Implementation detail: In a session, limit time, tools, or roles. For example, only two communication channels. Or only three resources. Or one person cannot speak.
Success indicator: More distinct approaches get attempted, not just more ideas discussed. We’re looking for actions and reiterations.
2. Build in fast feedback
Research insight: Iteration is where novelty becomes useful.
L&D application: Choose activities, including games, where the outcome is visible quickly.
Implementation detail: Run short rounds. After each round, ask two questions.
"What did you try?"
"What will you change next round?"
Then immediately run it again.
Success indicator: Participants start naming hypotheses, not just describing what happened.
3. Debrief for decision rules, not feelings
Research insight: Transfer improves when learners can articulate the rule they used.
L&D application: Debrief creativity like a skill, not a vibe.
Implementation detail: Ask prompts like:
"What constraint mattered most?"
"What did you assume was fixed that was not?"
"When did the team switch strategies, and what triggered it?"
Success indicator: People leave with a small set of reusable heuristics.
For something as complex and nebulous as “Creativity”, I have found success in having a set of shorter rounds (ideally separated by failed/successful attempts at a task) bookended by debriefs. For example, I’ve used “Minute-to-win-it” games where teams would get 5 quick 60-second attempts to complete a series of tasks and then after the 5 rounds, we would pause and debrief, then do it again.
I use the same structure with video games like PlateUp! and OverCooked. Multiple quick rounds, then a larger debrief.
Games you can use for creativity practice (and what they train)
I am intentionally not giving a massive list here. The point is not to "gamify" everything.
The point is to choose games that create the practice conditions you actually need.
Minecraft (survival or constrained build): Resource constraints, iterative prototyping, emergent collaboration.
Overcooked: Improvisation under pressure, constraint juggling, rapid role negotiation.
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes: Communication constraints, hypothesis testing, shared mental models.
If you want this to be a real program, not a one-off, you should also define how you will level the challenge over time. More constraints. Less information. Higher stakes.
That is progressive overload, but for creativity. #gains
FAQ
Is this just "team building" with extra steps?
No, not if you treat the game as practice, and the debrief as skill extraction. Team building is often about bonding and role-adherence. This is about building a repeatable performance loop and (hopefully) thinking outside the box.
What if people are not gamers?
Then pick games with simple controls and visible goals, and keep the focus on decisions, not dexterity. The game is the environment, not the content.
How do we measure creativity without turning it into nonsense metrics?
Measure behaviours.
Number of distinct approaches attempted.
Time to first prototype.
Willingness to abandon a failing plan.
Quality of decision rules captured in debrief.
Willingness to openly share ideas and feedback.
Level up your creativity training
If your organization genuinely wants creative problem-solving, you need to stop trying to inspire it and start practicing it.
Creativity is a skill. Skills need reps. Games are one of the cleanest ways I know to create reps that feel safe enough to try, and challenging enough to matter.
Last time - #gains
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