Golf For Geeks
Golf For GeeksSee first: RulesOfGeelf, the official game of the C2 WikiWikiWeb!
I recently saw a clip from SD2000 West (?) on TechNet? that showed a panel discussion. MartinFowler said something about software professionals needing an activity that serves the same purpose as golf does for business professionals. That is, a social activity that also allows for relaxed communication of interesting ideas and trends in the industry. Someone in the crowd mentioned DungeonsAndDragons and I'd also submit Wiki itself as an example. In any case, I'm interested in what this community thinks. -- JasonYip
What's wrong with golf?
Takes place outside, in the sun shine. We vampires have a thing about sunshine. ;->
I don't have a problem with sun shine, I just don't like golf... mini-golf on the other hand...
LeoScott and I meet every Friday evening, sometimes with other people, to play board games and talk about everything. Our favorite games of late:
I don't think DungeonsAndDragons quite fits the idea of GolfForGeeks. It seems that the likeliness of playing DungeonsAndDragons decreases with age, while the likeliness of playing golf increases with age.
It's perfect! Software and Geekdom is a young industry, and the elders I know would rather enjoy a good round of D&D.
I nominate PaintBall. It can be as strenuous or as sedate as you like, you can avoid direct sunlight if you so wish, and it maps well to extreme practices. -- Pete Hardie
Oh, puh-leeze! A few years back, I had the daunting experience of being the oldest developer (by about thirty years) on the staff of an ill-starred Internet startup... After the CTO quit in disgust, the tech side was put under the control of a fellow I'll call Pizza Boy, who had his "buddies" among the staff, and whose idea of team-building was paintball. Ever been hit by one of those things? If you're 55, it takes a while for the bruise to fade, I can tell you... I am well shot of that place, and I'm glad I left before it turned up its toes and went 404.
The great thing about golf is that it involves a lot of standing around and gabbing, which is why it's useful for business practice. None of the activities listed so far leave much time for standing around and gabbing. Imagine trying to land a multimillion dollar factory contract during a PaintBall match or a game of DungeonsAndDragons. It just wouldn't work.
I nominate bowling. -- RobertChurch
I'm still imagining landing a multimillion dollar contract during a PaintBall match, and the image is enticing, actually. Under the right circumstances, that is. -- BillTozier
Another point is that the handicap system of golf allows any two golf players to play a game together that is satisfying for both.
Satisfying and Golf in the same sentence...don't see that very often. At least when I used to play.
Bowling has handicaps. I continue to press for bowling. -- RobertChurch
Many golfers don't even bother to compete against one another. That's one of the things that keeps it friendly. There are also variants such as "best-ball" that even the odds considerably for those who do want friendly competition without the complications of a handicap system.
However, "competitiveness" doesn't really matter. Among any group of intelligent players, the client or the boss always wins.
At LinuxCare, it's pool/billiards/snooker. My game's improved considerably, and I beat two KernelHackers? last week.
Golf was invented by suits for suits. I humbly submit we need a game to be played on golf courses, with golf clubs and small white balls, that is so dramatically unlike golf the suits can only stand and stare. -- PeterMerel (see The RulesOfGeelf)
I thought that golf was invented by and for "blue collar" men. See http://www.golfing-scotland.com/history.asp. GolfForSuits? was a more recent advance.
Nope. See history on the geelf page. Romans invented ties, hence were suits.
The game can't be too cerebral, or else you're forced to divide your mental attentions between the game and the other conversation. Golf works because although there's some cerebral strategy, a lot of it is based on hand-eye coordination. So I nominate pool, which isn't too cerebral, and definitely has a Zen factor to it. But it also has a little physics & geometry, and that satisfying clacking noise of the balls hitting one another.
The game of darts is good for similar reasons, and the equipment is a lot cheaper and easier to set up. Table tennis is something geeks tend to like. And don't forget about video arcades. -- KrisJohnson
It seems that the likeliness of playing DungeonsAndDragons decreases with age... - my rpg group ranges from 28-32 - and none of us play golf...
Do you think 28-32 is aged?
Considering the start age for D&D (12-13), yes.
But 28-32 is still solidly in the range of "young". It's not uncommon to find people at that age still engaged in the leisure activities they had as teenagers, especially those who are still single.
Possibly one of the things that makes golf a good socializing sport is that only one person plays at a time. You can't socialize in the same way while you play soccer or basketball, because everybody's running around and playing. But if Tom goes golfing with Dick and Harry, Tom and Dick can keep chatting while Harry thinks about his next swing.
DungeonsAndDragons, seen in such a light, is probably a bad candidate as GolfForGeeks. Or at least if you want the game-master to participate in the conversation. When I used to game-master, I always found it a tremendously draining, if often satisfying, experience.
How about sailing? There are all sorts of mechanical doohickeys to play with, and plenty of opportunity to talk (assuming that you are not in a race). But there's that sunshine/fresh-air thing that geeks tend to avoid, and you need to live near a large body of water.
And it's expensive, possibly more so than golf
You can rent a sailboat for a half-day for about the same cost as a round of golf for a foursome. It is more expensive than some of the other suggestions on this page, but most geeks make a lot of money.
The whole reason golf is so good for conducting business over is because: 1) it doesn't demand too much attention from players not currently making a shot 2) that undemanding nature leaves lots of time for conversation 3) there's lots of ways to make the game competitive among players of varying skill levels, so no one gets unnecessarily embarrased and 4) the game itself provides ready-made conversational fodder if you're playing with someone you don't know well. Any golf for geeks candidate should have similar properties.
The best candidates I've heard so far are: bowling, pool, and darts (in my order of preference). One candidate no one has mentioned, that I would advocate, is disk golf (aka "frisbee golf"). It does require you to be outdoors, but its a cheap sport, very laid back, and has the same handicapping possibilities as ball golf. Like pool and darts, strength is not a factor, so females are at no disadvantage. I know my ex-wife didn't like to bowl because the heavy ball made her feel awkward and weak.
The one "bonding experience" that darts is missing that these other games have involves the speed of each shot. The flight of a dart to the board is effectively instantaneous. You make your throw and its over. These other games involve longer flight times, or sometimes slowly-rolling balls, which give players a chance to support each other by doing things like yelling "Get in the hole" as a putt is made, using "body english" to "nudge" a ball/disc/whatever as it moves, etc. Such displays, lack thereof, are highly effective ways of establishing acceptance in, and relative standing within, a group. So I gotta give darts a few demerits for this lack.
One feature no so far discussed here is that golf is (at least in Europe) a drinking game. Much of the activity called "golfing" revolves around the club-house bar, and this is where a lot of the business that gets done during "golf" gets done.
See GameOfGo, BowlingForGeeks, ExtremePaintball, AnimalsGolf
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