HOUSTON—One might think that the oil and gas industry has little to learn or gain from the roughly 1 billion people who spend part of their day playing games online.

But the industry, which is constantly challenged to find new and improved solutions to problems aboveground and beneath, could learn something from gamers. Speaking to a crowd gathered for OTC’s inaugural d5 at the University of Houston on May 8, game developer and author Jane McGonigal said about 7 billion hours are poured into virtual games each week.

Many people would see that number as a problem, but McGonigal sees opportunity.

“Although they may not solve real problems most of the time they do provide the sense of getting better, of developing skills, of being part of a larger community, having a heroic sense of purpose, having goals and achieving them,” McGonigal said.

Imagine the possibilities if just a percent of a percent of those 7 billion hours went toward tackling real problems that have a more meaningful outcome, she said. “We could create a human resource, a collective intelligence resource.”

McGonigal was among the speakers presenting at the first-ever d5, which followed the four-day Offshore Technology Conference. The new event aimed to spark innovation and creativity in the offshore energy industry, help develop practical solutions to problems and draw attention to disruptive technologies in other industries such as gaming and aerospace.

The attractive qualities of gaming have already generated interest from the oil and gas companies. Maersk Group, for example, turned the search for oil into an online game called “Quest for Oil: A Subsurface Gaming Experience.” Players tap their ability to understand key challenges facing the oil industry, drawing on geological and other knowledge to find oil reservoirs.

McGonigal, who specializes in alternate reality games, shed light on the positive emotions games evoke such as creativity, excitement and curiosity. Having these emotions means “you are less likely to give up when things get tough. You are more likely to stay engaged with a difficult obstacle,” she said.

Gaming also can be used to help understand human behavior, and in some instances gaming has even accurately predicted people’s reactions to certain situations. Oil was at the center of McGonigal’s “World Without Oil” 32-week experiment which examined in 2007 what could happen with a peak oil shortage. People reacting to the crisis—reading news reports and other players’ comments—responded by telling stories about their actions via blogs, videos, emails and voicemails.

More than 1,900 people signed up as players and more than 1,500 stories were submitted, according to the game’s website. The game, which tapped into problem-solving capabilities, unveiled how the shortage could impact areas such as food delivery, military security, transportation and real estate among others.

A year later the real-world gas price and shortage crisis hit. People adapted the same strategies they said they would adapt in the game, McGonigal said. Players had accurately predicted where public transportation would become an important part of the infrastructure and at what gas price point people would switch from driving to taking public transportation.

Such experiments can also help with policy planning. That was the case with the so-called Corrupted Blood incident, a video game glitch with a virtual virus that caused players to get sick. Curious people and journalists trying to get the story contributed to the epidemic when they entered areas with infected people then left, spreading the virus. McGonigal said the game sparked the CDC to update its real-world planning scenarios.

“Games are the most elevated form of investigation,” McGonigal said, quoting Albert Einstein. “We can bring that kind of collective investigation mindset to any problem that we want.

“The best simulations of the future today are not based on mathematical models or powered by supercomputers,” she added. “They are based on personal predictions and powered by collective intelligence. … As you think about the future of your organization and your industry, what would you like to ask these 1 billion super-empowered, hopeful individuals? We can learn a lot together.”

Contact the author, Velda Addison, at vaddison@hartenergy.com.