New World
An excerpt from the actually secret patch notes of the New World Alpha was recently leaked on the Internet. With the planned update, the Amazon team would like to introduce a "Premium Currency Shop", which will primarily offer cosmetic content for characters and houses in the online role-playing game for critical feedback from parts of the community. Accordingly, the studio is planning to sell XP boosts and other quality-of-life offers that will affect the playing time in the future. Fans of the MMORPG worry that the title will fall victim to some Pay2Win mechanics because it will allow players to reach the endgame much faster.On Twitter, Rich Lawrence (Studio Director of Amazon Game Studios) and his team published a statement on the subject. Accordingly, at the launch of New World there will initially only be cosmetic items in the online role-playing game store. For the future, one would also like to test mechanics such as XP boosts or fast travel, which can then not only be bought in the store, but also found in the main game.
Recommended editorial content At this point you will find external content from [PLATTFORM]. To protect your personal data, external integrations are only displayed if you confirm this by clicking on "Load all external content": Load all external content I consent to external content being displayed to me. This means that personal data is transmitted to third-party platforms. Read more about our privacy policy . External content More on this in our data protection declaration. According to the studio, having multiple players make it to the New World endgame will have a positive impact on the MMORPG. With XP boosts, the team wants to give players with less time the opportunity to get to this point a little faster. The release of New World is currently planned exclusively for the PC on August 31, 2021.
Source: Reddit
What The New World Of Work Will Actually Look Like
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gettyThere have been hundreds of articles written and stories told about what the brave new world of work will look like post-Covid-19. I’ve read many of the in-depth predictions because I am, like many, really interested in the long-term impact of the pandemic, especially when it comes to finding fulfillment at work.
From research conducted over the past year, we know a lot about the results of the grand, global WFH experiment. The three high-level takeaways are:
Those three findings contradict each other. The one thing that’s clear from the statistics is that the definition of the ideal work environment is no longer all that clear. That said, ambiguity requires flexibility. What I have gleaned from my reading and research is that there won’t be one new world of work for everyone. There’ll be many different scenarios depending on what you do, where you live, how you like to work, what your company culture is like—and how much leverage you have, based on the perceived value you deliver to your company.
The most helpful resource I found in understanding the future of the workplace is a whitepaper produced by the folks at Haworth. Haworth is a privately held furniture company focused on building work environments that help people be their best, whether they’re at the office, at home or at their “third place.”
In their whitepaper, Haworth describes the new world of work as “Work from Anywhere.” They point out that employees are often in the driver’s seat and “they’re naturally drawn to places that make them feel comfortable and productive.” The most salient argument from this whitepaper is that there is no one single answer—no one-size-fits-all approach for companies in the post-pandemic workplace.
According to Marta Wassenaar, “Work from Anywhere is the ecosystem that gives organizations and employees choice in when and where work occurs. This autonomy supports creativity and drives innovation. The flexibility serves as a tool for attraction and retention. The work from anywhere ecosystem certainly has an impact on organization culture and workforce wellbeing, too.”
Employees will split their time among these three work locations. When at the office, people will be working with each other—think collaboration and access to equipment and resources that are not available at home. Meeting centers, video studios, and other places for collaboration, play, broadcasting and engaging will replace walled-in offices and individual workstations. Wassenaar from Haworth adds, “Although collaboration can happen virtually, working together on the same task is better done in person. Virtual teams need to put in more effort, time and intentionality toward developing and maintaining social connections.”
The third leg of this workplace stool (and maybe the most interesting) is the “third place” (a term coined by Ray Oldenburg way back in 1989). It’s a convenient and functional refuge from the office or the kids at home. For some companies this will be satellite offices or access to reserved areas in the ever growing number of coworking facilities like WeWork. Coworking companies are growing rapidly. According to the 2020 Global Coworking Growth Study, “The number of coworking spaces worldwide is projected to cross over 40,000 by 2024.” With the increasing competition in this space, coworking companies are differentiating themselves. For example, to reduce the commute while eliminating the loneliness of working at home, coworking company KettleSpace focuses on proximity and access. KettleSpace Cofounder Daniel Rosenzweig says, “You can easily set up flexible, cost-effective, dedicated and shared workspaces within walking distance from where your employees live. We do this by taking your employees’ home zip codes and mapping them to actual spaces locally available.”
In addition to coworking sites, hotel lobbies and cafes, private clubs will serve as third spaces. Chief is a private network focused on connecting women leaders. SoHo House creates a “home away from home” for members. And there are third spaces that will be just an elevator ride from your abode. Society Biscayne, which will open this year in Miami, features a “huge coworking lab.” Individuals will gravitate to the spaces that will work for them. This is certainly true for me. When I used to travel to deliver my keynotes (in the before times), I would arrive at the airport early to work in the American Express Centurion Lounge. It’s where I did some of my most creative work. I thought this was my secret technique until I received an email from American Express saying that the lounge is only available to travelers within 3 hours of the departure of their flight. Clearly, I wasn’t the only person who found the lounge comfortable and conducive to work.
The future of work will be Work from Anywhere. What that looks like for you and your organization may be unique to you—providing even more opportunities to express your personal brand.
William Arruda is a founder of CareerBlast and co-creator of BrandBoost - a video-based personal branding talent development experience.