Does Your Company Have a Solitaire Policy?

Enterprise anti-virus software provider Sophos has announced that their application can now be configured to block access to certain standard Windows games (Sophos Anti-Virus Application Control Extended to Block Windows Games), including Microsoft Solitaire, FreeCell, Spider Solitaire, and other games that ship with Windows. In addition, the program also allows system administrators to block popular commercial games from major games publishers including Eidos Interactive, SEGA and Electronic Arts.

According to Sophos, the negative impact on company productivity caused by games has meant that many organizations have shown significant interest in wanting to control their installation and use on company computers. They even quote the original author of Microsoft Windows Solitaire, Wes Cherry:

“When I wrote Solitaire for Microsoft, I unleashed a monster of unproductivity onto the world. I bet there are millions of bosses out there who hate me. If I had a penny for every hour that has been wasted playing Solitaire in the office, I could hire Bill Gates as my golf caddie.”

Addmittedly, solitaire may, in extreme cases, be a productivity threat, but what the heck does this have to do with an anti-virus program? Solitaire is certainly no security threat.

Thankfully, some Companies Starting To Realize That Playing Solitaire Isn’t Always Bad For Productivity:

They know that getting good work done isn’t about obsessively and unwaveringly adhering to a productive task for every second between the time they walk in the door and retire for the evening. It’s about finding a balance that will allow them to get their work done efficiently by giving themselves time-outs throughout the day to pause and regroup.

That sounds like a far more sensible attitude. No one’s suggesting that employees should be allowed to play solitaire all day long, but what’s wrong with playing games on work breaks?

Does the company you work for have a policy about playing games at work?