Managing personalities, dealing with bad attitudes, preparing for go-live, pouring over reports, rewarding team players, hiring and firing, holding people accountable...



Sounds like the day to day juggling of a mid-level manager doesn't it?



It's actually what I go through running a successful 24/7 war clan on Clash of Clans.



I never thought my mobile gaming fix could make team management so fun, but it has. Leading a group of raiders and pillagers to glory isn't really all that different than commanding a team of cubicle jockeys. It's actually a lot of fun watching my clanmates succeed, so much so, that I'm more interested in managing them than attacking villages.



Clash of Clans is now the #1 revenue grossing mobile gaming app, earning $1.56 million each day for its publisher, Supercell, according to Business Insider. By comparison, the top downloaded game, Candy Crush, only earns $299 thousand per day. But it's not just a child's game. Over 60% of its players are men aged 21 years and over, according to NewZoo.



Tyrael is a top player in Clash of Clans, according to another article by Business Insider. To get to the top, the 21 year old college student has had to rely on his planning and tasking skills...

"I could take 'Clash of Clans' wherever I went," Tyrael said. He's currently using an iPhone 5S. "In some cases, I could play while doing something else. I would look at the next few days, and figure out where I could play for a few hours. I actually scheduled my sleep around it sometimes.”



I've never scheduled my sleep around Clash of Clans, but I often play it while laying in bed before closing my eyes. But like Tyrael, checking on my clanmates is something I do all through the day, five minutes here and five minutes there. Because I have players from all over the world, there's always someone requesting troops, asking for tips, wanting to leave, or wanting to join.



Adam is a nine-year old boy who happens to be in my clan. Polite, patient, and kind, I can tell how well-parented he is from our interactions on the game's chat system. "I can't play everyday because I have school", he wrote. "But I will always war and be loyal".



Whenever Adam participates in clan wars, and comes up with big wins, I give him praise. Praise is something I hadn't done enough of in my real life as a corporate manager. It's not that I didn't want to praise my employees, it's that I just didn't think about it.



When players show consistent effort in my clan, I promote them to "Elder" status. It gives them the ability to recruit new clanmates and kick out poor performers. But when an elder expresses to me the desire to become a leader, I give them a brief interview and then promote them to "Co-Leader", which allows them to organize clan wars.



Tashreeq is a player from South Africa, one that I promoted to Co-Leader after he expressed his own desire to lead. At first, I was cautious, not about Tashreeq, but because it was my clan, my baby. But knowing I still had to ability to intervene, I let him have the controls. It appeared that he made some poor choices in clan wars, but in the end we still came up as victors. Tashreeq knew there was more than one way to skin a cat. In the end, I learned to trust others.



Many players have come and gone in my clan. Many leave to join bigger and more talented clans, others leave because they feel overwhelmed by the pressure of continous warring. I found good success in recruiting novice players and molding them into my system. I realized that newbies are eager to please while veterans are stuck in their old ways. Strangely, I see the same pattern in corporate management. I used to feel bad when someone left my clan, but in the end I realized that I don't have to time to lament; we have a war to prepare for!



I remember watching a Lakers basketball game on TV years ago. During a break, a player was interviewed, and was asked about coach Phil Jackson. He said that Jackson never saw it his job to win games. "It's our job to win games", the player emphasized. "It's the coach's job to find a way to win."



That's the one piece of advice I've kept with me as a manager all these years. But in real life, tight budgets and short deadlines makes it difficult to implement. Yet, Clash of Clans offers a safe environment to practice management concepts without the risk of real-world consequences.

Steve Johnson is in charge of website development and design at Too Much Tina, a marketing firm in San Diego, CA.