A history lesson about the 'hidden' games in AX and what we can learn from it for our AI-era?

In our era we need to get used to work with D365FO in combination with AI and the application landscape. Challenging, isn't it? Well, that's our challenge but when Axapta came out as ERP system the users had other challenges: how to work with a computer and an ERP system if you are used to work with pen and paper?

Did you know that the earlier AX-versions had 'hidden' games that, based on traditions, where invented to help users how to work with ERP? When you only have worked with D365FO you will not have notice it, because here the games are not available anymore. But in earlier AX-versions until AX 2012 you can play some games.

So let's dive into some history! In this history lesson I show you examples of these games and explain how you can find and use them when you have access to the AOT in an AX-environment. Later in the article I come back to the reason why these games where added and what we can learn from them in our AI-era.

How to find them in AX 2012?

I will start with the games in AX 2012, because I assume that if you have access to an AX environment it mostly will be this version. To find the games here you can open the AOT. For example in AX 2012 you can open the AOT via Control + D (when having system administrator access). In the AOT you can open the option 'Forms':

Here you have the link to forms in AX 2012. When searching for 'Tutorial' you will find several tutorial forms. And here you can find these games. You open them by selecting the right form and via right mouse click go to 'Open'.

Here we go when it comes to AX 2012:

Horserace:

You want to bet on a horse to see if you can win some money? Search for the option 'Tutorial_HorseRace' and you will find this game. Open (via right mouse click and select 'Open') and the game will open. You start with 100 money and you can bet this on each of the four horses. Click on 'Race' to start the race and see if you have won or lose the money!

Tetris:

Who hasn't played Tetris somewhere? So of course this game is available as well. Search for 'Tutorial_Tetris' and open the game. Use the arrow buttons to move the blocks:

Memory:

Want to play memory? Also available! Search for 'Tutorial_Memory' and you will find this game. After opening the game you can click and the game will start. I will never be as good as our 6 year old at home, but still nice to train your memory:

What about the earlier AX / Axapta versions?

The Axapta version I started to work with in 2006 was Axapta 3. And I still have access to an Axapta 3 environment. In addition to the described games in AX 2012 in Axapta 3 you had some more games:

Battleships

Our 6 year old son got this game as a Christmas gift this year, but in Axapta 3 you already could play this game. You could challenge another Axapta user or play against the computer.

And last but not least the Tic Tac Toe:

And the Sushi control could be found in this Axapta environment:

Why these games in AX?

Even if this 'museum information' is nice to know of course, the real question is why these games where added in Axapta? Because why are games part of an ERP system? I can't find official sources, but the traditions told me a long time ago: when the Axapta versions came out, not all users were experienced in using computers. They where used to work with pen and paper. And now they had to use a computer with Axapta because the organization management decided to work with an ERP system. This means that users had to get used to a keyboard and a mouse, which they didn't do before.

By incorporating these games in Axapta, Microsoft aimed to provide a more enjoyable learning experience for users to learn how to use the keyboards and the mouses. Just like they needed for working with Axapta.

Maybe you can compare it with the very popular game 'Solitare' which was added in Windows for the same reason.

What can we learn from it for our AI-era?

I don't know how you are doing when it comes to learn how to work with AI, but in my situation it took me quite some time and trial and error before I had my first understandings right about AI. Especially when it came to create the right prompts I had to try and refine a lot to get them better. And I think understanding how to create the right prompts is 90% of the success factor. So what if practicing prompts can be fun and feels like a game?

That's why I always recommend people to use the Microsoft Designer to create images when they want to see the effect of prompts on the result and want to improve their prompts. Because the created pictures show clearly the effect of your prompt on the result. Like I wrote in an earlier LinkedIn post about the following prompts and their results:

• A house:

• A wooden house near a lake behind the mountains, where in the big garden roses bloom:

How more specific your prompt, how more specific the outcome and how better AI results will be. In my case by I use the Microsoft Designer to learn and improve my prompt quality. Because where back in the days the biggest learning point was how to use a keyboard and mouse for being able to use Axapta, in our time it is extremely important to learn how to create good prompts to get the right results when using AI.

And even when creating images is not based on a created real game, making images feels like that to me. And my gaming goal is to make the image as close to my predetermined expectation before the image is created. Or I want to see the effect of typos in the prompt and learn what AI does with it.

I think we all have to invest time to learn how to create AI prompts. And if we do invest time in it, it is not bad when you have some fun by creating nice pictures just like playing the old Axapta games, isn't it?