Jane McGonigal

A visionary game designer explains how video games are increasingly fulfilling genuine human needs, revealing how to use the lessons of game design to address pressing real-world issues, from mental illness to social disparities.

Why Games Make Us Better and how They Can Change the World

Reality is Broken

We are living in a world full of games.More than 31 million people in the UK are gamers. The average young person will spend 10,000 hours gaming by the age of twenty-one. The future belongs to those who play games.In this ground-breaking book, visionary game designer Jane McGonigaI challenges conventional thinking and shows that games - far from being simply escapist entertainment - have the potential not only to radically improve our own lives but to change the world.

Michael Springer

I love Jane McGonigal's creativity in finding ways to reinvent gaming. She is clearly an intensely creative designer with an eye on the bigger picture of what games might be able to help the human race accomplish.

That said, I felt the potential was being overstated through a glossing over of details. Here's my favorite example (and this is a paraphrasing):

According to a book called Outliers, people who are absolutely brilliant at something have invested roughly 10,000 hours in developing the skill by the time they are 21. Since the 80's, 21-year-olds have on average spent 10,000 hours playing video games. Therefore, many people are brilliant at the skills taught by video games.

Video games, among other things, teach cooperation and collaboration. Therefore, we have tons of people who are absolutely brilliant at collaboration. These people can use their powers of collaboration to save the world if given the right context for doing so.

Here's the problem I'm seeing in sentence 3: As far as I can tell, video games teach a broad range of skills because they are different from one another. While my time playing strategy games has developed a certain skill set, my time playing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game has taught me about timing, and about how many times you have to jump-kick Rocksteady in his head to kill him. Granted, if someone spent 10,000 hours playing World of Warcraft, they would undoubtedly be a brilliant WoW-player, and would know all the ins and outs of raiding, duels, guild dynamics, and a variety of other complex skills.

But if you've spent 10,000 hours playing Resident Evil, you're just good at killing zombies with a knife. This skill could come in handy during the inevitable zombie apocalypse, but it's not collaboration. In summary, it doesn't make sense to say all of your gaming experience is building upon the same skill. This is like saying 10,000 hours spent in national parks makes you a brilliant botanist.

That aside, I really find what I learned in this book invaluable. Reading about the innovative games that have been created for the sake of (a) making people happier, (b) enhancing reality, and (c) saving the world, has given me a lot of new ideas to think about in my search for ways to teach sustainability through video games. Now, I realize that some people are already finding new solutions to environmental problems through creative gaming. This is an incredibly inspiring thought. 

My favorite new discovery is the game now known as "Sparked." In this game, you are a superhero capable of rescuing real people with real problems. Players can broadcast their availability to save the day, as well as things they need in order to be 'rescued.' In real life, you are capable of helping people who for one reason or another are unable to accomplish something on their own, and you can gain recognition and "level up" as a superhero through these efforts. 

Really, this game does nothing but make it easier and more fun to help complete strangers. And this is awesome. 

Jane McGonigal views game design as a dynamic field which has more untapped potential than any other medium for making social change. On this, I totally agree. If you're a gamer, or someone who is under the mistaken impression that games are a waste of time, read this book.

Ryan LaFerney

The arguement in McGonigal's Reality is Broken is a rather simple one: we slake our miseries with imagined worlds. In the case of the 21st Century, the imagine worlds are electronic games and they have the potential to not only produce happiness but to also change the world. Video games, on-line games are not merely escapists means of ignoring reality but one that is more satisfying and has the capabilities to make us a better species. I'm not sure if I busy her optimistic narrative of digital gameplay. The fact that hard work at activities that provide their own reward (such as electronic games) can deliver real happiness is a contentious one. What happens when a game ends? Do we truly feel satisfied? Furthermore do they make us ethically better (take for instance, violent video games)?
According to McGonigal, electronic games, seen in this light, are not just a medium or even an art form. They are potent engines for creating and enhancing emotional experience: for making our lives "better". But are they?
We crave, she argues, "satisfying work" (which I agree with) that allows us to be "optimistic about our own chances for success"; that involves "social connection"; and that allows us to feel "curiosity, awe and wonder". I agree wholeheartedly with this. I am just not sure if electronic gameplay has reached an era where the good (psychologically speaking) outweighs the bad but I admire McGonigal's vision.
This book does a great job at describing various types of game play but sort of rambles on. I sped read most of the book as many of her conclusions felt simplistic to me and easy to grasp.

Andy Sporring

It was just a great book, if your sick or recovering from illness this book really helps you!

Nelson Zagalo

Deceptive book. The work in game design done by McGonigal is really great. However the way she has chosen to explain the impact of gamification in the world is really poor, and needed much more in depth tought about how reality is made.

Anális em português: http://virtual-illusion.blogspot.com/...

João Maia

It’s a long long book that could be condensed in 2/3! Too many details on the games examples, but a good framework to start with.

Marcos Silva

Interesting view comparing the "game life" with the "real life". Basically, real life is boring (which is in some aspects) and the game life is full of challenges. The book tries to pick up interesting aspects of games and correlate or apply it in real life situations.
It's like a self-help book based on games concepts. If you enjoy games, it's an interesting reading.

Magdalene Lim

I enjoyed reading this. Overly optimistic, yes but I must say McGonigal's passion for games/video games is quite infectious.

Tanner Christensen

Simon Lund Larsen

Yasser Yahia

Danté

“McGonigal is a clear, methodical writer, and her ideas are well argued. Assertions are backed by countless psychological studies.” —The Boston Globe “Powerful and provocative . . . McGonigal makes a persuasive case that games have a lot to teach us about how to make our lives, and the world, better.” —San Jose Mercury News “Jane McGonigal's insights have the elegant, compact, deadly simplicity of plutonium, and the same explosive force.” —Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother A visionary game designer reveals how we can harness the power of games to boost global happiness. With 174 million gamers in the United States alone, we now live in a world where every generation will be a gamer generation. But why, Jane McGonigal asks, should games be used for escapist entertainment alone? In this groundbreaking book, she shows how we can leverage the power of games to fix what is wrong with the real world-from social problems like depression and obesity to global issues like poverty and climate change-and introduces us to cutting-edge games that are already changing the business, education, and nonprofit worlds. Written for gamers and non-gamers alike, Reality Is Broken shows that the future will belong to those who can understand, design, and play games. Jane McGonigal is also the author of SuperBetter: A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver and More Resilient.

Reality is Broken Why Games Make Us Better and how They Can Change the World

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