jane-mcgonigal « WordPress.com Tag Feed

Decision making, a cognitive process

adissechen — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 13:59:18 +0000

During this Christmas there will be many more children asking for Xboxs or PS3s than for a new football or rugby boots. Is this a real problem that many more young people are playing increasing amounts of video games? Many people in the past have argued that video games make people violent and want to recreate scenes from the games they play. Although there may be no clear position of “truth” in this debate, i would rather want to try and see the positive side of these games. On the 9th of April 2012, Xbox had sold 57.8 Million Xbox 360 consoles (http://www.statisticbrain.com/xbox-statistics/), excluding original Xbox consoles. What i see in this statistic is that 57.8 million people (perhaps a few less as they are repurchases for broken consoles) have started to train certain areas of their brains to deal with certain types of information faster and with more precision than someone who hasn’t ever played video games in their life. This point of view is not new and is not my own originally but I do believe there is something to it. Here is a bit of a longer video of Jane Mcgonigal (Games designer) explaining how video games can make the world better:

Grateful for...family, friends, fried chicken and freedom!

Ash — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 08:30:43 +0000

In the past, I’ve tried ignoring the holidays because my parents never encouraged me to celebrate them, nor do they care and view it as a a waste of time and money. So these traditional days that people go cookoo over in good ways and bad, (i.e. shooting people out of depression/anxiety?!) they didn’t have an importance in my book. As friends and co-workers were excited to go on vacations out of state or celebrate with family, I was the Grinch who rolled my eyes complaining about wtf I would be doing and/or trying to pick up shifts at work to kill time.

Christmas in particular (especially with holiday music EVERYWHERE) makes me bi-polar. You can catch me merrily singing “The Christmas Song” or “Silent Night” in the car, but on s***** days, I’m thinking about pushing Santa off his sleigh. Internally it has to do with concerns over whether or not I’ve done enough or worked hard enough or, or…if I’m worthy or entitled for more. I ran into some roadblocks a few weeks ago, which made me re-evaluate what I’ve been doing with my life. I concluded that I’m coming into the new year with a positive outlook on what’s to come and what is right in front of me – the present. In addition to watching motivational TedX vids, (thank you Brene Brown) I decided – like just now – that a new year means a new me. It’s the healthiest approach, especially when I’m merely a young lad who is too damn hard on herself. So thanks to Brene, among other TedX speakers, I intend to focus on the 3 to 1 positive emotion ratio in order to add a decade to my life (i.e. Jane McGonigal at TedX). Meaning, for every negative emotion, it will be followed by three positive emotions every day. You can do it every hour, but how exhausting is that?!

Let’s go straight to four positives because I’m greedy! I want to thank my wonderful friends who genuinely helped me through trying times and whom I’ve connected with in many ways. As a downside, when you get used to one another, it’s like you’re an unhappy married couple who knows everything about each other, where there’s no interest or intrigue to sustain the relationship. It thereby becomes a chore and maybe burdensome to see each other. I felt bummed out for a while, as it happened a few times to me. I’m talking about developing a history with someone(s) for 7-11 years and having to let it go because it didn’t make sense to move forward, plus neither person wanted to keep in touch. Can you believe that?! I still can’t. I can move on as long as I don’t listen to that Gotye song, Somebody That I Used to Know Obviously, the ‘want’ is the biggest factor in maintaining any relationship. As long as both members have the desire to keep in touch, they will make the effort. End of story.

Luckily, my experience with these buddies that I met in 2009 is the opposite. Although close-knit, we’re a special group of intelligent and creative people. Plus, they appreciate and/or tolerate my absurd and eccentric behavior – mood swings and upswings! So thank you guys, for a fantastic year and for future years to come. I’m excited to partake in new adventures and pat you on the backs when times get tough. Without realizing it, you’ve helped me grow in ways that I didn’t expect, especially with my hardheaded Louis C.K. attitude on things. I’m honestly flabbergasted.

Louis C.K. on Conan, “Hates Twitter”

That’s a BIG positive. I’m going to add family, fried chicken and freedom as additional positives that make me happy. The freedom part is important because I still have many years ahead of me, and considering that my grandmother is nearly 100, it’s safe to say that I have a long long way to fail, pick myself back up, succeed, have a blast, and go through the cycle over again. Merry Xmas to me. And to (if any) readers, I recommend to slow down enough in order to recognize the joy in these moments. They’re quite precious, you know? Like beautiful weather, delicious frothy lattes, and trying new things like a marathon involving multi-colored corn starch that’s thrown at you. Happy holidays!

Gaming Can Also Make Better Schools

Vincent — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 21:23:20 +0000

Jane McGonigal describes an Epic Win in gamer culture: An outcome that is so extraordinarily positiv

TEDtalks & Healthy Living by Gaming

anniemaeblog — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 17:57:39 +0000

Christmas is the perfect excuse to play games – all sorts.

A lot of people look forward to playing games with their family and friends. (I usually make my siblings play one of our old board games… and then my younger sister and I have some sort of RPG going on the N64 or Gamecube.) We, as a family, like to send each other TEDtalks as well.

This is a TED Talk you don’t necessarily want kids to listen to… before you do! Or else they’ll use their power of persuasion and new found information against you. So, prepare yourself – learn the ways and be wise! Scientifically proven…

Gaming Can Give You 10 Extra Years of Life

(TED = Technology Education and Development = They hold international conferences where people share brilliant ideas in under 22 minutes! )

Jane McGonigal is a brilliant game designer. Her talk inspired me.

I hope it inspires you.

Bursting with Joy

karencatlin — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 15:40:23 +0000

I like speakers who give talks to parenting groups and to professional organizations. They have a me

Is 'Reality Broken'? How One Game Can Change Education For the Better

Debbie Morrison — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 08:05:50 +0000

“Games lubricate the body and the mind.” Benjamin Franklin If Benjamin Franklin were alive today, wh

How fun and games can make a better world, and a better you

The Geek Anthropologist — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 15:00:24 +0000

Among the most common comments about people who like playing video games is that they are wasting their time. In fact, after her first TED talk, in which she argued that video games can make a better world, Jane McGonigal started receiving this comment, in this form or another, repeatedly: on your death-bed, are you really going to wish you’d spent more time playing angry birds?

Even gamers sometimes feel that they are wasting their time playing. This might be common in cases where gaming addiction has developed and gaming doesn’t provide a positive experience anymore, but rather serves as an escape from overwhelming everyday stress and negative emotions. Society also plays a role in making gamers feel guilty, as video games are still commonly referred to as a waste of time.

Over the last few years, however, what was previously a mostly negative perception of video games by scientists, teachers and society in general has switched to a more positive, intrigued and enthusiastic stance. Studies, which previously focused on possible negative outcomes of playing games, often focused on violence, gaming addiction and social ineptitude, either as a topic or a conclusion, now explore the great potential of video games as tools of learning, socialization, improving resiliency and optimism, and changing the world for the better.

I have written about the great potential of games to teach people important attitudes and life-lessons (see My Life Playing Starcraft: or at least 14 years of it). I also presented my own experience of getting (briefly) hooked on WOW and approached the topic of gamification (see Living life in video games and living life like a video game).

The followinf four TED talks focus on the great potential of video games, gamification and the importance of play. These are talks by gaming industry experts and scientists: I guaranty they will not only teach you a lot and cut down on you gamer guilt, they will also make you feel surprisingly good.

Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world

My goal for the next decade is to try to make it as easy to save the world in real life as it is to save the world in online games.

McGonigal’s argument is compelling: she states that in order to make a better world, people should spend more time playing better and bigger video games.

Her research and work as a game designer has led her to see gamers as optimistic, hopeful empowered people. They are resilient and very good at working collaboratively. The challenge, she feels, is to make people feel equally challenged, engaged and motivated by facing real world problems as they are in games. Video games are so rewarding, in fact, that some people choose to spend more time playing them that living their life.

She gives three fascinating examples of how video games can be used to give people the means to tackle real life problems.

Jane McGonigal: The game that can give you 10 extra years of life

When faced with serious depression due to a concussion, McGonigal created a game to help herself get better. Later, when she transformed the game (SuperBetter) and made it available online, she received incredible feedback from people all over the world who were using it to deal with health problems like cancer, depression and terminal illness.

Exploring the top 5 regrets of the dying and the top 5 comments from people playing SuperBetter, she noticed that they were almost exact opposites.

Gabe Zichermann: How Games Make Kids Smarter

Zichermann talks from the perspective of a gamer and gaming entrepreneur and author. In this video, he talks about the potential of video games to provide a fun and motivating learning experience to children. He uses examples that demonstrate that children specifically appreciate the social aspects of games and that playing can help them increase their skills at reading and solving problems.

He also talks about gamification, a process that uses game thinking and mechanics to engage audiences to solve problems and build strong communities. He advocates for the intensification of gamification and suggests that actions people take should be rewarded as they are in games, and that collaboration in particular should be encouraged.

Stuart Brown: Play is more than fun

Dr. Stuart Brown is a psychiatrist who has worked with murderers to document the relations between play deprivation and disorders and behavior. He studied human and wild animal play and is the founder of the National Institute for Play. His studies have led him to argue that play is essential to human and that play deprivation can lead to violent behavior and limit personal development.

In this video, he explains how play contributes to personal growth and success and advocates for a more serious consideration of plays in scientific studies as well as in society.

Will gamification kill productivity ?

Theo Priestley — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:24:35 +0000

Everyone is talking about Gamification. Even the aging analyst crowd are picking up their Atari 2600

Inspirational TED talks

Site Admin — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 16:28:50 +0000

Aleph Molinari: Let’s bridge the digital divide!
Frank Warren: Half a million secrets
Hannah Brencher: Love letters to strangers
Jane McGonigal: The game that can give you 10 extra years of life
John Maeda: How art, technology and design inform creative leaders
Lakshmi Pratury on letter-writing
Laura Trice suggests we all say thank you
Shawn Achor: The happy secret to better work
Steve Case: 10 Unforgettable TEDTalks
TED Playlists | 5 minutes of TEDTalks rated Inspiring

Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity? (huffingtonpost.com)
TED Celebrates 1 billion TEDTalk views (paulspoerry.com)

Dancing for Dinner

Scott Mauer — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 05:29:27 +0000

I had a crisis of faith recently that, as a game maker, I was learning Advanced Knowledge of Human Motivation to use in sneaky ways just to make money. Then Megan asked some really trenchant questions about the reality of Internet Marketing, the ethics of how it pays the bills, how people who consider themselves doing Actual Social Good want to be seen as different, and how much smoke we’re all collectively and individually blowing up our own asses.

“Yes!” I said! “I’m not alone!”

As so often happens, a book I’m reading, Reality is Broken has intriguing and functional answers. Back to that shortly.

We live in a world where we have to pay to eat and have shelter. We can reduce, trade, gift, dumpster-dive, etc., but we haven’t reached the Star Trek ideal of the moneyless world quite yet. And while I have a *lot* of issues with “capitalism” as it’s currently practiced, I *do* think it’s ok to ask that people contribute to get fed. As someone into Permaculture, I know that growing food takes work.

Since I need money to eat, I’m taking Big Risks transitioning from a corporate drone to an Indie game developer. I’m constantly asking the question “”How far am I willing to go in using manipulation techniques to make my games as addictive as possible?” To compete in a market with literally millions of other apps, it *seems* like the answer almost *has* to be,”way further than I’m comfortable with.” And what guarantee do I have that even my very best effort will keep me fed? As I learn more about the crapshoot nature of the industry, the answer I’ve been forced to accept, is “none.” As much as I *hate* the idea of having a Plan B, I’m simply not willing to put my financial life at risk beyond a certain point to achieve my dreams. That means, along with working on my own games, it’s time for me to deliberately cultivate other income streams. I’m tired of being broke and having fear about money make it hard to focus on my Making Games to Change the World.

I can choose to look at this as “I’m being forced by the Man to make money.” Instead, though, I can say “I’d rather find a way to do what I love where at least part of it makes reliable money, so that I have the freedom to compromise *less* on the rest of it.” And that’s an important General Point on “freedom.” Lots of people like to yak about how important freedom is, and I agree, it’s *really* important. But since the first freedom is to starve and die, I think it’s time to trade some liberty for security.

So back to Reality is Broken and the question “how do I make money ethically?” A Big Answer, it seems, is “if what you’re doing actually helps a lot of other people, you will want for nothing.” Instead of taking people away from reality, games can and do enhance it. Instead of isolating people, they often bring them together. Instead of disconnecting people from reality, games often not only help us feel less alone while we’re playing them, but actually *improve* an introverts ability and motivation to interact with real people. And instead of distracting us from what’s important, by making things we already want to do more like a game, we make them easier and more fun to do. And, perhaps most importantly, instead of simply zapping aliens, we can concentrate the single largest voluntary workforce in human history on whatever problem we turn into a game. Think that’s a small group of nerdy guys with glasses?

Think again.

Don’t buy it? I didn’t, either. You’ll have to read the book.

And in all cases, the cards are all on the table. No one is hiding the fact that quirks of human nature are being used to change the equation, because they’re being used by people for their own benefit. And a *major* personal goal of mine is to educate my players about how it all works along the way.

Succeeding by leaving game addicts and socially disconnected people in my wake seems unlikely to earn me a Nobel Laureate Ceremony, depriving me of an important opportunity to appear in public naked. However, if that same knowledge is used honestly and transparently, to *help* people achieve what they want, to create Social Good and More Happiness, that’s *fucking* *awesome*. Not to mention completely ethical and profitable. These quirks of human nature are part of us. We can’t suddenly decide to not be scared of bears or juggle more than eight or ten things mentally at once or stop loving someone just because it’s inconvenient. What we can do, though, is understand those same quirks and *mindfully* and transparently use them to our own advantage. Then *everybody* wins, and not just individually, but collectively.

The only thing between us and solving huge problems is a little gaming.

Got a quarter?

The Game That Can Give You 10 Extra Years of Life

ambie22 — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 03:05:18 +0000

This video is pretty lengthly and her speaking voice is distracting to me, but I think the message i

Making Making Games a Game

Scott Mauer — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 00:32:11 +0000

I’m currently reading and loving Reality it Broken by Jane McGonigal. The Big Realization I’ve had while reading it is that the best way to keep my momentum in making games moving is by making the process itself a game. Why? Because, at the end of the day, games are a collection of techniques for making work fun. And make no mistake, games *are* work. In fact, if they’re not, they’re boring. The psychology of gaming is all the tools of human motivation, carefully distilled, and used to create an experience that is fun, focused, meaningful, social, and rewarding. If you take any given important task, and make it game, you make it easier and more fun to do by tapping into the same parts of the brain that makes games so entertaining and addicting. When your biggest issues in getting any given task done are focus and feeling like each step is contributing to a larger whole, it’s a perfect solution. And those are *exactly* my biggest issues!

So the question is, how to do it? I might have more details once I finish the book, but I can already feel the wheels turning. The Bigger Game would be the Financial Independence Game, where every other Mini-game, such as the Creating My Next App Game, contributes to this larger whole. Even larger would be the Making the World a Better Place Game, which both would contribute to.

So what makes a game? McGonigal claims:

When you strip away the genre differences and the technological complexities, all games share four defining traits: a goal, rules, a feedback system, and voluntary participation.

So in the coming days, I’m going to re-interpret my life as several games. I’m also thinking there might be a coaching lurking in this idea somewhere, where I could help *other* people do the same thing with their own projects.

I have this odd feeling, that I haven’t had in a long time, that I’m going to need *paper* to properly begin this process.

Where does one get paper?

SuperBetter Activity On-line

Natalya — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 22:08:10 +0000

After yesterday’s post I felt I ought to attempt to be more positive so I’m sharing a li

411Man Tech - The secret to adding 10 more years to your life...

twowheelforeigner — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 17:56:57 +0000

411Man,

Being silent does not imply that we have been ignoring our duties as harvesters of vital information that we know every 411Man needs, wants and deserves.

If, for whatever reason, you are not a community member of TED as of yet, then open a new tab and get your “register” on!

We came across an incredible talk by a “sunshine futurist” named Jane McGonigal. What the hell is a “Sunshine Futurist”, you may be asking yourself, well simply put it is someone that offers you an emotional opportunity to move forward into your future for the immediate better. Don’t think too much about this but rather sit back relax and indulge in this incredible talk brought to you by TED.com (Snap those fingers Ed…!)

411Ed.

Crisis of Faith and Faith Reborn

Scott Mauer — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 03:40:56 +0000

After publishing Zen Fire, I realized that it had been so long since I played games regularly that I didn’t really feel qualified to keep making them. So I decided to go on tour and revisit many of my favorite games of the past, plus check out some of the recent offerings in the industry.

I discovered something odd. While I often enjoyed playing the games, I didn’t like who I was when I was playing them. I became hyperactive, egocentric, short-tempered, megalomaniacal, and self-critical. In short, anti-Buddhist. Not *all* games make me feel that way, and my recent battles with Seasonal Effective Disorder and the depression that comes with it were also in the mix. But I had to ask myself, “Is this really the transformation I want to inspire in other people?”

Even a cursory read through any gaming design theory emphasizes the paramount importance of making games as addictive as possible. As someone who has experienced long-term video game addiction, Only the inexperienced imagine that quitting heroin or smoking is any harder. I was full aware that I was destroying my school career, my romantic relationship, and almost anything else of real value in my life, and it was only a tiny, tiny part of me that still cared. When I finally quit, the feeling of loss was so overpowering that it felt like 90% of my reason for living was gone. Everything else, including school, eating, relationships, *and* fighting the addition long enough to escape it, had to come out of that remaining 10%. For the Rest of My Life to slowly re-inflated back to normal took months. Was this an extreme case? Yes and No. Do I want to do this to someone else?

No.

Added onto the fact that I really don’t play games much myself anymore, I had to ask myself, “why am I doing this?” Particularly, why am I doing this when I’m taking a substantial financial and career risk for something so unpredictable and potentially unethical?

If the answer were as clear cut as some gaming critics claim it is, there wouldn’t be any conflict. But games and gaming *do* have real value, and they are as much a part of being human as friendship, family, and community, and play integral roles in all those relationships. But it was still hard to get behind what I was doing with these doubts in my mind, and I knew that my success was 100% dependent on the laser-like focus of Total Commitment.

One idea I’d had for a while was to create games that *teach* people about all the techniques of manipulation that are being fielded against them. I also want to teach people about politics (where similar techniques have always been used) and things that would make a real difference in their lives but that they have trouble with emotionally like budgeting. These were all good ideas, but perversely, they weren’t something I felt like doing for my First Major Project.

But, thanks to Jane McGonigal, I think I’ve found the Path to Redemption. In her book Reality is Broken, she shows how people are already starting to use the billions of hours per week (no exaggeration) that people devote to gaming to solve real world problems. People are never going to stop playing games (the book claims that 97% of US children play games), but the things that make gaming so much fun can be used to help motivate us to do great things in real life. In fact, the neuroscience of what makes games so enjoyable is actually about the most cutting edge of any of its kind, and there’s no reason those techniques can’t be used to make positive changes in the real world. Two excellent examples are Jane’s own Superbetter, a game that helps injured and sick people recover and achieve physical and emotional goals, and the World Peace Game, a hands-on 3-level model where elementary school children take on the roles of world leaders in order to solve all the same problems that have plagued us throughout history. Can you imagine what the world would be like if everyone did *that* in primary school?

And there’s one Big Thing I’m realizing, despite having not finished the book. I already had an inkling of how this might work after playing the fabulous Game Dev Story, an adorable (and addictive!) game about making games.

What I really need to do to overcome my lack of focus is to transform the process not only of game-making, but of my entire life and career change, into a game.

Stay tuned for details!

#1ReasonWhy (A Female Perspective on Sexism in Gaming)

Rade — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 10:28:17 +0000

One tweet stirred something in the Twitter-verse today…

Why are there so few lady game creators?
—
Luke Crane (@Burning_Luke) November 26, 2012

This seemingly harmless question into women in a male-dominated workforce has seen thousands of women confess to trying to get a foot in, but get shut down by male co-workers. A lot of it is sickening.

@Filamena wrote that expos are dangerous for her as she’s been groped and she’s not the only one who spoke up on the #1ReasonWhy hash tag. One user told a short story of how she told her managers about how she was sexually harassed then was labelled “Volatile” for the rest of her time at that workplace.

Because conventions, where designers are celebrated, are unsafe places for me. Really. I've been groped. #1reasonwhy
—
(@filamena) November 26, 2012

I was told that you don't need a woman to be involved in writing romantic games for women, that a gay wan is just as good. #1reasonwhy
—
(@filamena) November 26, 2012

Normally, sexism doesn’t bother me. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that it’s always going to exist in some way, shape or form. But I’m reading these stories from journalists, designers, coders from an industry that I want to get into; from an industry that is my biggest hobby; and I’m starting to second guess myself. Do I want to work in an industry or for a company that sees this issue as just a nothing issue?

It’s thoroughly disheartening to see women talk about how they have to prove their intelligence isn’t hindered by her sex or how we’re sexually harassed at shows or online. Since women are seen as equals in most industries (I don’t say all, because let’s face it, we aren’t), why aren’t we seen as equal in an industry that is trying to reach more women?

Some good has come from this discussion: #1ReasonMentors began. Women who are already in the industry reaching out to other women who want a way in. Providing help in whatever way they can. It’s nice to see that while it was spawned from such disgusting tales of misogyny, we’re finding a silver lining.

#1reasonmentors - If there is anything I can help with, I will help. I want to give other people a chance!
—
Rowan Cota (@sweetpavement) November 27, 2012

I hope that one day women in the industry don’t have to be silent or wait till the obvious question is asked to raise our voices against this kind of thing. It’ll be a good day.

Very relevant: Too Many Reasons Why.

Gaming can make a better world!

darnhem — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 12:04:04 +0000

“Games like World of Warcraft give players the means to save worlds, and incentive to learn the habits of heroes. What if we could harness this gamer power to solve real-world problems? Jane McGonigal says we can, and explains how.”

I thought this video was very interesting. I didn’t know that there is a whole idea behind a game to learn people life lessons. Once you start thinking about it, you find out that this is true. You also can think about boardgames or sports. An example is Monopoly. In this game you learn to handle money.

If you want to know more about this read the book: Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They
Can Change the World from Jane McGonigal.

I didn’t read it yet, but this one is also definetly on my booklist!

Love,
Denise

Thankful #2

Noah Blumenthal — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 11:06:03 +0000

My second Thanksgiving week thankfulness post.

Thank you TED.

If you don’t already know, TED is a conference that features some of the most extraordinary speakers you will ever find, and the speeches, ranging from 6-18 minutes, are posted online and free to view.

TED is enriching in so many ways and I am thankful I live in an age where this is available. Here are three of my recent favorites.

Thank you Amy Cuddy. I had my whole family watch this. Amy Cuddy provides a simple technique you can take to improve your mood and performance and decrease your stress. It takes two minutes and it feels great. Thank you Amy Cuddy.

Thank you Jane McGonigal. How do you feel about playing games? How about living longer? This video shows how the one leads to the other. Thank you Jane McGonigal.

Thank you Daphne Koller. What if you wanted college education but couldn’t have it. Because you can’t afford it or couldn’t apply or already graduated but still want to take more classes. What if you could still go . . . and attend the classes of the best professors on the planet . . . and do it for free, from your living room. Thank you Daphne Koller.

Game is educational, but education isn't a game

FedDan — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 21:29:08 +0000

Welcome gamers and players, just my 2 cents on a question I really care: someone says that, by playi

The Gamification of Business

MRABizBlog — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 14:39:14 +0000

Published in Inside HR: From the Top, November 20, 2012

Article by George Blomgren

By 2010, the amount of time World of Warcraft fans had spent on their favorite game collectively exceeded the amount of time humans have been around.

That’s just one of many staggering ideas presented in the book Reality Is Broken by Jane McGonigal. The book reflects the growing impact that gaming (primarily video and online) is having on our culture. Here’s another interesting statistic: In 2009, a scientific journal reported poll results indicating that 61 percent of CEOs, CFOs, and other senior executives reported daily gaming breaks at work. One commented that it provided a sense of “accomplishment.”

We can criticize this as wasted time and effort, or, as Reality Is Broken does, we can ask what we can learn from it. Games are compelling, even addictive—what can we borrow from the design principles that make them so? How can we apply gaming principles to real world problems? Reality Is Broken doesn’t specifically look at how this idea applies to business, but there are some interesting possibilities:

Recruiting experts are already predicting the “gamification” of recruiting, and at least one Facebook-based recruiting app is starting to…to continue reading, click here.

live a longer life ...

coachwithheart — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 14:32:27 +0000

“The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way that we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it. Throw yourself.”
C. JoyBell C.

What if you could live longer? Would that be something you would be interested in? Some people would be. Some people would love to live a few years longer.

Jane McGonigal, a game developer would argue that playing games can add time to your life. She uses the premise that people who are at the end of their life often have some regrets. The Guardian reports that people do have end of life regrets. They regret working so hard. They regret not spending time with friends and family. They regret not the person they weren’t meant to be. They regret not being happier.

If you could do your life over again what would you do different? Well today is that day you can start living the life you want to do. Yeah, yeah, yeah, there are reasons you can’t do what you really were meant to do. There are reasons you can’t live a happier life (you like being miserable). There are reasons you can be the person who you really are (you’ve developed a persona that every one knows and you don’t want them to know the real you). There are “buts”, lots of buts why you can’t do what you really want to do.

Think about it. How many times during the day do you use the word “but”? Just try observing the number of times you use the word “but”. I could …. “but”. How many times do you use the word but? But’s become a convenient way for not something that would move you forward in life. But …

If you can live without “buts” then you can live a longer life.

Now, what can you do to add more to your life? Take a look at Jane McGonigal’s TED talk, and add minutes to your life today. TODAY!

Gaming and Education — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 05:14:21 +0000

Reblogged from Classroom Aid:

Some of the best and brightest minds in engineering, education, sociology, and computer science have been analyzing how to build, improve, and understand games for several decades. Their research has helped to yield games that are more effective (not to mention fun) than ever and that reflect our changing relationship with technology. Our friends at Online Universities have compiled a list of greatest gaming scholars…

Reality is Broken: The Fixes (Spoiler Alert!)

wyatthalliwel — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 09:43:48 +0000

In Jane McGonigal’s book Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, she puts forth a number of “fixes” for reality to make them more like games. While I highly recommend reading her arguments and examples supporting each fix, I’ve been unable to find them neatly in one place, so here all 14 of them are: *spoilers ahead*

Unnecessary Obstacles: Compared with games, reality is too easy. Games challenge us with voluntary obstacles and help us put our personal strengths to better use.
Emotional Activation: Compared with games, reality is depressing. Games focus our energy, with relentless optimism, on something we’re good at and enjoy.
More Satisfying Work: Compared with games, reality is unproductive. Games give us clearer missions and more satisfying, hands-on work.
Better Hope of Success: Compared with games, reality is hopeless. Games eliminate our fear of failure and improve our chances for success.
Stronger Social Connectivity: Compared with games, reality is disconnected. Games build stronger social bonds and lead to more active social networks. The more time we spend interacting within our social networks, the more likely we are to generate a subset of positive emotions known as “prosocial emotions.”
Epic Scale: Compared with games, reality is trivial. Games make us a part of something bigger and give epic meaning to our actions.
Wholehearted Participation: Compared with games, reality is hard to get into. Games motivate us to participate more fully in whatever we’re doing.
Meaningful Rewards When We Need Them Most: Compared with games, reality is pointless and unrewarding. Games help us feel more rewarded for making our best effort.
More Fun With Strangers: Compared with games, reality is lonely and isolating. Games help us band together and create powerful communities from scratch.
Happiness Hacks: Compared with games, reality is hard to swallow. Games make it easier to take good advice and try out happier habits.
A Sustainable Engagement Economy: Compared with games, reality is unsustainable. The gratifications we get from playing games are an infinitely renewable resource.
More Epic Wins: Compared with games, reality is unambitious. Games help us define awe-inspiring goals and tackle seemingly impossible social missions together.
Ten Thousand Hours Collaborating: Compared with games, reality is disorganized and divided. Games help us make a more concerted effort–and over time, they give us collaboration superpowers.
Massively Multiplayer Foresight: Reality is stuck in the present. Games help us imagine and invent the future together.

Personally, I feel two important fixes are missing from McGonigal’s list:

Always Fresh: Compared with games, reality is repetitive. Games layer novel twists upon familiar rules to keep us constantly engaged.
Never Frozen: Compared with games, reality is poorly paced. There are hardly ever moments in games when there’s no objective to achieve, no level to beat, or no achievement to unlock (except for the end of course). Games make it easy for us to live productive lives, or at least feel like we are.

What do you think of my additions? Are there any important fixes missing that you would like to add? (An actual detailed analysis of the book is in the works.)

Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world

wyatthalliwel — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 08:58:01 +0000

As an inspiring, but perhaps a tad idealistic, introduction to the field of gamification and its aspirations, listen to Jane McGonigal discuss her research about the numerous ways reality is broken. Can gaming really be used to solve real-world problems?

Who Needs Game Designers?

bfend — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 13:34:57 +0000

Minecraft (Photo credit: State Farm) For me this week has been full of conversations about ga