Phil Hopkins
ENG 102
Ms. Diprince
1-26-12
Jane McGonigal’s presentation, “Gaming can make a better world,” is very well put together. McGonigal’s idea is that video games increase problem solving skills and form better people. These people are then more likely to solve the world’s problems, so society needs to increase the amount of time playing video games. McGonigal, being in the gaming industry, may have some biases which affect her motives for giving this presentation, but she discusses an economist’s view that is parallel to her own and gives stories of Herodotus to prove her point, which greatly increases her credibility and removes some doubt of her bias in the concept. McGonigal suggests that the evolution of the human race is to become like a video game player, and this becomes her thesis: Video game players have “urgent optimism,” which means they are optimistic but want to get things done in the moment; “social fabric,” meaning they strengthen their relationships with other humans through these games; “blissful productivity,” meaning they are happy while they are being incredibly productive with their goals in mind; and “epic meaning,” referring to the ultimate goal of saving the world or doing something amazing that makes the game worth playing. McGonigal claims these traits are the future of humanity and that they are good for humanity. To go about this, McGonigal asks that our gaming, which is currently 3 billion hours per week, be increased to 21 billion hours per week, which is one hour per day for half of the world population. This idea, which appears difficult or impossible, is supported by her presenting of new gaming consoles that use less energy and can be played by those in developing countries. Overall, McGonigal’s presentation is excellent, but her ideas are hard to achieve in this day and age and her potential bias still may cause a viewer to not pay enough attention to what she is saying.
Works Cited
"Jane McGonigal: Gaming Can Make a Better World." YouTube. N.p., 17 Mar. 2010. Web. 26 Jan. 2012.
I agree that the concept offered by Jane McGonigal is on the cutting edge of problem resolution in the real world; however, if people follow her direction and go along with gaming in the billions of hours of play that she suggests, we may stumble upon something worthwhile. I for one do not have the time to participate in such massive gaming arenas, yet many people do. The feelings of accomplishment that go along with McGonigal's ideas are a crowd pleasing task and could easily become the reason to join in on such a venture. Americans are known as people pleasers for the most part. I would love to be a part of an undertaking that would net resolve some the world's most urgent problems, yet I am inclined to leave such to the gamers and the youth.
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