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Playing Well Together: Jane McGonigal Thinks Gamers Can Save The World

Surely games — video or otherwise — can better our lives in some ways, can’t they?
Janus Rose
New York, US

When the media got bored with blaming violent crime on MTV and rap music back in the late 90's, videogames were a convenient replacement as the culture crime of choice. In the years that followed, pop scientists, pandering politicians and various other moral crusader know-nothings across the country made sure that games remained mired in the thick, yucky soup of negativity.

But now the tides are turning. Surely games — video or otherwise — can better our lives in some ways, can't they?

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They sure can. And according to game designer and researcher Jane McGonigal, all we need to do to make it happen is embrace what we've known all along: Games are awesome, and playing them makes us … well, more awesome.

It's Game Time

Collectively, the human race currently spend around 3 billion hours per week playing games. But McGonigal says that's not nearly enough. If she had her way, we'd be playing a grand total of 21 billion hours per week.

That's a lot of game time. But if you're still asking "how are we suppose to get anything done?," you're missing the point — Playing games is a constructive activity. In fact it's perhaps the most productive thing we can do with our time according to McGonigal, and she's got 10 years of research data to back it up.

Jane The Concussion Slayer

Jane McGonigal doesn't just love games — she believes in them. Like many who played Valve's hit first-person puzzle game Portal, McGonigal was driven by the powerful optimism that games evoke in us. "I believed the cake wasn't a lie," she tells a crowd of thousands. "I had my fork ready." It's this infectiously positive thinking that McGonigal says can cause gamers to mirror their achievements in the real world.

During her keynote at PAX East, which brought just under 70,000 gamers to Boston last week, McGonigal recounted the story told in her TED talk, of how a devastating concussion robbed her of her ability to read, write, speak and even think, driving her headlong into depression. But even in her handicapped state, she knew there was only one thing she could do to get better: Make a game out of it.

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And that's exactly what she did. The resultant game, SuperBetter, did what all games do best: engage and challenge the player in ways that evoke optimism — not negativity — through purpose and problem-solving. As her game alter ego, "Jane The Concussion Slayer," she set tasks, or "quests," for herself, her family and her friends to embark on that would help her through her period of illness.

You Gotta Believe

And it worked. It was then she realized that games are far too powerful to be merely diversions — they can be gateways to accomplishing real life goals, empowering us to attempt things we'd otherwise be too scared or unmotivated to try.

Citing a recent study of 7,000 gamers who play instrument rhythm games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, McGonigal says that 67% were inspired to learn a real instrument after playing with the plastic ones. Additionally, 76% of players who already had musical training spent more time practicing their craft after testing their skills in the videogame version.

But what is it exactly that games are evoking within us that enhances our willpower and abilities? McGonigal cites one very important bi-product of gaming that grants players immense power: Eustress.

Eustressin' Me Out

It's probably easier to see eustress than describe it. McGonigal encapsulated it best in her presentation by showing those whacked-out photos of people playing games, like the one above. But eustress is essentially what it sounds like — "good stress." It's the feeling of "urgent optimism" and heightened awareness you experience by playing games; the tension felt when you attempt a risky maneuver to pick up a rare item or frantically attempt to line up a headshot while under fire, for example.

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By studying the "faces" of eustress, physiological links are established in facial features that directly correlate to optimism. Gaming, as it turns out, is a largely optimistic activity. We are positive and hopeful when we game, knowing that we have a decent shot at success as dictated by the game's rules. And because we're positive, it gives us this strong drive to keep trying over and over, even if the task at hand may have otherwise seemed hopeless.

Becoming A Contagious Vector of Awesome

But games don't just make you optimistic — They cause you to exude positivity. Or as McGonigal puts it, they turn you into "a contagious vector of awesome."

A Harvard study shows that strong feelings like the optimism produced playing games will rub off on about six people. Think about how you feel when you see someone else solving problems and overcoming challenges in a game — it makes you want to take up arms and achieve some goals of your own.

This can spread indefinitely, creating an epidemic of motivated positivity. It's this part in particular that McGonigal is betting on — the fact that this proactive mindset will spread rampantly and with little effort.

With Great Power Comes Overused Movie Quotes

Okay. So playing games gives us this super-enhanced sense of empowerment and optimism and motivates an urgent need to solve problems in ourselves and others. But what good does it do if the problems we're solving are all in World of Warcraft?

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McGonigal compares this to that scene in the first Spider-Man movie — you know, before Peter Parker catches tap-dancing emo germs from outer space — where our hero uses his newly gained powers to fight in an ECW-style cage match. (Cue the smart-aleck in the audience who shouts "BONE SAWWWWWW!" much to the delight of his ten thousand-or-so peers)

Basically, that's how gamers are right now according to McGonigal. We've got these cool gaming "powers," but we're using them for, well, gaming. McGonigal says its time we start looking at real world problems the same way we look at those in games. That way, our most challenging issues become exercises in collaborative problem-solving, spurred by this pervasive optimism that allows us to work tirelessly toward our goals.

VS. The Cynics

There are a lot of blanks left in McGonigal's proposal. And while it's nice to believe that the gamers of the world could band together in such a positive way, the reality of videogame culture seems very different from the one she describes.

Let's face it: Despite what positivity they may exude while playing, gamers have always been a particularly jaded, cynical bunch. We bitch and moan when the online multiplayer in Marvel Vs Capcom 3 is not to our liking. We shout, troll and bicker with our peers on internet forums about which games suck/rule and all other manner of game-related minutiae. And sometimes we're just downright out of control. It would seem McGonigal is focused on a very specific instance of positivity that, while significant in its own right, doesn't seem to do much to diminish this established culture of negativity.

Still, I want to say that she's right. Maybe if real-life were more game-like these positive qualities could take hold and become more prevalent. But it's also about realizing the value of 'play'; this opportunity we're given of 'practicing' to do something great by exploring and experimenting. Even if they don't save the world, games are still an invaluable method of helping us understand it.