Visionary game designer Jane McGonigal reveals how we can harness the
power of games to solve real-world problems and boost global happiness.
More than 174 million Americans are gamers, and the average young person
in the United States will spend ten thousand hours gaming by the age of
twenty-one. According to world-renowned game designer Jane McGonigal,
the reason for this mass exodus to virtual worlds is that videogames are
increasingly fulfilling genuine human needs. In this groundbreaking
exploration of the power and future of gaming, McGonigal reveals how we
can use the lessons of game design to fix what is wrong with the real
world.
Drawing on positive psychology, cognitive science, and sociology,
Reality Is Broken uncovers how game designers have hit on core truths
about what makes us happy and utilized these discoveriesto astonishing
effect in virtual environments. Videogames consistently provide the
exhilarating rewards, stimulating challenges, and epic victories that
are so often lacking in the real world. But why, McGonigal asks, should
we use the power of games for escapist entertainment alone? Her research
suggests that gamers are expert problem solvers and collaborators because
they
regularly cooperate with other players to overcome daunting virtual
challenges, and she helped pioneer a fast-growing genre of games that
aims to turn gameplay to socially positive ends.
In Reality Is Broken, she reveals how these new alternate reality games
are already improving the quality of our daily lives, fighting social
problems such as depression and obesity, and addressing vital twenty-first-
century challenges-and she forecasts the thrilling possibilities that lie
ahead. She introduces us to games like World Without Oil, a simulation
designed to brainstorm-and therefore avert- the challenges of a worldwide
oil shortage, and Evoke, a game commissioned by the World Bank Institute
that sends players on missions to address issues from poverty to climate
change.
McGonigal persuasively argues that those who continue to dismiss games
will be at a major disadvantage in the coming years. Gamers, on the other
hand, will be able to leverage the collaborative and motivational power
of games in their own lives, communities, and businesses. Written for
gamers and nongamers alike, Reality Is Broken shows us that the future
will belong to those who can understand, design, and play games.
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