Jane McGonigal believes gaming can change the world. In her 20-minute TED talk, she discusses the opportunities that video games and gamers have to make a positive impact on society, and what skills we as gamers have been honing our whole lives that make us the perfect candidates for solving some of the world’s biggest problems. One of these skills, or what Jane refers to as “super powers,” is “Blissful Productivity,” or a strong desire to be productive. Think of the toughest game you’ve ever beaten, and you’ll understand exactly what this means. Remember the frustration you experienced? Yet, you persevered, did you not? When a gamer conquers a difficult objective, the reward is in simply having been successful at seeing the mission through to its completion.
Another super power that Jane says every life-long gamer has is referred to as “Urgent Optimism.” You were able to complete that difficult task because you knew that it was possible. The word “impossible” has been stricken from every gamer’s vocabulary. This urgent optimism compels gamers to face some of the most unfavorable odds. But difficult situations are not even required for this optimism to really shine; gamers experience this optimism before they even play a game. This is the number one reason why pre-order sales of anticipated games are typically so successful.
Jane also refers to the average gamer’s ability to find “Epic Meaning” in every game. Furthermore, Jane believes that gamers become paragons of society, or the best versions of themselves, when playing games. Video games give gamers the motivation to achieve something meaningful. When we play a game, most of us understand that the character whose role we are assuming is out to do something for the greater good. Here are some examples: In the Mass Effect trilogy by Bioware, the hero battles an evil alien race to save the entire galaxy. Whether you as the gamer choose to be a “renegade” or a “paragon,” the outcome is the same. What about Mario? He first set out to save one princess from the clutches of the “evil” Bowser. He wasn’t out to save the universe, but his pursuit was noble, nevertheless.
Finally, and possibly most importantly, is every gamer’s ability to establish a strong “Social Fabric” with other gamers. When every gamer shares these abilities in common (Blissful Productivity, Urgent Optimism, Epic Meaning), it only makes sense that they would come together online and share in the bonds of heroism. Anyone who has ever played a cooperative game online with others, or even a team-based competitive game, knows how true this concept is. Online video games have brought gamers from all over the world together in pursuit of common goals. Online gamer values transcend ethnicity and gender. It’s all about sharing in the experience.
So what does this mean for the real world? It goes without saying that, as far as video gamers are concerned, these “super powers” are irrelevant if we cannot apply them to real world situations. The secret is in the game, of course. In 2010, Jane collaborated with the World Bank Institute and the World Bank Group to create an online social networking game called “Evoke.” Marketed as “A Crash Course in Changing the World,” Evoke was designed to motivate gamers towards utilizing their learned skills in gaming for real world applications. Players engaged the Evoke network by submitting blogs, videos, or photos that pertained to real world problems and situations. These submissions would then receive votes from other Evoke members, which created a point system for leveling up “Evoke Powers,” such as sustainability, entrepreneurship, and vision, to name a few. Top players earned professional mentorships, seed funding, and travel scholarships aimed at helping them achieve their vision of the future.
Jane isn’t the only one who feels that gamers and video games can have a positive impact on society. According to the Entertainment Software Association, there have been many games in recent history geared towards educating the public on a myriad of various social, educational, and political issues. These games focus on issues such as raising overall awareness on the issue of Genocide in Sudan (Darfur is Dying) to educating children on world hunger (Food Force).
Personally, I believe video games will always serve as an excellent source of entertainment, first and foremost. However, that does not in any way dilute the power that video games have insofar as educating the masses. I have always been a hands on learner, and I believe I would have absorbed a great deal more of my K-12 education had it been presented to me in an interactive and entertaining way. It’s about time that society accept this one important truth: not only are video games here to stay, but also the number of real world applications for interactive software is staggering, and we need to utilize this potential immediately.
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