Game designer Jane McGonigal points out [1] the immense numbers of hours gamers are spending getting good at what they do. World of Warcraft players typically spent 22 hours per week playing that game. What are they getting good at, based upon all of that investment? At what are they becoming virtuosos? McGonigal offers four answers.
a. Urgent optimism;
b. Weaving a tight social fabric;
c. Blissful Productivity
d. Epic meaning.
Gamers, per McGonigal, are “Super-Empowered Hopeful Individuals.” They are convinced that they are excellent at changing the world, and they are good at getting things done, but it is only in their cyber-worlds. They are gaming to escape the dysfunctional real world. What’s McGonigal’s solution?
To make the real world more like a game-world–she argues that gamers are a valuable resource that we need to tap into. We are ready to start an “epic game” where we remake the future. Her games include the following invitations to change one’s world:
A) World without oil – learning to live in a world of Peak Oil.
B) Superstruct – Learning to survive global extinction.
C) Evoke – Learning to teach social innovation skills to aid stressed societies.
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