Ted Talks on Gaming
This week I chose to watch 2 Ted Talks on the impact of gaming.
1) "Gaming Can Make a Better World" by Jane McGonigal (http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html)
- Jane McGonigal, a game designer or 10 years, proposes that investing 21 billion hours a week to solve global problems with online gameplay. My first thought upon hearing her proposal was "This chick is effin' nuts." Being an online gamer, I was quick to disagree. Typically my gaming binges lead me to feel guilty and stressed (mainly because I do it out of procrastination). Jane makes the point that people become so addicted to games like World of Warcraft because of a couple reasons:
- 1) There's a constant feeling of optimism/satisfaction-- Players are always on the verge of an "epic win" because they are posed with problems that are challenging but never too hard to complete. This feeling of gratification tempts gamers to spend more time in their virtual worlds than in their real ones.
- 2) There are MILLIONS of people playing the game at given point in time. The game acts as a social hub, allowing constant collaboration and idea exchange. The pseudo-social interaction allows players to hide behind a virtual face, giving them the opportunity to reinvent themselves and be different than they are in real life.
- Jane mentions that kids who grow up in a strong gamer culture on average play 10,000 hours of online gaming by the time they're 21. That means for most, they're playing and feeling these experiences while their brains are going through some major developmental changes, prompting Jane to ask the question: What are gamers getting good at?
- 1) Urgent Optimism- extreme self motivation
- 2) Social Fabric- We like people better after we paly a game with them, because it takes a lot of trust.
- 3) Blissful productivity - Being happy to work on something you're interested in that promises results.
- Epic Meaning - World of Warcraft is an insanely detailed and complex world.
- All of these things make up a Super Empowered Hopeful Individuals. People who believe they are capable of changing the "world". The problem is that it's the virtual world and not the real world. McGonical offers her games as a solution to this. Games that deal with social issues, and habits that can affect how a player lives their everyday life. I am impressed by this notion, and it's one of the better talks that I've watched.I'm still skeptical of the theory, but I think that it has some promise.
2) "Are Games Better than Life?" by David Perry
- Perry's talk seemed like it would be interesting to me because, being a gamer, I couldn't help but relate to the title of the talk itself. His talk starts with some stats on the video game market. Specifically World of Warcraft, a game that makes 80 million a month in subscriptions and 275 million in first time installations. These stats alone are showing that people invest in this game for a reason. Addicted online gamers spend over 40 hours a week on their online games--as much time as you would spend at a full time job. These gamers start to blur the lines between what's virtual and what's reality. I've personally never been addicted to online gaming but I could understand why some people would be. Perry makes the argument that these new up and coming games seem simple on the surface but in reality the paradigm of video games could open new frontiers to creative minds that like to think "BIG".
- I wasn't particularly moved or impressed by this talk. I understand that lots of people play online games because of what they offer mentally and emotionally, but I do still think that there needs to be more importance put on how these skills and feeling can be transferred to real life and how they can help the people in our society. Being an advocate for gaming means that you have to be ready to explain exactly how this can happen through playing games.
Out of the two talks I definitely enjoyed Jane's talk the most. Her innovative outlook on gaming and how it can help others was refreshing and nice to listen to. It will be cool to see how her research develops and what other games she'll help design that will implement change in our society. That's it for now. I'm going to go indulge in some Skyrim.
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