Extra Extra: World of Warcraft to End Hunger Games

There are a few things that without fail give me goosebumps.  Seeing Doug and Kate complete the Pamchenko in Cutting Edge, walking on crunchy leaves in the fall, and listening to wonderful ideas that connect and resonate.   I just listened to an awesome Ted talk given by Jan McGonigal: (already quite likeable based on her last name alone, but became even more likeable based on her wonderful ideas), "Gaming Can Make a Better World."

Here is the gist:
People spend 3 billion hours a week on gaming.  To solve the world's problems those hours need to increase by 7 times.

What????!!!! Crazy talk?  I don't think so! 

Jane went into the feelings felt during gaming:
1. Urgent optimism
2. Tight Social Fabric
3. Blissful flow
4. Awe-inspiring missions

These feelings allow a person to do amazing things.  But what does it matter if they do amazing things in a game?

It matters because if game developers develop games that are designed in a way where real world issues are handled, people will tackle these problems and the way they solve them can be extrapolated and used. 

Jane developed a cool game called, "Oil shortage, real life without oil."  The participants were immersed in the game and came up with ingenous solutions and actually continued to live in a way that they would not have done based on guilt and just the idea that their lifestyle was bad for the environment.   She also mentioned a tetris like game that led scientist to understand the HIV virus more (foldit).

It's awesome because this is just the beginning of what can be done when we start thinking in this new direction. People are not lazy or stupid.  However, just like children, adults need scaffolding., support that meets them where they're at and pushes them to be greater.   Without scaffolding, frustration and a belief of ineptitude can set in.  Without scaffolding, options are possibilities of actual greatness might never be realized.

So as game designers, we have so much potential to design situations and scenarios that meet people where they are at and allow them to become amazing.


Everythings going to be alright
Reading Dale Carnegie's book, "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living."  And really enjoyed several quotes from the first chapter about living in the moment and was able to sleep 8 hours without waking up once, that Dale is alright! 
"I found it wasn't so hard to live one day at a time," Dale Carnegie
"Tomorrow, do thy worst, for I have lived today," Horace
"Look to this day! For it is life, the very life of life!" Kalidasa

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