“Reality is broken. We need to make it more like a game.”
Those are the words of video game designer, Jane McGonigal. And though the title of her recent TED talk, “Gaming Can Make a Better World“, seems a bit far fetched (gaming…really?), it’s pretty spot on. She explains games are really good at creating four very important things: urgent optimism, a social fabric, blissful productivity, and epic meaning. Combined, these four things create something insanely valuable…super empowered hopeful individuals. So with all of these millions of users all around the world collaborating online with millions of other users around the world, spending tons of hours working to save distant and made up planets, McGonigal posed a simple question: How can we translate these “epic wins” into the real world? Through her research, and through her work and the creation of online games such as Superstruct or World Without Oil, she feels she is beginning to find ways to bridge that gap.
Here’s her explanation:
Amazing. I never really got into the whole video gaming thing, but I couldn’t help but think her theories could be applied to the wider online spectrum, as well. Celebrating epic wins, “blissful productivity”, “urgent optimism”, “super empowered hopeful individuals”…sounds a lot like SuperForest, no? :)
It goes without say, but McGonigal is right. You are the superheroes. And you can (and do) make a difference by changing the world each and every day.
How?
Love to all of you masters of optimism and positive change. Hope you are having an excellent and overall epic day.
-SuperForester Carla
Recent Comments