Visionary game designer Jane McGonigal reveals how we can harness the power of games to solve real-world problems and boost global happiness. read full description
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Feb 08, 2011
MJ
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I’m in two minds about this ambitious beast. On the one hand, the author is clearly bonkers and operating on an epic bandwidth of partial megalomania. On the other hand, her enthusiasm and spirit of uncrushable optimism is a reassuring and powerful thing.
So. What to do? I love the premise of this book—taking games beyond the world of isolationist escapism and applying them to our real lives to bring some of their imaginative wonder to the world. I love some of her ideas. I find her r More...
So. What to do? I love the premise of this book—taking games beyond the world of isolationist escapism and applying them to our real lives to bring some of their imaginative wonder to the world. I love some of her ideas. I find her r More...
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Dec 30, 2011
Erin
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I went into this book with a high degree of cynicism. I think video games are fine in moderation but…video games can change the world? Really? In the book she describes a game put on by the Guardian UK newspaper called Investigate your MPs Expenses. The government released millions of un-cataloged receipts for various MP expenses saved as images. The reporters knew they just didn’t have the manpower to read every image so they put all the images online and created a massively multiplayer on
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Jun 20, 2011
Kressel
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As I said in my review of Grand Theft Childhood, my oldest son is a computer game addict, but my second son has a different approach to gaming: he's a designer. He doesn't get as much time on the PSP as his older brother because his school forbids it even at recess, so he came up with a different way to entertain himself: a whole series of games on paper. He's drawn maps, mazes, codes for weapons, and score cards for any of his classmates who care to play. Without ever seeing a game of D&D, my H
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Feb 21, 2012
Philip
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Pretty much a quasi-self-help guidebook. I’m sure many readers will find the worldly advice McGonigal has to offers quite useful. Personally, there’s nothing in this book that wasn’t already obvious to me: you can make not-so-fun things fun if you turn them into games. Wow, really? Games are an alternative way to face challenges, conquer tasks in creative ways, develop problem-solving skills, blah blah blah. Okay thanks for the chestnut! I cannot believe you stretched that out into an entire 300
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Nov 17, 2011
Ryan
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Being a developer of games and simulation/training software, myself, I think that this book delves into an important question: why do we play games? After all, when one thinks about it, most games are simply work, a series of repetitive tasks. What makes them *fun*? And why doesn’t work we do in real life engage us in the same way? Why do people enjoy doing chores in The Sims and Farmville, but hate doing their actual dishes and laundry? Why are X-Box first person shooter matches so popular with
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Sep 17, 2011
Naum
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how i stumbled upon / discovered this book? in the library, on the new releases shelf, though I recalled viewing Jane McGonigal interesting TED talk on the same subject matter
what is the book about? about the power of games, how "reality is broken" -- games are just more interesting than reality, people will do "work" for fun if it is dressed up as a game, with badges, levels, achievements. book is broken down into 3 sections - an introductory set of chapters on def More...
what is the book about? about the power of games, how "reality is broken" -- games are just more interesting than reality, people will do "work" for fun if it is dressed up as a game, with badges, levels, achievements. book is broken down into 3 sections - an introductory set of chapters on def More...
Aug 18, 2011
Emily
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I enjoyed this book a lot, but partly because I dismissed the author's central thesis--that gaming can fix the aspects of reality that make people unhappy and steer humanity towards a more collaborative and successful future--as hyperbole practically on the first page.
On a smaller scale, though, I bought into how her discussion of how games can train us in the habits of mind that make us happier. Most of the games she describes I would be interested in playing and a few seemed signi More...
On a smaller scale, though, I bought into how her discussion of how games can train us in the habits of mind that make us happier. Most of the games she describes I would be interested in playing and a few seemed signi More...
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Jul 26, 2011
Stan
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Well over 100 million Americans are gamers. And the average child today will grow up spending more than ten thousand hours playing games before reaching adulthood. The reason given by the author, a world-reknowned game designer Jane McGonigal is that video games are able to meet genuine human needs that are filled in the virtual world. She also believes that the lessons of game design can be used to fix what is wrong with the real world. Her book supports her claims by showing how game designers
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Jul 23, 2011
William Thomas
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This author is an anarchist and doesn't even know it. She's a populist and doesn't even know it. And she's very close to being bat-shit crazy, but gets a pass because of her mention of Herodotus.
You know those people whose entire life is work? And they can't talk about anything besides work? They eat, sleep, breathe their work. And when you try to talk to them, all of their stories and metaphors revolve around their industry and their office stories with a Jonestown-type smile in thei More...
You know those people whose entire life is work? And they can't talk about anything besides work? They eat, sleep, breathe their work. And when you try to talk to them, all of their stories and metaphors revolve around their industry and their office stories with a Jonestown-type smile in thei More...
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Jul 23, 2011
I already knew that people would work harder and learn more from experiental ""game"" classwork because of the crazy shit I use in classes, but realized I was far behind on the high-tech versions after seeing the protest training game a couple of weeks ago --in this, Jane McGonigal argues that we are hardwired for crucial skills (teamwork, competitiveness, wanting the awe being pert of of things bigger than ourselves, see tangible progress) but don't get real chances to do th
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May 27, 2011
Forrest
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It’s almost painfully clear that Jane McGonigal has never written anything for a wide audience before. It isn’t that her book is poorly written or that it doesn’t make its point well, but somewhere in her blissful vision of a future where gaming is the new paradigm, McGonigal forgot that if you’re trying to make a convincing point, you need to focus on that point. Reality is Broken is the worst kind of populist non-fiction because it is trying so hard to be universally relevant.
That More...
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May 03, 2011
Djinnjer
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Part One - Why Games Make Us Happy is awesome. The book's true strength lies in describing games that already exist and examining their appeal. Why do we play games? What makes games better (more appealing) than everyday life? I am not a gamer, but as I read each chapter, I wanted to run out and try the games described. (This time electronic gaming will take -- hope springs eternal, despite my history of frustration and abandoned gaming platforms.) I loved the definition for games used thr
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Apr 19, 2011
Aaron
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There can be no question that gaming is a major part of our culture. This is not necessarily a new thing. While today's young people are drawn to virtual worlds through their computers and gaming consoles, previous generations made great use of playing cards and other forms of games in their own way. McGonigal proposes that gaming of all types can help us all better ourselves and the world around us. The key is not in the games themselves, but what they do to or for us in the areas of psycho
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Mar 29, 2011
The book presents an interesting thesis. It argues that video games are engrossing because the activity is so absorbing and challenging they produce a highly desired state of "flow." Because of this, people readily opt out of "reality" in favor of video games, since they find more happiness engaging with the gaems over the real world. Or, put another way, reality can and should learn a few lessons from video games. Unfortunately, the support for the thesis is less than compel
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Mar 28, 2011
Michael
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What can I say about a book that claims games are good, necessary, and the future of humankind. And that they cure all known and coming diseases. Ok, I made the last one up, but... Reality is Broken by McGonigal is a nice compilation of facts and myth from the world of gaming, sprinkled with the occasional personal opinion of the author. McGonigal puts forth the thesis that the broken reality (should we believe her about this) can be fixed by making it more game-like. There is plenty of material
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Mar 21, 2011
Lori L
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In Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, Jane McGonigal purports that gamers can make reality better for everyone. She writes, "The real world just doesn't offer up as easily the carefully designed pleasures, the thrilling challenges, and the powerful social bonding afforded by virtual environments. Reality doesn't motivate us as effectively. Reality isn't engineered to maximize our potential. Reality wasn't designed from the bottom up to make us ha
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Mar 03, 2011
Jamie
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Unlike people who apparently pay attention to what’s going on in the gaming industry, I only recently became aware of Jane McGonigal, a Ph.D. in Performance Studies best known for designing alternate reality games and thinking really big thoughts. After reading her book, Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How they Can Change the World, McGonigal strikes me as part cheerleader, part social scientist, part entrepreneur, and part that crazy lady in the downtown L.A. parking lot that wo
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Feb 21, 2011
Michael
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Reality is certainly broken. Leave aside the big problems like climate change, peak oil, political instability, and economic collapse, on a day to day basis, people are feeling alienated from their jobs, their communities, their very lives, and are fleeing into virtual worlds. Jane McGonigal makes the claim that this is not as bad as it appears, that in fact, games might save the world. Unfortunately, the book falls into the what I might call the Malcolm Gladwell (sorry, Malcolm) trap of thin
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Mar 20, 2011
Andrew
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The truth is this: in today’s society, computer and video games are fulfilling genuine human needs that the real world is currently unable to satisfy. Games are providing rewards that reality is not. They are teaching and inspiring and engaging us in ways that reality is not. They are bringing us together in ways that reality is not.
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In Reality is Broken, author and game designer Jane McGonigal presents a manifesto that illustrates how games are critical to the ad More...
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In Reality is Broken, author and game designer Jane McGonigal presents a manifesto that illustrates how games are critical to the ad More...
Dec 27, 2011
Chris
rated it:
McGonigal offers a compelling hook -- that games can change us and the world for the better -- and backs it up with psych research and tons of examples. The parts I found most compelling were the tie-ins with positive psychology ("happiness research"), neurochemistry, and productivity. I love the chapter where she explains how gameplay is the opposite of depression and where she describes her own story that inspired SuperBetter (which I read while sick with the flu).
This wo More...
This wo More...
Feb 20, 2011
Paul
rated it:
If you are a "gamer" or "Futurist" this book may very well be suitable to you. I am neithe a gamer or futurist, therefore I find myself highly unqualified to review this book. I will however give you my impression of it.
I really liked the first half of the book because McGonigal gives some, what I would consider, alarming facts about the amount of time that is spent playing video and computer games.
There are between 174 million and 183 million Americ More...
I really liked the first half of the book because McGonigal gives some, what I would consider, alarming facts about the amount of time that is spent playing video and computer games.
There are between 174 million and 183 million Americ More...
Mar 23, 2011
Christien
rated it:
I read this book trying to figure out how to merge my personal video gaming habits with my political commitments and questions. I was left feeling satisfied that game design (broadly defined) is a potentially extremely powerful method for thinking about social life and social change. However, I became increasingly annoyed by the tone of the book, which I found a little too naively optimistic, culminating in a part near the end about social entrepreneurs. I am all for wild optimistic dreaming, bu
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May 20, 2011
Craig Michael
rated it:
I'm so glad that I'm getting McGonigal's CV so far...does she think anyone cares how long her dissertation is? Thankfully, that all ends quickly and it's on to better/ more interesting business.
There are bits of really good insight sprinkled throughout, especially with regard to gaming and people motivation/ management, but it feels a little too folksy-talky/ sharing-caring and not too technical (which is more of what I think the book suggests).
There are bits of really good insight sprinkled throughout, especially with regard to gaming and people motivation/ management, but it feels a little too folksy-talky/ sharing-caring and not too technical (which is more of what I think the book suggests).
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Aug 25, 2011
Jeff
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Applying the determination, persistance, and creativity people will apply to game-playing to the resolution of real life crises and issues will most likely solve those problems in short order, according to Jane McGonigal. Put another way, if the experts, politicians, and world leaders had the same attitude that gamers bring to their games, the world would be a much cleaner, safer, and better place.
She lists real life examples of this in Part III such as "The Lost Ring" for More...
She lists real life examples of this in Part III such as "The Lost Ring" for More...
Mar 04, 2011
Sharon
rated it:
Jane McGonigal is a fascinating person - the kind I'd like to have over for dinner - and I desperately wish this book were required for everyone I've known who mocks video games and gamers.
Her explanation covers so, so many levels of both the importance, the history, and the potential of games, and while I doubt she would approve of my brief breakdown, I came away with something like this:
Productive bliss comes from doing something we're good at, which we get regular feedbac More...
Her explanation covers so, so many levels of both the importance, the history, and the potential of games, and while I doubt she would approve of my brief breakdown, I came away with something like this:
Productive bliss comes from doing something we're good at, which we get regular feedbac More...
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Mar 01, 2011
Laura
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I sought out this book after reading the blurb about it in the NY Times. Well, guiltily, I was really drawn in by the author's description of the game "Chore Wars" and I was eager to try it out. A game based on chores. Yup. And I found it was something I wanted to play. Realizing that keyed me into her entire argument. That if I can hunt down a book after hearing about a game based on *chores*, her theory that games make the hard parts of our lives a little easier and can ultimately ma
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Mar 17, 2011
Phil
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Gaming is more than an escapist pastime: it is the way, as President Obama said, to "win the future". Gamers work harder at their games than they do at any other part of life, and that work is completely voluntary. By harnessing the incredible work ethic of the gamer, Jane McGonigal believes that many of the problems facing the human race could easily be solved, and the future of the planet would be much brighter, and on a less global scale, everyday life for everyday people could be f
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Apr 17, 2011
This book is THE awesomesauce. What educator wouldn't want their students to be as ravenous and as persistent in their studies as video games? Now, to be clear, McGonigal does NOT say that games replace reality but can enhance reality. If we can apply the principles in video game design to education or social reform it can be a very powerful, potentially the MOST powerful tool, in the inventory of human thought. I see my son wake up every day and he plays at life with great zest. What happens to
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Mar 02, 2011
Daniel
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This is an interesting book. The author delivers on her promise to explain "why games make us happy and how they can change the world," but despite the playstation controller on the cover and numerous references to video games, this book is not about video games themselves. She begins in the first few chapters with a nervous explanation of why video games can be so compelling that they can completely draw in a certain audience. She seems to tiptoe around an obvious moral dilemma* by ca
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Jan 19, 2012
Grace
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This review originally appeared on Feeding My Book Addiction:
http://feedingmybookaddiction.blogspot.c...
Jane McGonigal's goal in life is to see a game developer win a Nobel Peace Prize.
Wait, what?
If you're like me, you would have never considered a game developer or a gamer as a contender for one of the world's most prestigious awards because, well, what do games have to do with world peace? According to author, speaker, and game designer Jane McGoniga More...
http://feedingmybookaddiction.blogspot.c...
Jane McGonigal's goal in life is to see a game developer win a Nobel Peace Prize.
Wait, what?
If you're like me, you would have never considered a game developer or a gamer as a contender for one of the world's most prestigious awards because, well, what do games have to do with world peace? According to author, speaker, and game designer Jane McGoniga More...
