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SuperBetter: A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver and More Resilient--Powered by the Science of Games

Jane McGonigal

3.99 · Rating details · 1,685 ratings · 221 reviews

A remarkable life plan developed from the program four hundred thousand people have used to recover from setbacks and injuries and achieve personal growth

In 2009, game designer and author Jane McGonigal suffered a severe concussion that wouldn’t heal. Unable to think clearly, or work, or even get out of bed, she became anxious and depressed, even suicidal—a common symptom A remarkable life plan developed from the program four hundred thousand people have used to recover from setbacks and injuries and achieve personal growth

In 2009, game designer and author Jane McGonigal suffered a severe concussion that wouldn’t heal. Unable to think clearly, or work, or even get out of bed, she became anxious and depressed, even suicidal—a common symptom for concussion sufferers. But rather than let herself sink further, she decided to get better by doing what she does best: she turned her recovery process into a game. What started as a simple motivational exercise became a set of rules she shared on her blog. These rules became a digital game, then an online portal and a major research study with the National Institutes of Health. Today more than 400,000 people have played SuperBetter to get happier and healthier.

But the ideas behind SuperBetter are much bigger than just one game. In this book, McGonigal reveals a decade’s worth of scientific research into the ways all games change how we respond to stress, challenge, and pain. She explains how we can cultivate new powers of recovery and resilience in everyday life simply by adopting a gameful mind-set. Being gameful means bringing the same psychological strengths we naturally display when we play games—such as optimism, creativity, courage, and determination—to real-world situations.

McGonigal explores the best ways to harness these gameful skills in the real world not only to experience “posttraumatic growth,” but also to tackle positive life goals, achieving what she calls “postecstatic growth.” To show how, she shares stories and data from players who have followed the SuperBetter rules to get stronger, happier, and braver in the face of depression, anxiety, illness, and injury, as well as to achieve major goals like losing weight, running a marathon, or finding a new job.

The SuperBetter method contains seven rules for activating gameful strengths in everyday life, distilled from McGonigal’s own pioneering work and that of others. SuperBetter the book turns these rules into playful challenges anyone can undertake while reading in a series of quests that explain the science behind the benefits. Playing by the seven rules begins to yield life-changing benefits in a matter of days, and eventually they become an ingrained skill set.

As inspiring as it is down to earth, grounded in rigorous research, and powered by game design, SuperBetter is a proven game plan for a better life. You’ll never say that something is “just a game” again. ...more

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Published September 15th 2015 by Penguin Press

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Mar 10, 2016 David rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: self-help

The concept is great, but I didn't really get into this book. Lots of quests, many of them banal.

Jane McGonigal did have some interesting facts about game playing. She described how playing Tetris for ten minutes within six hours of suffering a trauma reduces PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder), as hundreds of studies have proven. Playing the game does not erase the memory, but helps to stop involuntary memory, preventing flashbacks.

She describes how video games can help control cravings. You ...more

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Sep 24, 2015 HypeTamer rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This book would be better named SuperHype primarily because McGonical has grossly exaggerated the science behind games.

The research on McGonical’s game SuperBetter best exemplifies this.

The dropout rate from the SuperBetter study was huge - about 90%. This is despite recruiting a group of highly motivated participants. So the bottom line is that even the most motivated people struggled to engage with SuperBetter.

The high dropout rate makes any claims to the benefits of SuperBetter highly ...more

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Aug 25, 2015 Dan Connors rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I am one of the first people to admit that video games are a tremendous waste of time. They are used by a lot of people to avoid reality, but that is not what this book is about.

Super Better is a refreshing look at the science of gaming, and its main claim is that we can use gaming theory to enrich our lives and overcome our weaknesses by turning the entire thing into a game, rather than an ordeal.

I listened to this book as an audiobook, which was very frustrating because there is a lot of I am one of the first people to admit that video games are a tremendous waste of time. They are used by a lot of people to avoid reality, but that is not what this book is about.

Super Better is a refreshing look at the science of gaming, and its main claim is that we can use gaming theory to enrich our lives and overcome our weaknesses by turning the entire thing into a game, rather than an ordeal.

I listened to this book as an audiobook, which was very frustrating because there is a lot of material in it that does not lend well to easy listening as you drive. There are concrete steps that lead you to design your own game to transform your own life, and I had to get a hard copy of the book to lock down the concepts.

Super Better challenges the reader to pick a quest, find a bad guy, enlist allies and go after nagging problems with a gameful, more positive attitude than they might normally use. I intend to try it out for the next month to see if it works, even though I am not a gamer by any stretch of the imagination. There is a Super Better website and app, and it has its own community of gamers.

Jane McGonigal uses her own experiences dealing with recovering from head trauma to show how she developed the game, and it seems to have worked well from her. She claims that people who have great traumas can experience growth from the experience. Even better, those who do not experience traumatic events can grow as well by experience growth inducing quests related to their life goals.

There is a lot of science backing up her claims, which is most impressive, and the stories of burn victims using games to combat pain or trauma victims playing Tetris to keep the memories from locking in and causing later issues was fascinating to me.

My main problem with computer and video games is the enormous time waste when immersed in an alternate world that has little to do with the real one. Superbetter warns against escapist gaming, and says that intentional gaming, used to improve real world performance is extremely powerful.

Not an easy read or listen, but a good book to shake up your thinking and make your life more fun and powerful while decreasing stress and depression. Four stars. ...more

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Jul 20, 2016 James rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Having a super positive frame of mind to start with, I got through the first hour or so of this audio book and am deciding to set down. Yes, I've read many of the reviews and I can see why others find this framework help. It's just not for me.

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May 22, 2016 Yossi rated it it was ok · review of another edition

While this book is well written and has an interesting premise, it should not have been more than an article. Stretching it out to a full-length book makes it lose its edge and become a tedious chore to read.

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Aug 22, 2016 Lance Eaton rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: teaching-and-learning, 2016, reviewed-books, audiobooks

So I first fell in nerd-love with Jane McGonigal when she performed a TED Talk and wrote her first book (Reality Is Broken). SuperBetter is even better and there's also a great TED Talk to introduce it. Or rather, if Reality Is Broken gave readers a well-researched argument for why gaming is an important part of our human nature, SuperBetter gives us the guide on how to actually make life more like a game and improve mental, emotional, physical, and social health. She stacks the first half ...more

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Dec 21, 2016 Jennifer rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This was a pretty amazing book and definitely changed the way I think about games. The first section is a very well researched rundown of all the ways gaming can help us, how it can build connections with others and motivate us to do better all the time. In the second section McGonigal lays out a plan for using gaming to help a person achieve just about any personal goal.

I felt like this could really work and could make a difference in my life and others. Unfortunately, I was not in a place ...more

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Mar 27, 2018 Kimball rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Pennell

Shelves: nonfiction, audio-books, self-help-mental, post-college, inspirational, on-productivity

Such a practical book. I love that. This one should be read hard copy though for best effect, I believe. But I still had a great time reading the audio version. I took so many notes and will just leave them here in random order because they're that good.

Post-traumatic growth is getting super better. But if we bounce back too quickly we miss the growth.

You can experience the benefits of post-traumatic growth without the trauma if you are willing to undertake an extreme Challenge in your life ...more

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Oct 31, 2019 Alexandra rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Loved but, it got real long in the middle.

But I loved the sprinkling of tips and the writing style that was convincing without ignoring the work's shortcomings or caveats.

I'm going to play this even though my response to this was "I understand what I'm supposed to imagine but idk how it applies to me." I guess I'll have to just try and figure it out as I go.

3 powers ups, 1 bad guy battle, and a quest daily. Seems simple.

tips:
Palms up for 15 seconds to become more open
Game stopped the cognitive ...more

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Oct 02, 2019 Nathan Albright rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: challenge-2019

I was pleased to read this book for several reasons, at least in general, largely because the approach discussed in this book is one I tend to undertake. The author encourages readers to view their lives as a game, and to treat the various aspects of games like quests [1], power ups, allies, and enemies/obstacles as aspects of one's life as well. This is something I regularly do, and I have found that it tends to add some level of optimism to a life that is frequently on the melancholy to gloomy I was pleased to read this book for several reasons, at least in general, largely because the approach discussed in this book is one I tend to undertake. The author encourages readers to view their lives as a game, and to treat the various aspects of games like quests [1], power ups, allies, and enemies/obstacles as aspects of one's life as well. This is something I regularly do, and I have found that it tends to add some level of optimism to a life that is frequently on the melancholy to gloomy side, it must be admitted. The book is itself written in order to encourage better health outcomes by increasing resilience and a sense of responsibility and hope among people suffering with serious illnesses, and I can see this as a worthwhile aim in public health, although the author has to make it plain (at the beginning and throughout the book) that this is not being done to replace medical care but rather to supplement and encourage it. Likewise, this book is aimed at those who already have a positive view of games, as those who view games in a negative fashion will likely be highly resistant or skeptical to the book's gamification of life approach.

This book is about 400 pages long and is divided into three parts. The author begins with a discussion about what one needs to know before one plays the SuperBetter game as well as an introduction. After that the author has four chapters on why games make us superbetter (I), including the fact that we are stronger than we know (1), we are surrounded by potential allies (2), we can be the heroes of our story (3), and that we can make the leap from playing games to being gameful (4). After that the author explores various ways to be gameful (II) by encouraging the reader to challenge oneself (5), gain power-ups through beneficial behaviors (6), deal with various bad guys and obstacles (7), engage in quests for things that have to be done (8), encouraging one to gain allies (9), adopting a secret identity (10), seeking to gain epic wins (11), and keeping score of how one is succeeding in life (12). After that the author discusses some adventures (III), giving very long quest chains for games she calls love connection (i), ninja body transformation (ii), and time rich (iii), after which the book ends with some notes about the science of the book's approach, acknowledgements, notes, and an index.

Ultimately, gamification is something that people have mixed feelings about. There are some people who view games as a terrible waste of time and something that can actively threaten relationships. Yet if viewed wisely, games help us realize certain aspects of our lives are very much like games, and that if we are skilled in recognizing these features, we can gain a sense of freedom as a player in a game rather than feel as if the world is hostile to us. We do have powers, even if they are limited, and we do have allies, even if we also have enemies as well, and realizing that life is full of quests to accomplish that enrich our existence and make it easier to see the success we have in it. Admittedly, I am a highly biased reader of a book like this in that the way I enjoy games, not only video games but tabletop role playing games, and in gamifying life, all of which predisposes me to appreciate this book and its approach even if I find the book's attempt to curry scientific favor more than a bit entertaining. If you dislike games, though, and find it insulting that one would view life as a game, this book would probably not appeal to you as much as it does to me, though.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2019...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2013...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2012... ...more

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Sep 29, 2019 Alexis Chute rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Wow, this is an amazing book. I listened to it from the library as an audio book. I’ve now ordered a hard copy for myself and plan to reread it. I’ve already had the opportunity to recommend the book to others who are struggling with depression and health concerns. A playful, empowering, and innovative way to look at mental and physical health.

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Oct 26, 2018 Meghan Enga added it · review of another edition

I abandoned it. Too busy..!

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Jun 05, 2018 Danica Holdaway rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book and the science behind it is so interesting and I’m excited to start playing!! I love how customized it can be for anyone, anytime, anywhere.

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Jan 10, 2019 KieraK rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I loved this book thoroughly. It was long and because there was a lot to take in, I had to take breaks, but I feel like the read was life changing and will stick with me.

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Jun 15, 2017 Allison rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: lifestyle

Great book choice for my work book club.

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Jul 16, 2016 Kristen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, technology, health

I really enjoyed this book for a couple of reasons. First of all, the idea of the SuperBetter game to accomplish challenges in your life sounds right up my alley. I've already joined the website and added the app to my phone. I'm sure I'll report out on that aspect of it soon.
But the part of this book that I really enjoyed was the science part at the beginning. I loved learning about all the ways people have tested and used gaming psychology in various areas to help people and relationships. I ...more

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Jul 18, 2017 Keith rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Really hard to get through. If you're already a happy person you don't need most of the tips in this book (which become increasingly more redundant) backed up by studies that are just common sense (84% of people feel happier after laughing). If you're depressed, you'd never be able to summon the energy to read through 400 pages of this book or motivate to do most of these exercises. Perhaps this book is for people just feeling generally meh.

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Jul 11, 2018 The Story Girl rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book is hands down the best and most useful book I read all year and can be completely life-changing.

Longer review to come later. I have so many pages flagged and notes highlighted, it will take some time to gather them all.

Check back later or follow my blog to see this review when it’s complete: https://thebookishexpedition.wordpres...

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Nov 01, 2015 Arpad Barnai rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book has given me so much inspiration that I almost felt overwhelmed by it. Reading it and experimenting with the challenges offered can created a real difference in my everyday life! A very positive one :-)

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Jan 23, 2018 Fate's Lady rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

This was an interesting read, but even with the app, I struggled to apply the principles to my life and trying to define bad guys and tasks without overloading myself with 700 things to do a day was confusing and stressful, so as interesting as it was, maybe it wasn't for me.

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Jan 26, 2016 Nancy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nf-self-help-etc

Upbeat, inspiring, and fun. Lots of realistic, doable action plans for tackling personal struggles, getting out of a rut, and building resilience. The research on the many benefits of playing games was interesting. I will be recommending this book to friends.

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Sep 20, 2015 Manju rated it liked it · review of another edition

Moral of this book: Candy Crush is good for you.

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Nov 19, 2016 BLACK CAT rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: skills, productivity, resilience, cognitive-biases, cognitive-behavioral, take-notes

Gamification of good guidelines you choose to enhance your life. Make achievements and resilience fun and continuous.

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Dec 28, 2015 Dennis rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

How to turn your life into a series of quests and adventures by gamifying how you deal with your struggles and challenges. Great ideas and very actionable advice!

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Sep 03, 2019 Ben Houge rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I picked up my autographed copy when Dr. McGonigal gave a presentation at MIT maybe 4 or so years ago, but for whatever reason, I didn't read it at the time. Perhaps a major life challenge or two in the interim has primed me to be more receptive. I picked it up again because I was interested in research that looks at the connections between games and health, but I wound up actually playing SuperBetter the game (which one does while reading the book, if you do the quests that are interspersed I picked up my autographed copy when Dr. McGonigal gave a presentation at MIT maybe 4 or so years ago, but for whatever reason, I didn't read it at the time. Perhaps a major life challenge or two in the interim has primed me to be more receptive. I picked it up again because I was interested in research that looks at the connections between games and health, but I wound up actually playing SuperBetter the game (which one does while reading the book, if you do the quests that are interspersed along the way; there's also an app), and it really does seem to be an effective way of looking at daily challenges differently, improving your outlook, and, as far as I can tell so far, achieving your goals.

She talks about "living gamefully," and it's a wonderful concept with a ton of research to support it. Concepts from games like quests, bad guys, and power ups, are applied to everyday life. There's some overlap with the type of language I've heard from coaches and psychologists, for example, identifying and naming an undesirable tendency or trait, or what Dr. McGonigal would call a "bad guy," but her approaches to dealing with them seem particularly direct and effective. The book might seem to border at times on pop psychology, but the research is thoroughly backed up with a controlled study, a clinical trial, and a literature review of over one thousand peer-reviewed academic papers (detailed in the book's endnotes and a dedicated section at the end).

At her MIT presentation, she quoted Bernard Suits' definition of games as "a voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles," which is something that's stuck with me ever since. While reading the book, I realized that this gameful mindset has a lot in common with how artists view the world and do their art, which often feels particularly, sometimes hopelessly, unnecessary. So I've been going back through the "how to be gameful" rules of Part II to see how to incorporate more of these ideas into my own project planning.

Thoroughly inspiring, practically beneficial, recommended! ...more

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Mar 07, 2019 Lisa Butterworth rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: brain-books

Things I liked: A pragmatic and potentially fun approach to post-traumatic growth. Positive and strength-based psychology methods presented in lighthearted and approachable packaging. Basically, if you're into games at all, and facing some kind of challenge where you've felt stuck, I think the methods presented in this book are solid. I already use a lot of the methods with clients, and I can see lots useful applications for framing these methods using a gaming mindset.

I love the idea of turning ...more

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Dec 18, 2019 Karen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club, audio-book, 2019, non-fiction

This book was picked for our book club. I was intrigued on how the science of games could work in everyday life. The audio book was the one available first, so I listened to this one and was happy it was the author doing the narrating. Once we got into the quests and playing along, it was very addicting. I realized that I had already done a number of these things throughout my days when I was having a difficult task ahead of me, or getting through a tough time. Changing your mindset is one of ...more

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Aug 07, 2017 Danny Hui rated it really liked it · review of another edition

My review:
A fun book on how to feel "Super better". I picked this book up a while ago when I was feeling in a funk, and it helped. I had intuitively felt that playing games when I was in a funk made me feel better. Having simple goals and achieving them is very good therapy. This book show why gaming works on a scientific level, and it also provides a framework to pull those virtual wins into the real world.

What I remember:
Simple wins each day. Try to find something you can win, be it pushups in ...more

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Jun 24, 2017 Stan Skrabut rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: gaming-gamification, inspiration

This book will do a lot of people a lot of good. The psychology of games is powerful, yet, has received its share of criticism. But what if you could use the power of games to make people better. This is what Jane McGonigal set out to do when she wrote SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully . SuperBetter explored the science of healing and turned it into a game of healing. It is not only addressed games that help people physically get better but also tackles emotional, mental, and social ...more

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Jan 04, 2020 Brent Soderstrum rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: first-read

I won this book through GoodReads First Read program.

Let me start of by saying that I am not a gamer. Never have been. This book is about how playing games, not just video games, will make you a better person. It isn't just a waste of time sitting in front of your computer, TV or hand held device. McGonigal spends the first third of the book backing this up with scientific studies that show that in moderation game playing is good for you. This part was interesting.

The 2nd third of the book sets ...more

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About Jane McGonigal

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Jane McGonigal (born October 21, 1977) is an American game designer and author who advocates the use of mobile and digital technology to channel positive attitudes and collaboration in a real world context.

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