Can Gaming be good for you?

I cannot argue with Ms. McGonigle's reasoning or her science. Because she is probably right about all of it. But if you look at her website and listen to what she is saying, it seems to me that she is a bit optimistic about people. While I admire her pluck, the reality of people switching to games designed to make a difference in the world I think is far from reality. 

Let's take for instance her latest game EVOKE. I thought I'd poke around at it and see if it had any promise. From what I could see it was just an overly exaggerated discussion forum. Where problems are presented and players discuss and points are awarded. I could be wrong about this. I only spent about 15 minutes looking into it, but then it only took 15 minutes for me to lose interest. And that's what I think is the problem. 

People want to become someone they are not and unless you can hand them a set of skills they don't already possess instantly, they are not gonna want to spend the time learning it. It just feels like a teaching tool. Perhaps a really fun teaching tool but, learning is hard and it tires you out. Its not what I would want to come home to and do for entertainment…. Unless it just happened to be about something I had interest in. Like elves. Now maybe I am being pessimistic and maybe someday a game designer will come up with a way to balance the learning with the entertainment perfectly and then maybe we'll see a game like she envisions. Until then I'm glad someone is looking at gaming in a positive way instead of your typical frowns and raised eyebrows.

You can read and learn more about Jane McGonigal and her theories on her webpage: