Reality is Broken!

[Gamerforlife]

No, I'm not here to talk about the apocalypse or tell you that I found some secret that makes life so easy it's just plain "broken" now

It's about this book:



I just saw the author being interviewed on The Colbert Report. Wondering what you guys think, have any of you read it?

[J T]

I didn't know she had written a book, but I have read some online essays and seen interviews with Jane McGonigal before. I like her because there are few people out there willing to take the viewpoint that video games are beneficial. It's refreshing to hear someone say that games might actually improve our lives rather than espouse that usual fear-laden condemnation that video games leave us in a stunted state of semi-adolesence, forever living in our mom's basement, permanently sucking on a drip feed of World of Warcraft with our only other sustenance being Cheetos and Mountain Dew Extreme, with no hope for rehabilitation and reintegration into normal society because our brains have been warped from years of murder simulations in Mortal Kombat and Grand Theft Auto to the point that we can't be trusted around sharp objects.

Jane McGonigal is out there looking for the positives in gaming. Some of this comes through her research and her read of the research, but she also walks-the-walk as a game developer and tries to make games that have the goal of improving your life in some way. Mostly this has been through augmented reality games where you gain experience points for being a productive member of society. My own opinion is that she has a lot of lofty ideas and kind of ignores the negative side of gaming, but I absolutely think we need people like her because there are far more people who have no ideas and completely ignore the positive side of gaming.

[dsheinem]

hmmm - she would make for an interesting podcast guest...

[CRTGAMER]

After checking out the Amazon links and all the boldface highlights of the book: Someone to tell me how to play my games, no thanks.