I just picked up Jane McGonigal's book 'Reality Is Broken' today, and I'm alredy a good quarter of the way through it. I've never felt so good to be associated with games. I guess I'd call myself a gamer, but not a hard-core gamer.Anyway, the book is very well written with lots and lots of scientific references and what not. I've been meaning to pick it up for a while, but was waiting for payday. Payday happened, and it's now on mah Nook.
The interesting this is that I really started to notice how I'd conditioned myself to dislike the games I was playing. She does a great job at talking about the benefits of playing games so much more than their downsides in a very refreshing way. We get so much of the negative, that it's nice to hear the psychological and physiological benefits that they bring.
Now... do I think that reality is broken? No. I think that's a bit extreme. However, we DO live in a very different culture than we used to, and using games to teach and connect is definitely the future. A future I want to be on the forefront of helping create. (And I will.)
The one thing I'd like to explore, among many things, is the need to calm our minds down and recuperate. Y'know... meditating? We don't do it as a culture, and it's an important part of wellness. How can that fit in with this highly visceral medium of games? A medium that engages the ever living crap out of us!
I don't know... what are your thoughts on using games to promote not only crazy patterns of learning and joy... but also mediation and calm peaceful introspection?
