Could Gaming Ever Be Good For Us?
The average American kid will have spent 10,000 hours playing games by the time s/he turns 21. That's as much time as one has spent in school. Researcher Jane McGonigal, author of Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, appeared on the public radio program "Science Friday" today [Feb. 18, 2011] to explain how we might make real life more "gameful." It can fulfill need that reality does not. Gaming need not be escapist, she demonstrates. Sometimes it can be quite "returnist." Life can often be made better by making it more like a "game," defined as an "unnecessary obstacle we choose to overcome." She invented "Jane the Concussion Slayer" to restore brains after head traumas. More>>