I have always thought of video games as a waste of time. I grew up with an older brother who in my opinion I considered a video game addict. I saw how video games became a distraction and took over much of his time. Today there are over 174 million gamers in the United States and it continues to grow with each generation. The average young American in the United States spends thousands of hours by the time they reach 21 years of age. Jane McGonigal, a known game designer, shows that video games do in fact have the power to improve the daily lives of many in his book Reality is Broken. He states that they have the power of fixing problems such as depression, obesity, and social problems. The reason why video games are so addicting is because they satisfy the needs of many. They give us a feeling of success, progress, pride, and social connections with other people who play the game.
There are so many games out there that people are not aware of. Not all games evolve around violence and war; many are about topics that involve learning new things and becoming optimistic. These games make us want to work hard and try our best to beat the obstacles we are faced with. Since gaming is so influential it is out hands to create video games that can change the world. Some games that McGonigal introduces involve games the focus on several problems the world faces today such as poverty and climate change. These games help us brainstorm and think of how we can solve these problems.
Based off a past reading we had by Dr. Ian Bogost,I believe he would have a lot of similar opinions as McConigal regarding video games. He believed that even though many people disagree with video games because they can be addicted and “just a game”, video games are important because they give us another view of what the real world is like. Video games puts us in situations that we may not experience in the world. This is a way of preparing someone for what is out there.
According to McGonigal the future belongs to the people that play, understand, and design video games. These are the people that overcome challenges and are great at problem solving. People who don’t play games in her opinion are at a huge disadvantage. I don’t completely agree with this; however, I do support video gamers a lot more than before. Gaming has become one of the largest entertainment businesses in the world and has made a change in the lives of many. I do believe that McGonial’s ideas are very wise and can help reform the educational system. We could possibly integrate gaming into our education by having an hour of video gaming a day. This would help build all the great benefits that come from gaming.