“In today’s society, computer and video games are fulfilling genuine human needs that the real world is currently unable to satisfy.” This strong statement comes from the introduction of Jane McGonigal’s book, “Reality Is Broken”. The main point of her introductory section is that real life is not as rewarding or as videogames, so we need games to “fix” our reality via videogames to make it more fulfilling. She claims the gaming world does a better job of motivating and satisfying our most important human needs such as finding inspiration and meaning in life and a sense of community. McGonigal uses evidence from the times of ancient Lydians, when they played games during an 18-year famine to distract themselves from their hunger. She draws a comparison between the Lydians’ use of games to mask their hunger to how today’s gamers play videogames to mask their hunger for a more engaging world. McGongigal explains,

Like the ancient Lydians, many gamers have already figured out how to use the immersive power of play to distract themselves from their hunger: a hunger for more satisfying work, for a stronger sense of community, and for a more engaging and meaningful life. Collectively, the planet is now spending more than 3 billion hours a week gaming. We are starving, and our games are feeding us.

McGonigal offers a solution to this problem by suggesting that we start designing games that will fix what is wrong with reality. I don’t completely agree with her stance on this issue of gaming, and it seems counterintuitive to me to try to fix our reality by just devoting more time into a virtual world. I think that one of the reasons why our reality is becoming unsatisfactory for so many people is due to the massive technological advancements, handicapping our ability to interact with others without the aid of technology. Our society has become so focused on technology that even children’s lives are becoming centered on it. Too many children have started to play videogames, and are forming bonds with a videogame instead of forming social bonds and learning how to interact with other people. While the child develops technological intelligence, the child looses out on other developmental skills, such as cooperative problem solving, creativity, conversational skills or empathy, things that only the real world can teach. More information on this can be found here.

McGonigal paints such a bleak picture of reality by focusing solely on the negative aspects of the real world, that she seems to completely discount the great aspects of reality. She does not discuss the beautiful and “magical” things of reality, such as love, having faith, or the beauty of the nature that surrounds us. The love you feel for a character in The Sims game does not even come close to the love human beings feel for each other. I think McGonigal must be careful in her argument that the virtual world fulfills people better than the real world, because there are elements of reality that cannot be virtualized.

Jane McGonigal recieved her PhD in Performance Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and is currently the Director of Game Research and Development at the Institute for the Future and Chief Creative Office at SuperBetter Labs. Click here for more information on McGonigal.

McGonigal does a TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html