I watched the “Gaming
can make a better world?” by Jane Mcgonigal. The speaker, Jane Mcgonigal,
emphasizes how playing games is actually really good. Gaming can evolve and
make our world better for the future. Mcgonigal emphasizes the four virtuous
pints gaming has: Urgent Optimism, Social Fabric, Blissful Productivity, and
Epic Meaning. Urgent Optimism, as Mcgonigal states, is the “desire to act immediately
to tackle an obstacle combined with a belief that we have a reasonable hope of
success.” Gamers have the optimism and the desire to play and win the game. The
second one is Social Fabric. This is the belief that gamers like people better
when they play games with them, even if they were defeated by the other person.
Gamers believe that when someone is
playing a game with them, then they are spending time with them, which builds bonds,
trust, and cooperation. The next one is Blissful productivity. Gamers are
happier and enjoy the time working hard doing something they like rather than
just relaxing. Gamers are willing to work hard if they are given the right
work. The last one is Epic meaning. Gamers like being attached to missions, and
gaming gives them an epic knowledge to build an epic story. These four powers, Urgent
Optimism, Social Fabric, Blissful Productivity, and Epic Meaning, add up to Super
empowered hopeful individuals. This is the belief that gamers are capable of changing
the world. However, the problem is that gamers believe that they are only
capable of changing the virtual world and not the real world.
Before we had game controllers,
there were dice and other game equipment made out of sheep’s knuckles. In
ancient history, Herodotus, King of Lydia, invented a game during a famine to
help his people to survive and forget that they had no food to eat by eating
one day and playing games the next day without eating because the people who
were playing games were so engaged and into games that they would forget about their
hunger. These people survived for 18 years with this life style during the
famine. After the famine, the king let his people play one last game with dice.
The winners of the game would go on an adventure out of their country and find
a new place to live to expand their civilization. Later studies showed that the
DNA of the Etruscans and the DNA of the ancient Lydians shared the same DNA. This
invention of the dice game helped save their culture.
The one quote that stood out to me
was “Games are a platform for change.” This was stated towards the end of the
video to wrap up Mcgonigal’s idea about how gaming can change, help, and save
the world for a better future.
This video
relates to all the readings because it all shows how technology, specifically
gaming can help improve the human brain and our world. Through gaming people
can learn several skills useful for everyday life and even learn test taking
skills.
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