In Real Life

Jane McGonigal And Oprah Get Together To Make Giving Gratitude A Game

Game designer and champion Jane McGonigal advocates games as a tool for making the world a better place. She has a book and a pile of research explaining all of the ways in which games can be beneficial for players’ physical and mental health as well as for the wider world.


April 27, 2011
News

What Can Terrorists Learn From Video Games?

Gamification is the act of applying video game-like rewards to non-gaming situations as a form of motivation. Imagine earning experience points for taking out the trash, or scoring well on a customer service survey, or learning how to create homemade explosives for use in terrorist acts.


February 5, 2011
In Real Life

Stephen Colbert Tries To Understand The Power Of Video Games

Game designer Jane McGonigal tried to convince Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert yesterday that playing video games helps people to be more confident. He’s got his unique way of interpreting things.


February 4, 2011
In Real Life

Three Hours Or 30 Minutes, What’s The Right Daily Dose Of Gaming For Kids?

In one frame, a mum who cut her kids off from video games and other electronics for six months. In the right frame, a game designer who says kids benefit from up to three hours of gaming a day.


March 18, 2010
News

Video Games Can Save The Planet, But Only If We Play More

Only video games can save the world, says Jane McGonigal, but only if we dedicate more time to playing them, some 21 billion hours of game time per week needed to survive the next century.


March 2, 2010
News

Urgent Evoke: The Game That Seeks To Do Good, In Real Life

Jane McGonigal believes in gamers, because they’re trained to believe they can win. She’s built an alternate-reality game to tap that confidence and channel it into good works benefiting gamers’ communities, with the larger goal of fostering empowerment in Africa.


October 11, 2008
News

Correction: Superstruct Not A Kurzweil Production

Yesterday we reported that Ray Kurzweil had launched a futurism-themed MMO – Superstruct.