“If I’m going to be happy anywhere,
Or achieve greatness anywhere,
Or learn true secrets anywhere,
Or save the world anywhere,
Or feel strongly anywhere,
Or help people anywhere,
I may as well do it in reality.”
- Eliezer Yudkowsky, futurist.
Ever wonder why the daily grind is so bloody boring? Or why tacky “team-building exercises” are more humiliating than engaging? Or why video games are so fun? Intuitively, one might guess that it’s because work is work and games are leisure, but that would imply that humans are happiest sitting around doing nothing. And as gamers know, sitting around doing nothing is a boring waste of time. This message is occasionally lost in mainstream culture, however, as one of the biggest misconceptions out there is that gaming means sitting around doing nothing.
To put a stop to that misunderstanding is a book on gaming that’s insightful, educational, and a lot of fun to read. Game designer Jane McGonigal writes an in-depth analysis of how games work and how we respond psychologically. Part One of the book is a comparison of games against the rest of life. It discusses why games (including video games, spoken games, written games, boardgames, and sports) stimulate our brains and make us happy. Alongside is a comparison as to why work and passive leisure activities fall short. By this point in the book, I was already planning how I might run a company more like a game, if I were in a position to do so. It turns out, sparking those ideas was McGonigal’s aim all along. I thought it was a nice touch that the appendix starts with a “How To Play” section, to really drive it home that, yes, you can and should get involved with the games discussed. This book is not just to inform us on the merits of joining in. It’s to inspire us to do so.
As the title implies, reality isn’t working for us. We need to make it more functional and we need to make it more fun. Part Two is all about how we can do that. McGonigal explores games and game-like structures being implemented in daily life. Their sources range from indie to corporate to grassroots, but the aim is always the same: make the boring or hard parts of life into a more enjoyable experience. It’s amazing how keeping people preoccupied with fun challenges and teamwork can totally brighten up even the gloomiest task. Team-based puzzle solving on an airplane? Creating art in a museum? Ambushing strangers with compliments? Count me in!
Part Three is a run-through of how the study of games is being used to tackle the oil crisis, world hunger, and humans’ difficulty cooperating. Suddenly, gaming doesn’t seem so trivial. Games are built to be meaningful and psychologically powerful. They are intrinsically engaging, as opposed to passive activities like shopping or watching TV. Games respect us, by offering us immediate and relevant feedback. While many of us work in jobs that alienate us and ignore our talents, games respond to us with challenges we can be proud to accomplish. Games offer us a chance to work with others towards a meaningful goal, and therefore a sense of community that is more direct than regular social mingling. In short, games are empowering.
Previous attempts at harnessing this power have backfired (such as the frequent flyer miles program), but McGonigal’s book breaks down how these went wrong and what can be done instead. The book also runs through many examples of games you’ve probably never heard of, showing up in unexpected ways and doing amazing things.
Finally, let me leave you with this one point I thought was incredibly cool. Levelling up is the ultimate motivator because it creates a “virtuous cycle.” That is, when you accomplish something, you are met with an immediate and relevant reward (including exp.). The more you do, the faster you are measurably promoted, and therefore become more powerful, and therefore are able to take on greater challenges. This challenge could be traversing the next dungeon in your favourite RPG, but it could just as easily be an issue you see with real life. As you can tell by looking at the world around you, we have quite a quest ahead of ourselves. I recommend this book to anyone who seeks +50 enlightenment.
-Tamara Hecht