Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World 1st Edition

by Jane McGonigal (Author)

212 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-1594202858

ISBN-10: 1594202850

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Visionary game designer Jane McGonigal reveals how we can harness the power of games to solve real-world problems and boost global happiness.

More than 174 million Americans are gamers, and the average young person in the United States will spend ten thousand hours gaming by the age of twenty-one. According to world-renowned game designer Jane McGonigal, the reason for this mass exodus to virtual worlds is that videogames are increasingly fulfilling genuine human needs. In this groundbreaking exploration of the power and future of gaming, McGonigal reveals how we can use the lessons of game design to fix what is wrong with the real world.

Drawing on positive psychology, cognitive science, and sociology, Reality Is Broken uncovers how game designers have hit on core truths about what makes us happy and utilized these discoveriesto astonishing effect in virtual environments. Videogames consistently provide the exhilarating rewards, stimulating challenges, and epic victories that are so often lacking in the real world. But why, McGonigal asks, should we use the power of games for escapist entertainment alone? Her research suggests that gamers are expert problem solvers and collaborators because they regularly cooperate with other players to overcome daunting virtual challenges, and she helped pioneer a fast-growing genre of games that aims to turn gameplay to socially positive ends.

In Reality Is Broken, she reveals how these new alternate reality games are already improving the quality of our daily lives, fighting social problems such as depression and obesity, and addressing vital twenty-first-century challenges-and she forecasts the thrilling possibilities that lie ahead. She introduces us to games like World Without Oil, a simulation designed to brainstorm-and therefore avert- the challenges of a worldwide oil shortage, and Evoke, a game commissioned by the World Bank Institute that sends players on missions to address issues from poverty to climate change.

McGonigal persuasively argues that those who continue to dismiss games will be at a major disadvantage in the coming years. Gamers, on the other hand, will be able to leverage the collaborative and motivational power of games in their own lives, communities, and businesses. Written for gamers and nongamers alike, Reality Is Broken shows us that the future will belong to those who can understand, design, and play games.

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Product Details

Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The; 1 edition (January 20, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1594202850
ISBN-13: 978-1594202858
Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.3 x 9.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (212 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #85,769 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #164 in Books > Engineering & Transportation > Engineering > Telecommunications & Sensors
- #256 in Books > Computers & Technology > Networking & Cloud Computing > Internet, Groupware, & Telecommunications
- #319 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Puzzles & Games > Video & Electronic Games

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212

4.3 out of 5 stars

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2 star		6%
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Learning that I am a GAMER!

By Lisa Niver on October 21, 2014

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

I wrote about this book for Wharton Business Magazine
For most of my life, I have not considered myself into games. I was never good at Pong, and was there ever anything simpler than moving that one paddle up and down the screen? I tuned out when people talked about single person shooters, HALO and their favorite thing to do on Xbox. But when a friend suggested Empire Avenue, a stock market simulation social network game, I was intrigued. I loved everything about it especially watching my ratings and getting badges. Then I read the book Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal, and I began to realize how much I have participated in games before this.

I have used many educational websites in the classroom as a teacher, and I was thrilled when I heard a fifth-grade student say, “Class was so great today. All we did was play.” This was in reference to playing CellCraft, where students have to save a cell from a virus. I loved when students were shouting at one another, “Where are the AA (Amino Acids)? I need to fix my cell wall.” They learned so much as they were enjoying it and moving up levels. Their main concern was beating the game and watching the score, not noticing all the content they learned.

McGonigal states, “Computer and video games are fulfilling genuine human needs that the real world is currently unable to satisfy. Games are providing rewards that reality is not. They are teaching and inspiring and engaging us in ways that reality is not.”

Game-playing inspires “fiero,” the feeling of vanquishing the “dragons” of the 21st century in a virtual world—a reaction that McGonigal describes as “one of the most powerful neurochemical highs we can experience.”

Empire Avenue badges
Some of Lisa’s recent Empire Avenue badges.Read more ›

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

How and why "people who understand the power and potential of games...will be the people who invent our future"

By Robert Morris HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on March 15, 2014

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

It was Jane McGonical's opinion in 2011 that the human race was at a major tipping point. "We can stay on the same course," fleeing the real world for gaming in virtual words or "we can reverse course" and try something else entirely: "What if we decided to use everything we know about game design to fix what's wrong with reality? What if we started to live our real lives like gamers, lead our real businesses and communities like game designers, and think about solving real-world problems like computer and video game theorists?"

OK, how? McGonical wrote this book to share her thoughts and feelings about how such an admirable objective could (perhaps) be achieved. First, defining terms: She suggests there are four defining traits of a game: It has a goal, rules, a feedback system (e.g. score), and voluntary participation. I have been an avid golfer for most of my life and still play about once a week. My goal is to enjoy myself, I follow most of the rules, no longer keep score, and play willingly. According to Bernard Suits, "Playing a game is the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles." In golf, my obstacles include insufficient skill, natural hazards, and impatience.

McGonical identifies twelve unnecessary obstacles in the real world and suggests a how a specific gaming "fix" can overcome each. For example, years ago she coined the term "happiness hacking" which is "the experimental design practice of positive-psychology research findings into game mechanic. It's a way to make happiness activities feel significantly less hokey, and to put them in a bigger social context. Fix #10: "Compared with games, reality is hard to swallow. Games make it easier to take good advice and try out happier habits.Read more ›

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11 of 15 people found the following review helpful

6 Star for Concept--Ignores Past Pioneers--Energizes Us All

By Robert David STEELE Vivas HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWER on February 28, 2011

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

I took the time to read all of the reviews to date, and was reminded again of the chasm between those who understand technology and its possibilities, and those who do not. Being among the latter, in part because I am a veteran of 30 years of watching the US Government waste trillions over that period on too much badly designed technology (government specifications, cost plus) for the wrong reasons and generally without a positive outcome [the Internet being an exception], I must respect--as the author respects with her obviously counter-ripostive editorial interview here at Amazon--both the importance of getting a grip on reality, and the importance of being more respectful of past pioneers, such Buckminster Fuller (RIP) and Medard Gabel (co-creator with Fuller of the analog World Game, creator of the architecture for the digital EarthGame(TM), and recent contributing editor to Designing a World That Works for All: How the Youth of the World are Creating Real-World Solutions for the UN Millenium Development Goals and Beyond (Volume 1), and Russell Ackoff [e.g. Redesigning Society (Stanford Business Books) as well as John N. Warfield [e.g Societal Systems: Planning, Policy and Complexity (Wiley Series on Systems Engineering & Analysis).Read more ›

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A book of revelations

It's a pleasure to read a book so empowering, full of real scientific knowledge about the strength that our mind develops by playing games. Read more

Published 6 days ago by Danilo J. Alvarez

I am glad I did and want to look up her TED ...

Interesting had to read it for school. I am glad I did and want to look up her TED talks next.

Published 17 days ago by ann gerlach

long winded

Overall I think the book is good. My two issues
1. There is way to much fluff in the book. She goes into great detail to describe some apps that you can just skip. Read more

Published 23 days ago by Paul

Enjoyable, well-written book, but left me disappointed.

This is a well-written book, reasonably well organized and clear. But ultimately, it left me feeling just a little bit inspired, yet dissatisfied that I didn't feel like there is a... Read more

Published 26 days ago by Mark J. Welch

Games FTW

Really great insights about life and behavior from a very different perspective

Published 29 days ago by Vinicius Ayub

I want to play!

As a curriculum writer who's job often involves creating games with a purpose, this book makes me want to stand up and shout, "Yes! That's what I'm talking about!"

Published 1 month ago by SumKinaRobot

AMBIGUOUS

IT WAS NOT THAT I DIDN'T LIKE IT--IT JUST WAS NOT FOR ME. AFTER HEARING HER TALK ON "TED TALKS".I WAS PROMPTED TO BUY IT. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Cece

I read this book and she is an utter delight. Her idea of play and...

After having watched Jane McGonical's TED Talk, I read this book and she is an utter delight. Her idea of play and introducing gaming concepts into life to level up in happiness... Read more

Published 2 months ago by Lisette

Great for gamers

Bought it for my brother and he's been loving it.

Published 2 months ago by P. Sanchez

100% Customer Satisfaction

+ Definitely read this book.
++ A modern commentary on life as we know it, that is fun, and that centers games as the fundamental activity for society to revolve around in a... Read more

Published 3 months ago by Joshua Pang