FACT: Gamers are collectively spending three billion hours per week playing games.
One has to wonder, is it actually worth it? Could this time be spent in a wiser way?
No, argues Jane McGonigal, director of game research and development at the Institute for the Future (IFTF). “Games are the single most productive thing we can do with our time … [they] give us the power to change the world,” she said.
In a surprising addition to “Outliers” author Malcolm Gladwell’s study on what contributes to a person’s status as an expert in his or her field (answer: 10,000 hours), McGonigal has found that by the age of 21, kids would have spent 10,000 hours of their free time playing games.
To put this into perspective, that’s the same number of hours spent in the classroom during that timeframe.
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So, what were some of the positive effects that these young adults experienced?
- Children who play games with their parents are more connected, and have a much lower incidence of social problems outside of school
- Playing "pro-social" games like Panda Paradise where you help out the world makes you three to four times more likely to help others in real life
- According to a 2009 industry research study, 67% of 60,000 gamers reported inspiration to play an instrument in real life after playing a music game.72 percent of musicians reported spending more time playing real instruments after playing music games
- Playing as an attractive, heroic character in a video game for 90 seconds will make players more confident for the next 24 hours.
- In the case of soldiers returning from Afghanistan, it was found that playing a game for 3 – 4 hours a day proved to be the second-most effective coping mechanism. The only one that beat it outright was working out in a gym 5 – 6 hours a day, a daunting task for even the most determined person.
- Gamers are more likely to have the ability to control what happens in their dreams, and have reported the lowest incidence of nightmares.
Gamers also experience a state of eustress – positive stress – when they play. “People like us more – we’re more likable because we have this energy and this optimism … this is an extraordinary state of mind to be in”, says McGonigal.
The key to all this, is to harness all the positive aspects of gaming for tangible ends.
Mcgonigal argues that feeling good within a game has spillover effects to real life. “It’s not a crazy idea,” she said. As shown in the example above, games can and do enhance our lives. They motivate us to take real world action in order to earn in-game rewards or status.
“Before writing this review, for example, I went for a run. I was tired and felt like giving up after 30 minutes, but stuck it out for 45. Why? Because I knew when I got home I’d be docking my iPod with my computer and logging my run on a website called Nike Plus. The site not only tracks my progress and records my mood, but also lets me “level up” the more I run. Since I joined up, I’ve run 858 kilometres, so I’m classed as a green runner. When I hit 1000 km I’ll move up to blue, hopefully ahead of my running buddies who joined up with me. I know every extra step I run will get me further in this game.”
Source: https://socialcapital.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/designing-games-to-save-the-world/
“We are powering up our real lives when we play”, says Mcgonigal. In order to make positive things happen, “We have to bring our gamer selves into the real world.”
