Day 88: TED Games Can Make a Better World

In honor of my brother's birthday I watched a documentary on something he would enjoy-video games. June McGonigal believes playing video games holds the key to saving the world. She discuses her theory in this 20 minute lecture.

My brother Max loves video games. He always has. I can remember spending hours as a kid watching him play. I was never very good- I don't posses the hand-eye coordination necessary to be a gamer. But I always enjoyed watching him play, if only because he would get so into it. Winning or losing a game could make or break the rest of the day for him. Humans currently play 3 billion hours of video games a week. McGonigal would like to see us amp that to 21 billion hours a week in order to maximally utilize the benefits of gamer culture. 

McGonigal, a video game designer, believes that playing video games brings out the best in people, and that could be harnessed to help solve some of the world's biggest problems. People respond to the world rules of video games because there are clear goals, consistent forms of validation like level-ups and awards, and strong social ties to other players. If people began to think the real world could be affected and saved as easily as the online world, what changes would be made tomorrow?

Overall a really interesting topic and a good lecture. 

You can watch it here: