Gaming and Technology
It is really interesting topic to discuss about how gaming change our life. In the presentation from Jane McGonigal, she talked about the current situation about online gaming and how games can make a better world for us. I am a gamer for several years, and I will spend about 10 hours each week to play games. It is true that play games will spend us lots of time for doing other things. However, I view gaming as a good way for me to entertain and make friends with others. For me, gaming is a communication tool for my friends. We really enjoy playing games together and we learned how to cooperate with others to finish the games. It is a good idea to design games that can solve our real world problems, and I am willing to play this kind of games to make some contribution. I think it is a good thing for us to explore the possibility that gaming can make some good effort for our real world.
Jane McGonigal’s TED talk really gave me a different perspective on gaming. I am one who doesn’t game and doesn’t see much of a positive influence from the activity. I understand that gaming is a social activity and can encourage stronger friendships and relationships but I do believe that it does negatively affect social behavior. Along with gaming, television, phones, tablets and other devices have had huge impacts on society.
People should be able to interact with each other in person. There are many better ways to develop communication, cooperation, and relational skills on a foundation where people are having direct face-to-face interactions rather than through messages or a screen.
There is a beauty of being able to connect with someone through verbal and non-verbal cues and connections. No two people have the same interactions with each other, and it’s important that we remember and appreciate this so that people never take for advantage the others in our life. Gaming itself is a virtual domain. It is not a part of our world, but a distraction from the things our world has to offer us. As McGonigal suggested, gaming may offer relevant and valuable skills, but unless one can apply the skills gained from the 22 average hours of gaming a week to a real world setting, it seems merely like an addition or obsession. With everything, there must be balance in order to take away the positive affects.