In this weeks discussion we talk about technology, art, and games. Jane McGonigal, a speaker at TED2010, talks about the benefits that online gaming can have in real life scenarios. During the TED talk it is explained that 3 billion hours are spent weekly playing online games. A number that I initially thought was huge, but according to McGonigal is not big enough to help solve the world’s biggest problems. The rational is that gamers experience a feeling of epic proportions when conquering on an extreme basis. Meaning that gamers who achieve high success did so without knowing this was possible. Moving this rational into the ‘real world’ Jane wants to see millions of people using this same sort of drive for high success when it comes to world problems such as poverty, malnutrition, obesity, etc.

My question for this week’s discussion on technology, art, and games is:

Can online gaming correlate to higher participation in achieving real life problem solving efforts associated with world issues including: poverty, malnutrition, and obesity, or is this a pipe dream used by online gaming enthusiasts to continue spending more and more hours playing video games?

 

Citation:

Jane McGonigal. (2010, February). Gaming can make a better world: Jane McGonigal on TED.com