For this week I found the TED talk with Jane McGonigal very interesting. Jane claims that video games help us feel confident and solve problems, world problems. She says that people in general feel that we are not as good with real life as we are in real life. I agree with her that video games can help people feel better about themselves like how World of War craft allows you to be a leader and conquer with others around the world. But I had a very difficult time agreeing that by playing more video games will help us in turn do more in real life. The games she created as she discussed at the end of the talk I feel would help for example the game where you had to figure out what to do if we ran out of oil. This would engage your thinking with real life problems.

I have always seen video games as a good hobby and something to help your self-esteem but it can also over take your life. She even stated that regular video gamers spend up to 20 hours a week on games, a part time job! Many people do not learn to be comfortable with them because their online self is more “perfect” then their true selves. I think the characters created are unrealistic. So I think her theory only works with games that involve real life problems. I feel like she talked in circles a lot and did not simply state how video games will actually help people solve real world problems.