"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
A crash course in changing the world.
Epic Life
"Instead of providing gamers with better and more immersive alternatives to reality, I want all of us to become responsible for providing the world with a better and more immersive reality."
5 minutes. That's all you need to want to hear more. Whether or not you're a gamer, give this talk a listen. Jane McGonigal has the ability see below the surface, identify patterns in our lives, and present them in a way we all relate.
In this talk (and her life's work) lies the heart of a challenge we all face--living life in an epic way. Akin to what Howard Thurman once said, "Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive," Jane examines why so many of us struggle to pursue such lives of meaning, despite the capability of millions doing so every day in online games.
She details what this aliveness looks like through the example of what is called an epic win:
an outcome that is so extraordinarily positive you had no idea it was even possible until you achieved it. It was almost beyond the threshold of imagination. And when you get there, you are shocked to discover what you are truly capable of...This is the face that we need to see on millions of problem solvers all over the world as we try to tackle the obstacles of the next century. The face of someone who against all odds is on the verge of an epic win.
But all too often we see the face that she describes as the "I'm not good at life" face. She highlights this truth in saying:
In game worlds we become the best version of ourselves--the most likely to help at a moment's notice, the most likely to stick with a problem as long as it takes, and get up after failure and try again. In real life when we face failure or confront obstacles, we often don't feel that way. We feel overcome, overwhelmed, anxious, depressed, frustrated, or cynical. We never have those feelings when playing games.
Bingo! So she asks, "What about games makes it impossible to feel that we can't achieve everything? How can we take those feelings from games and apply them to real work?" Well, she takes note of four game world characteristics that are devoid in real life:
1) People are willing to trust you with a world saving mission right away, and it is perfectly matched with your current abilities. Though you can do it, it is on the verge of what you're capable of, so you have to try hard. In light of this, there is no unemployment; there is always something specific and important to be done.2) There are tons of collaborators wherever you go...people are ready to work with you to achieve your epic mission.3) There is an epic story, inspiring why we're there and what we're doing.4) Positive feedback is abundant.
Such an environment, she points out, can bring out the best in us, making us super-empowered hopeful individuals, capable of changing the world. Gamers in this environment, for example, have become virtuosos at:
1) Urgent Optimism - extreme self-motivation; the desire to act immediately to tackle an obstacle combined with a belief that we have a reasonable hope for success2) Social Fabric - bonding, collaborating, and building trust3) Blissful Productivity - happier working hard than relaxing or hanging out; we are optimized as human beings to do hard and important work; gamers are willing to work hard all the time if given the right work4) Epic Meaning - connected to awe inspiring missions
So, can we become such virtuosos in the real world? That is what I mean by living life in an epic way. Which is what is so unique about Jane's work...it gets people inspired to collaborate and motivated to do something that matters not with money or economic success but rather with the emotion of aliveness that accompanies doing what you love and discovering what you are truly capable of.
That is something I can relate to. And something she knows we all can. Though I do not traditionally play games, there is a power within them to teach and transform, a means of setting off on the path, so to say. Sure, they can be used to escape reality, but the best case scenario? They are means of empowerment in facing reality. And that is the future Jane is creating.
Views: 65
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Comment by Nick Heyming on April 1, 2010 at 2:51am
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As a lifelong gamer who put down the controller to go do disaster relief 5 years ago, I can only say an emphatic YES to the question you pose at the end.
Epic can not even begin to describe the real world out there that we can co-create.
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Comment by ninmah on April 1, 2010 at 5:01am
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Paul, I was as moved by this talk as you. You've summarized it so well. And I have to agree with Nick -- oh YES we can be virtuosos, and the world can be epic. More than epic. Thanks for the post.
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Comment by Samuel Freilich on April 1, 2010 at 7:35am
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I've been looking for a link to that talk! Many thanks!
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Comment by Louie Hernandez on April 1, 2010 at 7:58am
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You summed this up very well.
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Comment by Michele Baron on April 2, 2010 at 2:39am
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thank you for the post.
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Comment by Joshua Z on April 2, 2010 at 4:29am
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Great review! You said it with direct summation. +1 Sp!
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Comment by Kevin DiVico on April 2, 2010 at 5:16am
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To preface this- great summation...I like Ms. McGonigals work...I liked it since she was at idea festival in Tenn. So what I write past this is not a critique of her or her work but a warning for the future...
A thought to keep in mind through, a systems ethics is only as steady and moral as those who steer the system. Games, game theory, virtual worlds, ARG's, and there implementation can be an incredible source of change, training, education, and empowerment.
They can also be co-opted as an incredible source of control. Will we be going into the future where instead of quoting Alan Moore' line "who watches the watchman?' it will be who watches the gamemaster..or perhaps it is just one and the same....
It is up to us to make sure that dystopian future never comes about....
and now a word from the Newtonian world of physics... Super Empowered hopeful Individuals who don't learn to duck or wear body armor and blindly go forth into the world to right wrongs and face down corruption will learn how a very nasty and final lesson...epic fail/game over.
a new philosophy must be created for this new century, this new millennium ... I'll post the one i am working on in a new blog post....
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She's brilliant. Simply put, brilliant. We need this. It's such a creative innovative way to harness the energy people put into games instead of into the real world. I'm thankful for her, her team, their ideas, and their initiative.
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Comment by Paul Holze on April 26, 2010 at 6:40pm
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A belated note to say I enjoyed all your comments and am glad to have gotten to connect with you all
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