Reality is Broken : : why Games Make us Better and how They can Change the World
Book - 2011 None on shelf No requests on this item
Sign in to request
AADL has no copies of this item
Why games make us happy -- Reinventing reality -- How very big games can change the world.
Visionary game designer Jane McGonigal shows how we can harness the power of computer games to solve real-world problems and boost global happiness, since her research suggests that gamers are expert problem solvers and collaborators because they regularly cooperate with other players to overcome daunting virtual challenges.
REVIEWS & SUMMARIES
CHOICE ReviewBooklist Review
Publishers Weekly Review
Summary / Annotation
Table of Contents
Fiction Profile
Author Notes
COMMUNITY REVIEWS
Perhaps a little too hopeful for the future of games and gaming
submitted by edwardvielmetti on June 19, 2016, 3:51pm
The book was written in 2011, and so some of its projections can be tested in 2016.
McGonigal is very hopeful for the future of games and gaming to take on real world problems. To illustrate this she writes about Farmville and World of Warcraft, two games popular at the time that have seen their fortunes ebb very quickly.
I get the sense that there's a very big difference between the observation that "people play games a lot when they can" vs. "we can design games to change the world".
(However, Summer Game is awesome - perhaps because it's a time-limited game and not a perpetual game, and because there's no greedy capitalist trying to extract money from you as you play. Go Summer Game!)
PUBLISHED
New York : Penguin Press, 2011.
Year Published: 2011
Description: 388 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.
Language: English
Format: Book
ISBN/STANDARD NUMBER
9781594202858
1594202850
SUBJECTS
Computer games -- Social aspects.