power through gaming

Ever since I was a kid, I never thought about video games as being a positive thing for the world. Sure, they give people something to do and they can be a lot of fun, but I never thought they were very productive. But reading the article about Jane McGonigal, "Wii Shall Overcome," really got my wheels turning on the idea that video games could potentially change the world. In the article, it states that McGonigal is a firm believer that "video games can fix the planet's toughest problems." At first, I thought that seemed ridiculous. When I was addicted to Crash Bandicoot in 6th grade, the last thing I thought I was doing was saving the world. Whenever I think of gamers, I think of 40 year old men who live in their mom's basement who only eat microwave dinners and never leave their gaming console. I always thought gaming was more of an addiction than a way to change the world. The articles mentions McGonigal insisting that by "giving us a sense of accomplishment,meaning, and productivity, games are creating a new breed of 'super-empowered hopeful individuals'." It made me think that maybe these video games are a good thing. I revisited my sixth grade self and thought about how accomplished and inspired I felt. The most important thing to do is to apply these feelings of motivation and inspiration and vision that people have when playing video games into real world issues, then the human race would be unstoppable.