It's All About Perception and Perspective.

Today as I was playing through the end of a video game, the concept of McGonigal’s “epic win” finally hit me. In the game I had to save the world from evil machines, just like you do in any game that is worthwhile. As I was getting closer and closer to the end, I was getting more anxious, scooting forward in my chair. When it finally got to the point where I had won, I sank back into my seat. It was almost as if some invisible weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I know that it sounds crazy, but this feeling that I experienced was the sense of accomplishment and motivation that she was talking about. It isn’t something that you can really describe; you just have to feel it.

To me, McGonigal seems to have two major positive results of gaming that she focuses on; motivation and cooperation.  Personally, I think the motivation side is more powerful. If everyone were to have the sense of motivation that comes after an “epic win,” I would have to agree with McGonigal and say that gaming really could save the world. For this to happen, however, the power needs to be put to good use. It isn’t as simple as saying “we worked together to beat this game, now we won’t ever fight again,” but if real problems were presented in a fictional setting, I think it could work.

One game that was discussed in the article we read for last Tuesday really got me thinking about this concept. In the game, players were presented with a situation in which the world was running out of fossil fuel and they had to allocate resources and figure out what to do. Eventually this is going to be a real problem, so looking at the solutions that the players came up with could really help. Another problem that I think gaming could solve is the lack of an organized, national power grid. Every so often it comes up in the media, and yet there is still no plan to reorganize. If this were to become a game, it would be just like a big puzzle. Players would have to move power plants and transformers to reach maximum efficiency. Sometimes to solve a problem, you have to look at it in a different light, and a game could provide that outlet.

I know there are many arguments against gaming, but I think they stem from skewed perceptions. Most of the time when people are talking about video games, it is in a negative way. They focus on the violence and the extreme cases of social isolation, instead of the development of perseverance and inductive reasoning. Of course this all comes from media portrayal. Being a t-com major, I know how much influence the media has on societal ideas, or at least I thought I did.  This article put it in perspective, just as others before it have. I think this idea is the most important thing I will take away from this class.