Gaming: about time we applied it

There have been years and years of studies and research links to indicate HUGE global reduction in various types of crime ever since the release of Doom-1. It's sickening to still hear weak fanatical media trying to blame individual and isolated events on game violence, when in fact the very opposite is true.

So this video goes a step further, to hypothesize and implement systems to utilise gaming as a means of super-collaboration for real world problems. It really outlines the mindset needed to turn around the "gamers are wasting their time" chant, into something nobody can deny as truly powerful. 20mins, but not boring by any measure.


http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html




This pretty much vindicates points of view I've been trying to explain to peers since I started at Post. My "spare time" is actually time I spend doing awesome stuff for my kids and peers via my skill set. Electronics fix it jobs, computer fix it jobs, handyman junk, toys and furniture for myself and my kids etc. You've seen some of it in this blog throughout the years. As much as I may sound like I'm miserable and ranting, I'm actually trying to get friends to enjoy what they're missing out on. Actual real world productivity that forms many seeds of growth within the circle of friends, which seeds a larger circle. Not just "busy work" in the form of achieving pretend housework goals.

Another example of real world gaming for global interests is the Folding-At-Home "Fold It" endeavour which I've been part of for years. Fold-It is a recent implementation of the folding@home goal that gets you to fold proteins with a purely human visual intuition means. The results are staggering against computational-brute-force, which the F@H team have been doing for years. edit: Actually I think FoldIt may now be independent of the original F@H from Stanford. I'm certain it was originally linked though I can't find the common person any longer. It's been a few years since it launched.

Give it a shot. It's fun, you inherently learn HEAPS through sheer curiosity, and it creates topics of conversation and competition that's genuinely fun amongst your peers and friends who are doing the same thing. Plenty of these style games around, go look. Give it a shot. Play some games.

A little extra from one of Janes older workshops:
http://vimeo.com/16227360 A lot of tongue in cheek, some of the same stuff is covered, but some great elaboration also. Bit of fun. LOL @ the Massively Multiplayer Thumb Wrestle Wars at the end :-)

Jane McGonigal homepage:
http://janemcgonigal.com/