Reality is broken - Chapter's 12&13

Chapter 12 of Reality is Broken speaks about missions impossible.  Specifically, Jane begins speaking about epic wins and the strive for gamers to achieve them. She compares and epic win in a virtual world to an epic win in real life an came to the conclusion that an epic win in a virtual world is much more attainable because in real life we are too afraid to take chances. She then goes on to say that for every individual, an epic win means something slightly different. For one person an epic win may be the visual appeal of a particular virtual world. However another person may not relate to an epic win until they have a 10:1 kill death ratio in CoD. Jane then goes on to discuss how she believes we can bring these epic wins into real life; she begins talking about the Extraordinarines, a mobile phone app.  This is a game that employs its users to create a map of all available defibrillators. While this doesn’t sound fun on its own, this game has taken many queues from Hollywood games such as CoD or WoW. Much like in WoW this game takes a simple task and makes it sound important, in this case, the game makes you believe that you are saving lives as you play. The game makes you believe that every time you track down one of these defibrillators that you have just saved a persons real life, quite the epic win. Although I do agree with her about bringing epic wins into real life, outside of the medical and scientific fields it would be quite hard to make people fell as if what they were doing matter.  It seems that with binging an epic win into the real world it strongly relies on the narrative of the “quest”. We are doing little more then tricking ourselves into thinking we are doing something more then we actually are.  What happens when we see someone in need in real life, a burning building an elderly person being robbed, would we then simply check our mobile devices to see if this “quest” is “active” or do we get up and do something about it. Although I have no problem with what Jane is trying to do, I believe that her methods make us as a society far too reliant on technology, that’s not to say that we aren’t already, but what she is imposing is to blur the line between what is real and what is fake, but it leads to the question of if we achieve this how will we know what is real and what isn’t?

Chapter 13 of Reality is Broken talks about collaboration super powers. As Jane puts it we all have the super power of collaboration because by the time we hit 21 we spend 10 thousand hours playing and collaborating in video games. While I do agree that I have spent this much time, if not more playing video games, I do not believe that they have all had me collaborating with one another. In fact for most of my life I have been playing games where the sole objective was to level up my own character, look out for myself, and not for anyone else. So in that respect I believe that Mc Gonnigal is wrong. Also she believes that every game is teaching you the exact same skill set for that 10 thousand hours you have been playing. This is couldn’t be further from the truth; different games and specifically different genres will end up teaching you different things. While a FPS may tech you how to work on a team and collaborate with one another an RPG doesn’t do any of that. In an RPG you are strictly looking out for your own characters self-interest. There are also games that fall neatly into the middle ground, such as a RTS game. It can put you in a position where you must look out for your self or it could put you in a position where you have to work well with your team, its really up to how you want to play the game. The only problem that I seem to be facing in this chapter is that Jane is speaking far too broadly, none of her points are narrowed or focused in on any one particular genre or game. How can you expect to paint all of these games with the same brush when it is so obvious that they each have something very deferent and very unique to offer?

Reality is broken - Chapter's 10&11

Chapter 10 of Reality is Broken, speaks about happiness hacking, “how alternate realities can help us adopt the daily habits of the world’s happiest people”. In this chapter Jane gives three examples of alternate reality games that is designed to make you happier.  The first game which she discusses is C2BK, this is an alternate reality game where the gamer is pressures to go outside and “spread kindness” it is yet another game where the user has no basis for determining who is playing an who is not. The main objective of this game is to either compliment, wink or smile at someone. It is a game that is strongly based off the popular rock paper scissor concept where a wink beats a smile, a smile beats a compliment, and a compliment beats a wink. Although this game is designed to make you and the people around you happier, it does have some drawbacks that you can immediately see. If you were to be playing the game and you smile at a suspected player and they smile back at you, what the game tells you to do is to stare at the other person and run away for 30 seconds. But what if this other person wasn’t playing the game; you just made their day that much worse. All they would know is that some guy looked at them and was so shocked when they saw your smile they ran away. What’s worse, is every thirty seconds you see this guy peering around a corner smiling and winking at you.  The second alternate reality game that Jane suggests in this chapter is a game called tombstone hold’em. This is a game that the players are competing to see who can make up the better poker hand. The only catch being that instead of cards there are tombstones and it is up to the player to decide which cards are best for him. With  this game, Jane is encouraging people to go and play in graveyards. While this may seem all good and harmless, the last thing you want to see when you are visiting a loved one is a bunch of people crawling all over the graves of the deceased. The problem with some of these games is that she is crossing some of the social norms which, when we were brought up we were told not to cross.

Chapter 11 of Reality is Broken talks about The Engagement Economy. She talks about how large-scale games can be used to improve the world. She begins by speaking about an example in Brittan where the government enlisted the help of its citizens to help track the expenses of Government officials. This was a job which was just on too large of a scale for a single government to handle so what they did was Crowd-source their work. This is a term coined by Jeff Howe, which essentially means outsourcing a job to a crowd. This, if done correctly is the means for some of the most productive work achievable. These are people who are not doing this as a form of payment; they are not doing it because they have to. But rather they do it because they are having fun, they are enjoying what they are doing and are intrigued. We see this type of collaboration happening in virtual space all the time; we see it in Wikipedia, WoW, and many other events that have a mass gathering of minds. What Jane is proposing is that we think about these gathering of minds, and we put them to use. Not towards some form of fictional goal like three billion kills on WoW. But rather she is looking for something bigger, she is looking for a game that tackles the big issues like the energy crisis or global warming. When we look at what we have accomplished so far with our collective intelligence, we see that we are not to far off from some of her ideas.

Reality is broken - Chapter's 8&9

In chapter eight, Jane talks about “leveling up in life”. Specifically, she is referring to making even the most mundane of tasks fun and enjoyable. She is speaking about putting a point and reward system on our everyday live and turning it into a game. In this chapter she refers to three separate examples which she is suggests might work. Her first example talks about an online resource where you and your friends sign up and create a reward system based on tasks that require some form of motivation (plusoneme.com). In her example she was stating that she should be able to gain charisma and public speaking points for performing her lecture.  Although this idea does have some merit to it, there are some concerns which need to be addressed such as the willingness of the participants, or their ability to keep track and record vital information for game play. The second example that Jane talks about in this chapter is the adaptation of gamification relating to airlines. Specifically, she speaks about virgin airways and they’re new on board game that is played from plane to plane. This game is designed to give the passengers a sense of relief and get their minds of flying; as for most people it is quite an anxious ordeal. This game was not only said to relieve stress during flight, but as well it affords some passengers the ability to relieve some of their pre-flight stress as they spend most of their time focusing on how they are going to play the game and not on the upcoming flight which they will soon be boarding. She also speaks about this games social benefit’s, as it requires the players to work in coordination with one another in order to beat the opposing plane. I believe that it is games like this that provide the best chance to bridge the gap between real life and gameplay. It is taking a task that is mandatory for you at the time and making it fun. I don't believe that we have to make everything into a game in order to make the world a better place; we just have to turn the worst parts of it into a game in order to make the bearable. Instead of waiting in line to get your hamburger from Harveys give me a chance to win my burger for free.

Chapter nine of Reality Is Broken speaks about fun with strangers.  She states that “compared with games, reality is lonely and isolating. Games help us band together and create powerful communities from scratch.” She begins by talking about a game called Comfort of Strangers. This is an alternate reality game that encourages the user to get up and out of their house.  The objective of this game is to identify other players as either lovers or dancers. The Player is randomly assigned to either team and the game is won when there are no remaining members of the enemy team. Games such as this are great in a since they evoke a need for participation on its players, however it does seem to have some obvious fallbacks. Firstly, as Jane mentions it would be quite difficult to get the participation needed to get this game massively successful. Secondly this game appears to be lacking on a reward system, as such how can you expect the players to remain engaged in what they are doing.  She then begins to speak about a game called Bounce, a virtual reality game which requires the user to connect with someone of another generation. It is a phone based trivia game where the two participants must ask each other questions and find 10 commonalities between them. They then must devise a poem using the answers you had just established. By doing this both participants are gaining experience and leveling up. This game is meant to help establish stronger social skills from both participants.  However with this virtual reality game we do se some flaws that would need to be checked out. One flaw that immediately comes to mind would be the lack of participation from the older generations. This game could be easily market towards the younger generations, as they seem to always be searching for the newest coolest thing out there. However we do find that with the older generation we see more skepticism towards trying new things. Especially when they are so strongly associated with technology and “gaming”. All skepticism aside, a game such as this would have many social benefits for thousands of gamers out there. It would allow the newer generations to connect with older generations outside your families. It would also serve as an excellent source of information for both the older and newer generations.

Reality is broken - Chapter's 6&7

In chapter 6, Jane talks about “Becoming a part of something bigger than ourselves”. Specifically she is referring to gamers and their need to be a part of something better. She begins by giving the example of Halo 3, when they asked their players to begin the race to 10 billion covenant kills.  This seems like an impossible task, what they are asking is for every man woman and child on the earth to kill 2 bad guys each. What Bungie (creators of Halo) is counting on, is the gamers need for an epic win, they are expecting a few thousand hardcore dedicated gamers to step up to the plate and pull up the slack for those who either have no interest or are just unable to compete in this challenge. This is exactly the type of participation they received because in just 565 days they managed to complete this task. What Jane then goes on to discuss is the potential for this teamwork to benefit us in some tangible way. She talks about how we have been able to assemble the world’s largest army; they all just got a little sidetracked playing Halo. What Jane is suggesting is that instead of collaborating over fictional events we bring real world events into fictional environments and attempt to solve them. Instead of investing millions of dollars into the next Call of Duty franchise why not create a new game targeted at the mass videogame audiences. Call it “Mother Natures Revenge: An angry planet” and instead of teaching your participants to snipe off his enemies head, teach him how to communicate, how to brainstorm; teach them how to think.

In Chapter 7, Jane talks about the benefits of Alternate Reality. In this chapter what she is trying to establish are the benefits to living in a gamified world. She begins her argument by talking about an ARG known as Chore Wars. This is a game, which attempts to put a point and reward system on your everyday chores. The point of this Alternate reality is to improve the “dirty work” that you are forced to deal with every week. She states that a game such as this is fun at first but within the first couple of months your participation begins to fade. This is exactly what is hindering many of the mass ARG’s which people are trying to create. There is something, which draws you to a game such as this initially, but there is nothing to keep pulling you back in. She then begins to talk about ARG’s that you play out of necessity. Specifically she is speaking about a game that she created called super better. This is an ARG in which the participants must impose upon themselves. The game has a few set rules however it is for the most part up to the participant to clarify those rules and tailor the game to their specific needs.  It is a game that attempts to make your life a little easier and is meant to be played while you are ill or not feeling well. It allows the player to remove the stress from their lives, and allows the player an excuse to get people to care for them. Jane is looking for the perfect blend, using the problem solving skills we see used in ARG’s mixed with the mass connectivity we see in the big box games. She is looking for an idea that will not only change he world for gamers but for every man woman and child living on this planet.

Reality is Broken - Chapter's 4&5

In chapter 4, Jane McGonigal speaks about “fun failure, and the chance for success”. What she is trying to establish in this chapter is the emotional reasoning behind why exactly millions of people play videogames on a regular basis. She states that with games, learning is the drug. She believes that, the thing that keeps people coming back, time and time again is the need for self-improvement. She believes that within everybody there is a desire to constantly be changing for the better. What Jane is suggesting is that games are doing just this; they are setting people up for failure. However she is not suggesting that this failure is discouraging at all, in fact she believes that it is the very thing which keeps people coming back time and time again. She states, “ fun will always morph to boredom, once we pass the critical point of being reliably successful. “. This statement could not be truer; when we look to the real world we see these points reinforced.  As Jane mentions we see people who work desk jobs finding their work quite boring and meaningless. Whereas when we look at the other side of the spectrum we see people in the trades for the most part enjoying what they are doing. They get to see direct results from their work and quite often they work on different tasks from week to week. She then talks about the drive for success specifically she speaks about Rockband. She discusses the correlation between the rock star dream and the user experience. She explains that within everyone there is a desire to fulfill this “American dream” and Rockband allows you to do just this. As well she speaks about the social benefits of games such as this. Such as stronger social skills, better relationship and interpersonal skills.

In Chapter 5, Jane talks about “Stronger Social Connectivity”. At the beginning, Jane is discussing the benefits to games held on social media sites. Specifically she is referring to Lexulous. She speaks about the benefits to asynchronous play (players can participate when they feel like it.). Saying that this type of play requires the user to be both addicted and patient, seemingly quite a daunting task however as she explains there are games out there which are able to make us feel both. These games however are usually found on social media sites or other websites where the main objective is to get you to log on daily or in some cases every 10 minutes. She then speaks about games that are able to give you the blissful productivity from WoW with the easygoing user participation of Lexulous, Games such as Farmville and Café-world. She speaks about these games seemingly overnight success and how one in seventy-five people all across the world are playing Farmville. She also speaks about how these games are beginning to bridge the gap between our virtual and real lives by telling you that your real friends need help in their virtual world. This gives us a sense of agency for these games; it brings our real lives further into the game, making it hard to distinguish what is fact from what is fiction.

Reality is Broken - Chapter 2

As this chapter begins Jane Mcgonnigal is discussing flow "the satisfying, exhilarating feeling of creative accomplishment and heightened functioning" She discuses Csikszentmihalyi's observations on flow and how there is almost none in real life, yet in game worlds there is an abundance of this flow. Jane then goes on to talk about Gamifying the world. She thinks that, if there is such an abundance of flow in game worlds, why not make our world into one gigantic game and get rid of all the desperation and despair. She then goes on to talk about David Sudnow and too much flow. Here was a man who had his whole life ahead of him and yet here he was spending every waking moment playing a videogame, breakout too be exact. Sudnow sat as he played this game for three months until he had finally come as close as he ever would too beating the game. At that point he had experienced so much flow and so much fiero that he just stopped cold turkey. Finally, Jane goes on to talk about happiness and different ways in which we attain it. She speaks about both extrinsic rewards (money, material things) and intrinsic rewards (hard work, improving yourself). Jane suggests turning real life into a game,  while this sounds good, it would be too difficult time consuming and risky too pull off. Not only would we need to pull millions and millions of dollars out of our own pockets too see this idea come too fruition. But as well, who is too say it would even work. Sure there is some research to back up the claims, but who’s too say that after a year of living in this gameified world you wouldn't begin to become desensitized to it, leaving you right back where you left off a few million dollars ago. We could see extreme immersion like that of Sudnow's research but how long until they "beat" the game and completely disconnect. what if in this new gameified world there is such an abundance of feiro and flow that after a while you completely peak, and nothing is the same again. Of course this is all just negative speculation. we could see that if gameified, the world could greatly benefit, if people enjoyed what they were doing all the time we could see a definite correlation between the amount of work done and the time spent doing it. We would see many people hiking up their socks and increasing their overall productivity. Nobody truly knows how this idea would flourish if it was given the proper startup, there are two possible paths which this idea may wander. Down one of the paths, we see a future with a social disconnect, where the people of this world have experienced so much flow and so much fiero that nothing will ever be the same. They will never feel the same sense of joy and wonder again. Down the other path however is a new life, where the people of this reality are enjoying their lives too the fullest. This is a path down which games and gamification rule. Where even the most mundane and repetitive of tasks have become an enjoyable challenge. We don't know where these new and radical ideas will take us, all we know is that in our everyday lives we will soon be seeing the repercussions of these somewhat inspirational ideas.

Reality is Broken - Chapter 1

In this chapter, Jane McGonigal is attempting to set the basis for her argument of this entire text. She is saying that more and more gamers are beginning to disconnect from reality. She is saying that we are beginning to see more people participating in a virtual environment then the people whom are participating in real life. Jane McGonigal doesn't see this as a problem instead, she sees it more as a potential solution to other pre-existing problems. She is attempting to suggest that if we could somehow tap into this "system" which all of our gamers are using, we could use this abundance of information to solve huge lingering problems, such as world hunger or on a lesser scale, oil consumption. She is trying to turn these passive gamers into active participators, she is attempting to zero in on a resource which has always been their, but nobody has been able to harness. While this all may sound good and well, it would be much more difficult to execute then she is making it sound. How do you get millions of people who experience joy from watching a zombie explode, experience the same joy by sitting around pondering new ideas to use less oil. let me tell you its going to take more then a good user interface and fancy graphics to fool me into sitting around talking about oil for two hours. so does this then mean that her viewpoints are completely unattainable? No, but you do have to find the perfect balance between work and play. so why then haven't we seen a game of this type on the shelves of our local video store? Their surly are many reasons as to why we don't see games like this, they are too costly to make, not enough interest from the participant  and so on and so-forth. so what we see Jane McGonigal  also suggesting is to gamify our current reality. why cant we turn the whole world into a game, make it fun, make people want to get out there and participate. You go to the library pick up a book read it, you "level up", you go to the store and hold a door for an elderly person you "gain niceness points". what she suggests this would do is promote kind gestures by rewarding people and discipline bad gestures by taking away points. We do already see how companies are beginning to implement these systems today, to much success. We see some companies who reward their employees for being on time and for preforming well at their jobs. This system not only motivates the individuals but it as well motivates tho company as a whole to do better. As for those people who have never played a video-game and don't want to gamify their world, all I can say is grab a controller and start playing. There’s a revolution coming and your going to be stuck right in the middle of it.