If you haven't heard of Jane McGonigal, she's a games designer from California. She's been featured in a few articles on this fine website.
Including
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_252/7501-Jane-McGonigal-Lives-the-Game
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_252/7504-Playing-For-Our-Future
Stumbled across this video of a TED talk she did called "Gaming can make a better world". It might be old news, it was posted in march, but it's still awesome and I'd like to share it. (Link at the bottom)
The idea is basically to apply the same principles that keep you playing games - solving problems, working in a team, having an inspiring goal etc - to real life.
The things that really satisfy me in life are things that feel like epic quests, when so much shit goes wrong one thing after the other, and you and your friends laugh it off and get on with fixing the problems as they come. The sort of thing that happens in games every single day.
TLDR; "Reality is broken, says Jane McGonigal, and we need to make it work more like a game. Her work shows us how."
http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html
Including
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_252/7501-Jane-McGonigal-Lives-the-Game
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_252/7504-Playing-For-Our-Future
Stumbled across this video of a TED talk she did called "Gaming can make a better world". It might be old news, it was posted in march, but it's still awesome and I'd like to share it. (Link at the bottom)
The idea is basically to apply the same principles that keep you playing games - solving problems, working in a team, having an inspiring goal etc - to real life.
The things that really satisfy me in life are things that feel like epic quests, when so much shit goes wrong one thing after the other, and you and your friends laugh it off and get on with fixing the problems as they come. The sort of thing that happens in games every single day.
TLDR; "Reality is broken, says Jane McGonigal, and we need to make it work more like a game. Her work shows us how."
http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html