Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World - Softcover

McGonigal, Jane

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143120611 ISBN 13: 9780143120612

Publisher: Penguin Books, 2011

Synopsis

A visionary game designer reveals how we can harness the power of games to boost global happiness.

With 174 million gamers in the United States alone, we now live in a world where every generation will be a gamer generation. But why, Jane McGonigal asks, should games be used for escapist entertainment alone? In this groundbreaking book, she shows how we can leverage the power of games to fix what is wrong with the real world-from social problems like depression and obesity to global issues like poverty and climate change-and introduces us to cutting-edge games that are already changing the business, education, and nonprofit worlds. Written for gamers and non-gamers alike, Reality Is Broken shows that the future will belong to those who can understand, design, and play games.

Jane McGonigal is also the author of SuperBetter: A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver and More Resilient.

About this title

Review

"McGonigal proposes a fascinating and provocative, if troubling, manifesto that adds to our understanding of the appeal and potential power of digital games. . . . McGonigal is a clear, methodical writer, and her ideas are well argued. Assertions are backed by countless psychological studies." --The Boston Globe

"Once you read this remarkable book, you'll never look at games--or yourself--quite the same way." --Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive and A Whole New Mind

"Jane McGonigal is worth hearing out--her point in this provocative manifesto is that the energy and devotion that gamers pour into video games is a powerful force and that we are fools if we fail to harness it. . . . McGonigal marshals convincing evidence in smart and snappy prose, delivered in an old-fashioned book for techno-peasants such as me." --Janice P. Nimura, Los Angeles Times

"Reality is Broken is a compelling exploration of why playing games makes us feel so good, and why, far from being a distraction from reality, technology-led games are increasingly providing solutions to our daily dissatisfactions. . . . Despite her expertise, McGonigal's book is never overly technical, and as with a good computer game, anyone, regardless of gaming experience, is likely to get sucked in." --New Scientist

"Powerful and provocative . . . McGonigal makes a persuasive case that games have a lot to teach us about how to make our lives, and the world, better." --San Jose Mercury News

"Jane McGonigal's insights have the elegant, compact, deadly simplicity of plutonium, and the same explosive force." --Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother

Book Description

Visionary game designer Jane McGonigal reveals how we can harness the power of games to solve real world problems and improve our day-to-day living

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0143120611
• ISBN 13: 9780143120612
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 416