Before actually watching Jane McGonigal's video, I was a little fuzzy to the idea of games playing a part in helping solve real life problems. Just by looking at the title of the video, I thought the woman may have been a little coo-coo; afterwards she opened an entire new insight on how games are actually related to the real world.
Jane McGonigal started the video off introducing a thesis which would be that gaming can help save the real world. She stated that most gamers are so engaged in games because of the escape from reality. In the game world , especially in online games, you are more interactive with people you're gaming with whereas in the real world you can walk pass strangers and not interact at all. It's almost like online gaming allows you to do things in the game world that you wouldnt normally do in the real world. McGonigal also explained how gamers play games so much for the thrill that they receive from being able to achieve the tasks.
One thing that absolutely stood out to me is towards the end of the video when McGonigal had put her theory into action. She put together an online game and the basis of the game was that there was a gas shortage and the gamers had to find solutions and live off this problem. I found it cool how they were able to make a simulation and it really amazed me that after weeks of playing the game, the gamers actually started applying what they had learned in the game to their real lives. If something as simple as an online game can make a change in 1500 people, I could only imagine what changes it could have if larger numbers of people were put in the same situation.
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