Jane McGonigal’s +20 Crazy Idea

The counter-balance to yesterday’s insane video, this is game developer Jane McGonigal’s TEDTALK. It’s absolutely brilliant.

Key take-aways:

  • Gamers have spent 5.93 million years (collectively) playing WoW and solving its problems.
  • By 21, the average kid in a country with a strong gaming culture will have spent 10,000 hours playing games (read Outliers for why that’s key)
  • Gaming creates “Super-Empowered Hopeful Individuals” that trust others, work collaboratively on epic problems and don’t quit easily.

Jane gets +20 Billiance, and an added skill bonus of +10 Awesomeness

(h/t Chris Brogan)

2 Responses

  1. Damn… Finally got around to watching this video. Kinda thought it was a standup rutine, but turns out that this woman is serious and brilliant too. Excellent analysis and clever take on the “wasted” hours of gaming.

    Hmmm… now how will she mix this with my current fave game LOTRO to utilize my superpowers in gaming? Can’t wait to see. 🙂

    Thoughtworthy stuff. Thanks for sharing Ryan.

  2. i too ama gamer and i have been waiting for someone to confirm that all the enjoyment i get when i see an achievement bar flash across my screen in WoW actually has some sort of use. Ryan, what’s this about Chinatravel.net? can you please email me?

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