Learning to Make Your Own Reality - IGDA Education Keynote 2009

Learning To Make Your Own Reality Jane McGonigal, PhD INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE

Are you optimistic about the future?

Jane McGonigal, PhD INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE

“ Well, it's probably better than inventing the past. but I wonder…” “ ‘ Invent The Future ’, it says….”

“ what proportion of people in the world really have the slightest chance of even altering their own futures ?” at least 1 in 2,000* * not super-scientific

Game industry hotspots 3 million game designers, developers, hackers and counting...

The Great Work of

Game Designers

Over the Next Decade

will be to

Re-Invent Real Life

as we know it.

5 key forces

are driving us toward

A Game Designer’s Future.

2. Persuasive Technology

1. Sustainable happiness 3. The Engagement Economy 4. Programmable Reality 5. SuperStructing

STEAL THESE SLIDES slides @avantgame .com

1. Sustainable happiness

A measurably higher quality of life that:

flows from scientific findings about optimal human experience,

and

requires fewer non-renewable resources to generate well-being

What humans crave: 1. satisfying work to do 2. the experience of being good at something 3. time spent with people we like 4. the chance to be a part of something bigger

The Quality of Life Index

The Happy Planet Index

“ Gross National Happiness”

Subjective Life Satisfaction

The Canadian Index of Well-Being

World’s Most Livable Cities

The Vanderford Riley Well Being Schedule

The Authentic Happiness Inventory

How well do countries use their resources to deliver longer lives, greater physical well-being, and life satisfaction?

“ Happiness consists in activity . It is a running stream, not a stagnant pool.”

- John Mason Good

What humans crave: 1. satisfying work to do 2. the experience of being good at something 3. time spent with people we like 4. the chance to be a part of something bigger

Multiplayer games

are the

ULTIMATE

happiness engines.

My life is BROKEN.

Dancing together = Happy

Humiliated together = Even Happier

“ Flower has peace, it has wonder, it has twists, it has despair, and it has a catharsis.” – Jenova Chen

1. Sustainable happiness FORECAST 2009 – 2019: Game designers become happiness hackers . They are called upon to help individuals , communities , and entire populations better structure their everyday lives for authentic happiness and sustainable well-being .

1. Sustainable happiness WHAT TO READ

1. Sustainable happiness WHAT TO WATCH

1. Sustainable happiness WHAT TO TRY

THE DESIGN CHALLENGE:

If you could:

make one person measurably happier

Who would it be, and what game would you make for them?

Human-computer interaction intentionally designed to change the way someone:

thinks ,

acts , or

behaves

Computers in Persuasive Roles

TOOL:

Increases capability

SOCIAL ACTOR:

Creates dynamics

MEDIUM:

Provides experience

B.J. FOGG

Google Power…

World Without Oil

FORECAST 2009 - 2019 : Game designers become change agents . They are called upon to create systems that change minds , teach new habits , and transform everyday practices .

WHAT TO READ

WHAT TO WATCH

If you could change:

what one person does every day , or

how one group thinks about one thing

What would you change, and how would your game do it?

WHAT TO TRY

3. The Engagement Economy

The growing need to compete for and harness :

crowd resources

and

participation bandwidth

We must ‘ collaborate or perish ’—across borders, cultures, disciplines, and firms, and increasingly with masses of people at one time.

— Tapscott & Williams in Wikinomics

Cognitive resources

+

Cognitive diversity

=

PARTICIPATION RESOURCES

100 million mental hours from a highly diverse knowledge community  WIKIPEDIA

*as calculated by Clay Shirky

100 million mental hours ( xref WIKIPEDIA )

= 5 days of World of Warcraft

“ The purpose of all video games is to train a player to work harder while still enjoying it …”

– Nick Yee

“… and the success of online games demonstrates how seductive and concealed the work treadmill can be.”

– Nick Yee

FOLD IT

lab.signtific.org “ What will you do when it’s as easy and affordable to launch a personal satellite as it is to launch a website or social network today?”

Screenshot of Lab playtest

ETech’s modus operandi Positive imagination outweighed dark imagination 2:1 (650:312)

ETech’s modus operandi Highly collaborative: Momentum cards most often played (870)

You are a SUPER-CHALLENGING crowd:

>450 ANTAGONISM (“I disagree!”)

>200 ADAPTATION (“a different take”)

>350 INVESTIGATION (“explain it!”)

ETech’s modus operandi

The start of SPACE MEDICINE?

The start of SOLAR PROSPERITY?

The start of SPACE SOURCING?

Within 24 hours of launch, the site was receiving 70,000 classifications an hour. More than 50 million classifications were received during its first year, from almost 150,000 people.

4 published, peer-reviewed scientific papers and 4 more in progress

1 new solar object discovery – “the Voorwerp” mystery!

FORECAST 2009-2019: Game designers become “ fungineers ” and “ mass collab architects ” . They are asked to invent fun new ways for more people to participate in mass collaboration efforts, and to develop more engaging platforms for crowds to contribute .

WHAT TO READ

WHAT TO WATCH

WHAT TO TRY

If your game could get:

100 people to do one thing online

What would it be, and what would it add up to?

4. Programmable Reality

Our growing ability to embed sensors , micro-controller boards , and networks in:

physical objects

built environments

and

ourselves

The HOW: Location ! Sensing! Bio metrics! Motion! Crowd- sourcing! Augmented reality!

Nike+ e-crusade

The Lost Ring

JEtSET

Neurosky gaming headset

JUDECCA

FORECAST 2009 - 2019: Game designers learn to blend realities . For every screen-based experience, there is a corresponding real-world object , physical environment , or social interaction .

WHAT TO READ

WHAT TO WATCH

WHAT TO TRY

If your could make a game by:

embedding 1 micro-controller board or 1 sensor in 1 physical object

What would it be, and how would you play with it?

5. SuperStructing

A method of extreme-scale problem-solving that:

emphasizes flexibility , transparency , and rapid prototyping

and

requires a high threshold for frustration , the ability to handle uncertainty

“ And wouldn’t it be easier to innovate if life were more like a game .”

- Dan Newman, public strategist

“ Games are the most elevated form of investigation.”

- Albert Einstein

Spore -ish

Jill Tarter + Will Wright a CONVERSATION

“ I’m interested in the possibility that learning to be good at a game makes you good at life, makes you good at changing the world , and gives you skills that are going to allow you to reinvent your environment. Because, in the game, you play against an environment that’s been given to you.”

“ There’s real value in being pushed toward global awareness and looking long-term . That’s one of the things that I find very useful about games…. I think these are the timelines we need to be looking — the 100- or 200-year horizons. Because most of the really bad stuff that’s happening right now is the result of very short-term thinking.”

GLOBAL SUPERTHREATS

Participation bandwidth harnessed in 6 weeks: a community of >7000 forecasters > 1000 stories about the future > 500 active strategy forums > 500 collaborative superstructures

OUR SECRET MISSION: Create a league of Super-Empowered Hopeful Individuals (SEHIs)*

Jamais Cascio

RubysBequest.com

FORECAST 2009 - 2019: Game designers are in charge of extreme-scale, global collaboration jams . They are asked to design games that help diverse massively-multiplayer communities tackle real-world, open-ended problems .

WHAT TO READ SuperStruct

WHAT TO WATCH

WHAT TO TRY