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It was late last year when we reported to you on the ongoing mission of Jane McGonigal, bestselling author of Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. She’d just finished giving a presentation at the TED conference in Edinburgh, where she outlined a sensible plan: to get as many people across the world to better themselves by playing more video games.
Good gaming ambassador that she is, however, McGonigal is continuing to spread the word, and her recent appearance at The Games for Change Conference in New York might have even trumped that TED appearance. We’ll just summarize it with her biggest selling points:
-Games can inspire a mental change in people.
-Games inspire confidence in players, whom are forced to problem/puzzle solve.-Games stir up their social resilience and eventually lead to a happier life.
-Games improve both social and self-image.
These are just the highlights, of course, which point towards a Perhaps most importantly, says McGonigal, is how gaming also teaches players (especially younger ones) to accept failure and move on from disappointments.
[5 POSITIVE Side-Effects of Playing Video Games No One Seems To Be Talking About]
McGonigal insists that one of the greatest ways to improve will power is to play video games — especially since it can add up to 10 years onto your life. She touts one of her own inventions, known as SuperBetter, to help bring about this important change.
SuperBetter is a customizable program that players can use to get ideas on how to live a healthier and more positive life. It’s completely interactive and designed by both gamers and scientists to improve such things as mental outlook, attitude, and confidence. This SB blog, written by McGonigal, outlines the specific ways to improve vitality in life.
Forbes Magazine, meanwhile, points to another game called BubbleBall, a downloadable app designed by an 8th grader and which uses physics-based puzzles to help stimulate the brain. Jane McGonigal heralds the game as a unique way to help think ways out of real-life conundrums.
McGonigal believes we are sitting on the edge of a new frontier — one which will utilize gaming in hundreds of different ways to improve brainpower, increase confidence, and eliminate negativity. Other gaming experts, like Ashoka, echo that sentiment. Hopefully this is just the beginning of life-improving technology we get from McGonigal and her ilk. Considering the article on obesity we featured last week, we probably need all the help we can get.
Jeff Nau – who has written 1264 posts on The Jace Hall Show.
Jeff Nau is a main contributor to the Jace Hall Show covering pop culture and music trends in the nerd community. He has contributed to San Diego City Beat, 944, and Ill Literature, amongst others, and spends his spare time working as an artist and photographer.

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