McGonigal's first book related to this subject, Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make us Better and How they Can Change the World, was published this January and received mixed reviews. LA Times and Wired magazine both like it, but others, like the NY Times Book Review asked, "Where's the reliable evidence that this data translates to people's doing more real work?" There were also some downright unfavorable reviews, notably from a reviewer for UK's The Independent newspaper who said, "Reality is Broken could be an hour-long comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival."
We've got a copy of the book, and you can get your own here. Alternatively, a glimpse of what Dr. Jane has to say can be learned from her TED talk given last year.
How important are games? If you listen to McGonigal or Tom Chatfield, author of Fun, Inc., a book assessing the growth and future of games, we are witnessing a paradigm shift. Playing games on line, in the opinion of these two authors, will be one of the 21st century's dominant social activities.
Right now Edisonet continues to investigate and learn more on this subject, but we are not entirely convinced that the hype supports games being more important in the future than they've been in the past. Haven't we always used games to learn and develop our skills?
At any rate, we recently discovered something fun we'd like to offer. Instead of a quiz, how about a challenging game for you to all to try?
This is NOT the kind of game referenced by McGonigal and Chatfield. This is just an ordinary amusing annoyance and time waster for a snowy Wednesday morning.
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