Online gaming is one of the biggest growing trends around the world in the last decade. We spend approximately 3 billion hours a week playing online games. There is a wide concern that this is too much time to be playing games. Many people feel that the growing gaming trend is having detrimental effects on the development of our society. People are spending more time playing these games and less time focusing on real world problems. Game designer and design theorist Jane Mcgonigal believes the opposite of this is true. Her research has suggested that online gaming is actually one of the keys to solving major world problems, hoping to see 21 billion hours of weekly gameplay by the end of the next decade.
This may seem like a crazy and counter-intuitive idea to many as the word ‘game’ is often associated with ideas of fun and not contributing in any real way. The key to understanding how games will be used to contribute to the continuing development of our society is to look closer as these games and why people are spending more time in game worlds and less time in the real world. Online games are seen by many as a way to escape the failures and frustrations of the world around them. The numerous missions and stimulating collaboration with others provides gamers with a sense of urgency, a small amount of fear and intense concentration while tackling these problems. Gamers feel like they can achieve more in these games. Somehow the feelings of anxiety, depression, frustration, uncertainty and doubt felt my many do not exist in game worlds. Individuals spend so much time playing online games because they feel they are better in game worlds than they are in the real world. Game worlds provide an optimal environment for not only succeeding at what you do, but feeling motivated and confident in what you do. Gamers are more likely to help at a moments notice, and to try again and stick with a project even after failure, for as long as it takes.
One question that has been asked is how can we take these feelings from games and apply them to real world work. Studies have shown that many people living in a country with a strong gamer culture will spend 10 000 hours playing games by the age of 21. This is roughly the same amount of time a student will spend in school from grade 5 until graduation in the US. Malcolm Gladwell is a journalist who wrote a book called Outliars. In his book he suggests that if an individual puts in 10 000 hours of study at anything by the age of 21 then they will be a virtuoso at it. These facts put together show that we are looking at a generation of virtuoso gamers, which leads to the next question. What exactly are gamers getting so good at? Advances in wireless technology and telecommunications are allowing gamers to access gameplay through mobile devices using mobile phone and wifi networks. This makes it much easier to escape the real world while waiting in line at a cafe, on a train or whenever there is a free moment.
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| The Sims Social for iPhone |
These online games equip people with a set of skills and ideas that can be used to help tackle real world problems. Gamers have a sense of urgent optimism. They have the desire and motivation to tackle an obstacle, combined with the belief that they have a reasonable chance of success. Online games also help people to become part of a stronger social fabric. Research shows that we like people better once we have played a game with them, even if they have beaten us. Gamers build up trust, bonds and cooperation skills.
Online games such as World of Warcraft also provide gamers with a tremendous sense of meaning and purpose. World of Warcraft players become involved in meaningful missions that have tasks and goals that need to be completed, often in teams. People are always much happier when they feel they are productive and are successfully contributing to a meaningful cause. The World of Warcraft Wiki is the second biggest wiki on the internet with over 80,000 articles.
All these facts add up to a group of super empowered and hopeful individuals who believe they are individually capable of changing the world. The only problem is that these people only feel they are capable of changing game worlds, not the real one that they live in.
Future trends will involve the inclusion and increase of online gaming in the education of young people. Research has clearly shown that people have a much more enthusiastic and confident approach to getting involved, working hard and trusting others in games. Games will not only help to educate young people in academic subjects such as english, maths and science but will also contribute to development in areas such as communication, team work and problem solving in young people. Future trends will see the education and training of people in skills required in the real world through these games. Computer games are already being used in schools to help educate students in areas such as maths, english and science. Future trends will change the current view of online games being a waste of time. These trends will see gamers as a human resource and a positive contribution to society. Games will also help to reinforce and create habits and actions. Gamers will continue to use the skills they master in games in the real world.
Edward Castranova is an economist who through research has looked at why people are investing so much time and money into online worlds. “We are witnessing what amounts to no less that a mass exodus to virtual worlds and online game environments”. As a way to escape the suffering and failures of the real world, it makes more sense to spend more time in these game worlds. Mcgonigal’s approach is to use online games to get closer to world problems, not get away from them. Her approach is also not to predict the future but to get in control and make the future. Just like a game she aims to imagine a real world best case scenario and equip people with the skills and knowledge to make that outcome a reality.
Mcgonigal has already been apart of a few online games that help equip people with the skills and knowledge to tackle real world problems. World Without Oil is a game that was made my Mcgonigal and the Institute for the Future. The object of this game is to try and survive through an oil shortage. Enough online content was made available to gamers for them to believe it was real. The game closely simulates what it would be like in the event of a real oil shortage. Gamers are given real time news and data feeds about the shortage, including information on oil costs, what is not available and about how food supplies and transportation is being affected. The overall aim of this game is for gamers to learn how to survive the oil shortage by gaining different skills and knowledge. Research showed that after 3 years many of the gamers have kept their habits that they learnt in the game.
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| World Without Oil |
Motivating people to take world changing actions through telling them it is the right thing to do or through fear is unreasonable and ineffective. Research into games has shown that connecting a strong sense of meaning and achievement to these actions is the key to getting people motivated and involved in solving real world problems and contributing to the development of our society.
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