Jane McGonigal Quotes

Scientists have demonstrated that dramatic, positive changes can occur in our lives as a direct result of facing an extreme challenge - whether it's coping with a serious illness, daring to quit smoking, or dealing with depression. Researchers call this 'post-traumatic growth.'

Gamers always believe that an epic win is possible and that it's always worth trying and trying now.

Reality is broken and we need to make it work more like a game.

There is no problem that doesn't have some underlying need for more optimism, stamina, resilience and collaboration. And games are, I believe, the best platform we have for providing that.

I didn't accomplish what I set out to do, but I realized I had set out to do the wrong things

What's really amazing about games is how they change our emotional response to challenges

My goal for the next decade is to try to make it as easy to save the world in real life as it is to save the world in online games.

Compared with games, reality is disconnected.

Every game we play activates our brain, and it's the same brain we have in real life as we have in the game.

It may have once been true that computer games encouraged us to interact more with machines than with each other. But if you still think of gamers as loners, then you’re not playing games.

The idea of the 'lone gamer' is really not true anymore.

Up to 65 percent of gaming now is social, played either online or in the same room with people we know in real life.

A dramatic decrease in oil availability is not at all far-fetched.

Game developers know that people have more fun when they're in large groups.

They feel more fired up when the challenges are more epic.

When we're in game worlds, I believe that many of us become the best version of ourselves - the most likely to help at a moment's notice, the most likely to stick with a problem as long at it takes, to get up after failure and try again.

I'm not a fan of simulations. Where, 'Oh, we'll go play a simulation of world peace and figure out how to make peace' and then somehow magically that will get translated into the real world. No, that's not the kind of games that I make.

The single biggest misconception about games is that they're an escapist waste of time.

If you make it a game, gamers will play it no matter what your motivation is in making it.

When we play a game, we tackle tough challenges with more creativity, more determination, more optimism, and we're more likely to reach out to others for help.

I worry a lot about people using games just for marketing, to get people to buy more stuff, which I think would be the worst possible use.

When we know our strengths, we're more likely to use them.

Games that make you feel good about yourself are good games to be playing.

You need to develop mental habits that allow you to activate the same brain patterns we activate during gameplay.

It seems like what happens when we play games is that we go into a psychological state called eustress, or positive stress. It's basically the same as negative stress in the sense that we get our adrenaline up, you know, our breathing rate quickens, our pulse quickens.

Cory Doctorow is a fast and furious storyteller who gets all the details of alternate reality gaming right, while offering a startling, new vision of how these games might play out in the high-stakes context of a terrorist attack. Little Brother is a brilliant novel with a bold argument: hackers and gamers might just be our country's best hope for the future.

There is so much more knowledge than most people realize about how to maximize the benefits of play and minimize the potential harms.

We've been playing games since humanity had civilization - there is something primal about our desire and our ability to play games. It's so deep-seated that it can bypass latter-day cultural norms and biases.

The more we consume, acquire, and elevate our status, the harder it is to stay happy.

I see a future in which games once again are explicitly designed to improve quality of life, to prevent suffering, and to create real, widespread happiness.

I don't want to be a saint; I just want to help people.

If you can manage to experience three positive emotions for every one negative emotion ... you dramatically improve your health and your ability to successfully tackle any problem you're facing.

Urgent optimism is the desire to act immediately to tackle an obstacle, combined with the belief that we have a reasonable hope of success.

Every game designer should make one explicitly world-changing game.

Lawyers do pro bono work, why can't we?

Clinically speaking, depression is a pessimistic sense of your own capabilities, and despondent lack of energy.

We can boost our immune systems by strengthening our social networks and decreasing stress.

There are people who are very dismissive of games and gamers.

Any time I consider a new project, I ask myself, is this pushing the state of gaming toward Nobel Prizes? If it's not, then it's not doing anything important enough to spend my time.

Research shows that when we're under stress or facing a major obstacle, we tend to focus on our weaknesses and what we're afraid of.

Avatars are a way to express our true selves, our most heroic, idealized version of who we might become.

Growing up, I was prone to anxiety.

A game is an opportunity to focus our energy, with relentless optimism, at something we’re good at (or getting better at) and enjoy. In other words, gameplay is the direct emotional opposite of depression.

Games are work. There are economies popping up in games now because people value them.

Things like depression and obesity are global challenges.

It's a bit counter-intuitive to think about the future in terms of the past.

But...I've learned an important trick: to develop foresight, you need to practice hindsight. Technologies, cultures, and climates may change, but our basic human needs and desires - to survive, to care for our families, and to lead happy, purposeful lives - remain the same.' p 5

I've been running since high school. My boyfriend was on the track team, and I'd run with him.

You can't play the same game every day for years. New games are key.

When we play games, our brains respond differently to stress and obstacles.

We're better able to control our attention and ignore distractions.

I want to see a game designer nominated for a Nobel Prize.

Games are providing rewards that reality is not.

Games are such a powerful intervention in health and wellness.