Virtual Reality Morphing into Actuality

It is obvious that kids are playing a lot of video games; there has to be a way to make all this time they are spending into positivity for society. In my opinion there are two ways of doing this:

1.     Virtual control of an important task like farming, teaching, etc.. For example the games the McGonigal developed that she presented toward the end of her Ted Talks; the game of survival skills in a gas shortage, or developing social sustainability in Africa. Another example of this is the Farm game talked about in Priebatsch talked about in his Ted Talks. These examples can lead to players playing a game and not realizing that in some way they are benefiting society.

2.     Individual virtual reality leading to shaper social, mental, and physical skills. According to McGonigal there are 4 basic skills that can be learned from any game urgent optimism, weaving a social fabric (like someone better after playing) blissful productivity ( happily working hard),  epic meaning.  Once you have mastered these 4 basic skills then you become a super empowered hopeful individual, capable of changing the word.

One ability a video game has that can never be transferred over to reality is the ability to start over. In the above first example above there is no room for failure. Any game with a higher purpose becomes reality not a game. For example if you are helping to support social innovation in Africa by playing that game made by McGonigal. If you are the best player and everyone looks at your work and it is actually used in the real world then does that not just become work? Lets just say this African game takes a hold and people start paying it all over the world. Africa then is some how innovating socially as a society. What happens when the next game comes out? And people start losing interest in the African game? McGonigal says it best at the end when she says “people use games to escape everything that is un-satisfying in real life.” When the things that are un satisfying in life are becoming the games themselves, then game are just becoming more like reality. Why can’t we just help Africa socially stabilize? Because not a lot of people care…Just because someone is playing it virtually doesn’t mean that somehow it makes them care. People want to escape reality when they play games. As much potential as there is for positivity to come out of hours spent gaming, there is no immediate thirst for gamers to change what they are doing.  I can’t see a World of World Craft player to some how shift to a game made by McGonigal.