The Power of 10,000

This should be a must see video for everyone, gamers, teachers, people who are depressed (and should be playing more games), gaming critics, and especially game designers.

Jane McGonigal starts and ends with the question : We spend 3 Billion hours a week playing computer games. Is it worth it?

The Opposite of Play isn’t work, it’s depression.
– Depression is a pessimistic sense of our own capabilities
– Depression involves a despondent lack of energy.
Gaming reverses this.

Eustress – Positive Stress.

The positive emotions we get from games are already spilling over into our real life.

The keys to flourishing in real life :

1. Positive Emotion
2. Relationships
3. Meaning
4. Accomplishments

The most important thing to take from all of this is that “With great gaming comes great responsibility”

— Update : Ben Nadel has a great post about Martin Seligman’s concepts regarding happiness and PERMA if you want to know more.