Jane McGonigal’s Reality is Broken introduces the idea that games promote a better world by encouraging gamers to collaborate and problem solve. She proposes that games fill voids in people’s lives by giving them the rewards, education, and togetherness that they cannot find in reality. After reading McGonigal’s statistics about how prominent gaming is in the United States, I am shocked at just how popular the industry is amongst all age groups. Not only do 97% of youth play games, but one out of every four gamers is over the age of fifty (McGonigal 11). To my previous understanding, virtual games were just a way that my older brothers spent their free time. After reading only the introduction of Reality is Broken, I understand that games are more than just a source of entertainment for children and young adults, but they provide a purposeful, active, and helpful escape from reality (6). McGonigal makes a convincing point when relating the role of games in Lydia in ancient history to the role of games today as satisfying people’s hunger for both food and for purpose. I think her reference to ancient history shows that games really do serve a purpose in improving people’s lives.

However, some of McGonigal’s ideas for the future of games in changing the world seem unrealistic to me. While I agree that games can reduce stress and improve people’s moods, I do not entirely understand how games can, for example, “raise rates of democratic participation,” or “tackle global-scale problems like climate-change and poverty” (14). McGonigal suggests that the only steps needed to reach this future of gaming are to overcome the bias against games, build partnerships between game manufacturers and other professions, and improve common game competency, but I think some of these goals are easier said than done. Bias will always exist as long as people have independent opinions, and such widespread biases as the ones against gaming will be hard to eliminate across all cultures. I think it is also unrealistic to expect common game competency to improve without proper motivation or resources. Although I cannot see how McGonigal’s ideal future of gaming could become a reality, I am looking forward to learning more about her ideas and visions for the style of games that could one day improve the world.

McGonigal’s idea that games can improve society are similar to the ideas in Jay Gordon Cone’s “Authentic Accountability.” Cone makes distinctions between the finite game and the infinite game, where the finite game results in winning but the infinite game results in improvement. He argues that players of the finite game may temporarily earn achievements, but players of the infinite game achieve long term success (Cone 105). I relate to Cone’s argument when he compared school as a finite game to school as an infinite game. There were definitely times in high school where I saw school as a finite game, particularly when doing homework or studying for subjects I did not enjoy, namely history. I would often “cram” for history assessments and forget everything I had learned the next day because I did not want to put the time and energy into learning the material. I simply wanted to get a good grade. However, in subjects like math, in which I hope to major, I spent a lot more time thoroughly completing all homework assignments (even optional ones) and seeing my teachers when I had a question or wanted to learn more about a topic. When people truly care about what they are doing, they understand that their improvement is a lot more important than their achievement.

I think the idea of the finite game versus the infinite game relates to McGonigal’s ideas about games solving the world’s problems. In this case, a finite player of the game would learn how to solve a major world issue in a virtual setting and be satisfied by winning the game through achievements. An infinite player would take what he learned in the game and put it into practice in reality in order to lead the world to a better future. McGonigal’s ideal world contains infinite gamers who want to incorporate the collaborative and problem-solving skills they learn in a simulation into real life. For example, a finite player of Pokemon Go might be satisfied with leveling up or capturing a new pokemon, but an infinite player of the game might recognize that walking around to capture pokemon is giving them a great source of exercise and is helping them discover new surroundings, which might encourage them to continue to get into shape and explore. Although Pokemon Go might not touch on issues as severe as hunger or poverty, it supports the fact that games are greater than their stereotype as a source of entertainment. All games can have an objective that can benefit the world as long as they have infinite players.