RIB 7 & 8 Response
In Chapter 7 and 8, McGonigal talks a lot about alternate reality games (ARGs) and their many benefits to society. In Chapter 7, she gave three examples of different ARGs, but none of her examples actually create “alternate” realities. Instead, they attempt to transform the more undesirable parts of reality into something better, like turning lemons into lemonade or Mary Poppins’ “Spoon Full of Sugar” mentality. Maybe I have incorrect associations with the term “alternate reality”, but I think her examples are better described as a form of positivity and creativity rather than altering reality because it’s just putting a rose-colored lens in front of undesirable tasks.
Also in Chapter 7, McGonigal identifies a lack of wholehearted participation in reality as an issue that ARG would solve, but as many people have identified in earlier chapters, it is impossible to be one-hundred percent into every aspect of life. While I do recognize that Chore Wars, Quest to Learn, and SuperBetter are designed to improve the areas that you are disinterested in, I still think there are certain things that you have do just get done and it’s actually more efficient to just get through them opposed to creating a game around the task. She then ends the Chapter with the idea of “New Game philosophy” where everyone should be allowed to participate and games aren’t all about winning. McGonigal believes this philosophy should be the basis of game design and ARGs moving forward. When I think of this New Game philosophy, I usually associate it with sports, where I think coddling can be harmful to the game, but in terms of video game design, I agree. One thing that makes video games unique is that literally anyone can play them, and the skills and strategies used in the game can be taught, learned, and developed. If the idea of exclusion enters video games, I think their purpose and appeal would diminish.
In Chapter 8, McGonigal identifies reality as “pointless and unrewarding” and that games make us feel more rewarded. Yes, there are parts of reality that are terrible and bring us no joy, but again, they need to be done. Using the games she identified in Chapter 7 can ease the unrewarding aspect of the things we dislike, but it does not entirely replace it. Also, she emphasizes a need for intrinsic rewards, but a lot of methods used in games are actually using extrinsic motivation such as points, XP, and levels. McGonigal herself sought out points for public speaking and praised PlusOnMe for moving electronic game rewards into reality, but wouldn’t it be better to receive those rewards from yourself? To feel a great sense of internal pride?
All in all, I took some sort of issue with the majority of these two chapters. Maybe I’m being too harsh though. What were all of your thoughts on the two chapters? Do you agree with some of the things I brought up? Am I missing a piece that would make all her ideas seem more practical or realistic?
I agree with your opinion on the argument addressed in chapter 8. I disagree with McGonigal in the sense that we shouldn’t rely on games to provide us with the rewards we need. If games became the only place we could find these rewards then why would anyone ever look up from a screen? I understand that life doesn’t always offer us trophies for trying our best, but at the end of the day I don’t think it should. If we were consistently rewarded I think people would lose their motivation to try.