RIB Ch. 9 & 10 Response

Chapter 9 is probably the closest I have come to one-hundred percent agreeing with McGonigal in her book so far. I think calling reality “lonely and isolating” is a tad too extreme, because there are many moments of reality that are not associated with these feelings. Unlike usually, this is my only point of disagreement from Chapter 9. Regardless, these emotions do exist, and an online community can be very beneficial to finding a feeling of belonging (even if temporary). I think I found more common ground in this chapter because she doesn’t present any of the games, Comfort of Strangers, Ghosts of a Chance, or Bounce, as the solution to everything ever and instead focuses on potential benefits while also recognizing their effects may not be long-lasting.

In Chapter 10, McGonigal talks about “happiness hacking” which basically says that games can be used as a mechanism for handling bigger things. In her first example, Cruel 2 B Kind is a modified version of assassin which uses complements instead of weapons to take down targets. The wrinkle is that the players aren’t completely sure who else is playing, leading to them complementing a lot of non-players. I actually like this idea, because while the effects won’t last forever, it always gives me a little confidence when a complete stranger complements me. Imagine that little boost times ten, twenty, or even a hundred! The second and third games, Tombstone Hold’em and Top Secret Dance-Off, don’t necessarily appeal to me, but I can understand why others might like them. In Tombstone Hold’em, I personally can’t get over the fact that it takes place in a cemetery. They freak me out, and that is not how/where I choose to confront and process death. On the flip side, I see how using a method such as this could help others. For her third example, I personally don’t have an issue hiding my dance moves (no matter how horrendous they are), but because I dance, I know the feeling of euphoria that McGonigal referenced and it is AMAZING. If someone needs an anonymous venue to show-off their skills, I fully encourage it because everyone deserves to feel that pure bliss.

As a whole, I actually liked what McGonigal had to say in these two chapter because it felt less critical of reality and more about small supplemental games and strategies to make the uncomfortable, awkward, self-critical, troubling portions of reality more bearable. Whether its finding an online community to connect with via a game or “hacking happiness”, I think McGonigal put forth some viable ideas. Do you all agree with this?

Posted on by Alexandra Smith
Categories: Uncategorized

5 Responses

  1. Josephine Bossidy says:
    September 30, 2018 at 5:08 pm

    I agree with Alexandra that some games do have the ability to satisfy things that reality can’t provide. Although when I say this I am only speaking about certain games. I don’t think someone who battles with depression will somehow be happy when they sit down and play doodle jump. I liked the point you brought up that although games may provide us with these sensations, the effects are not long lasting.

  2. Micaela Willoughby says:
    September 30, 2018 at 7:10 pm

    Tombstone Hold ‘Em didn’t appeal to me as a game, (I’m not a big card-game person), but it did appeal to me as a concept. I guess creepy stuff does tend to catch my attention, but I also love the point McGonigal made about cemeteries being for the living and not the dead. Maybe they don’t have to be full-on parks, but it’s a nice thought for graveyards to have more of a cheerful atmosphere (especially if the industry needs help).

  3. Ahsan Ahmad says:
    October 1, 2018 at 2:59 am

    McGonigal certainly brings interesting ideas about how to hack happiness in Chapter 10. I too found the concept behind Cruel 2 Be Kind to be really intriguing as it turns the traditional game of assassination into a happiness-invoking one with a small twist; if implemented properly, the game could undoubtedly have positive effects on society. Generally, the numerous amount of examples of games like these throughout the 2 chapters kept them mostly interesting to read, even though there were still hints of the overbearing Games > Reality notion.

  4. Hyewon Hong says:
    October 1, 2018 at 10:28 am

    I agree that these two chapters are the closest I’ve ever gotten to fully agreeing with McGonigal. I think the sticking point for me is her tone and style of writing which seem so entrenched in her belief that games are inherently better than reality. I would love for her to acknowledge the ways that reality gets things right, and ways that reality and games intertwine in the natural world like Fisher does in RPS. I agree with her notion that games help build communities (I’m in a few myself), but she completely leaves out how the real world builds communities as well (or at least examples of such), which I kind of don’t like.

  5. Joseph Sterling says:
    October 1, 2018 at 12:57 pm

    I agree that games should be used not as an “alternative to reality”, but as an “enhancement of reality.” McGonigal doesn’t present the games as a way to escape reality, but as a way to make reality more pleasing, as well as boost your own confidence.

    The senior class at my high school always did a semi-class wide game of assassin. I didn’t participate, but if it was Cruel 2 B Kind, I may have. I also have never really been afraid of graveyards. I would actually like to try a game of Tombstone Hold’em at Hollywood Cemetery. I think that it would be fun and cleaning up the area would be a nice thing to do. On the other hand, I would not want to try the Top Secret Dance-Off. Not even with the mask.

    I find “happiness hacking” a very nice and beneficial concept. The only real problems is convincing enough people to make it “approved by society”, because even if the acts have good intention, and have positive results, unless society agrees with it, it will never really catch on.