Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World

The introduction is overwrought, too long and rather dry. Past that the book gets rather amazing. I was seconds from deciding this book wasn't worth my time but the intro finally ended. It is an excellent explanation of what gamers get out of games and why- useful for parents and friends. It serves as a good introduction to the whole phenomenon of gamers and gaming for the curious and it will warm the hearts of gamers far and wide. Much more than that though it places context to gaming within social science and broader social issues. It reminds me of the recent books by Dan Ariely in it's reliance on research and on the recent work on Marriage ("For Better") in tone and structure and biochemical explanations. The reader is good though we disagree on how a few words are pronounced.The author get's a bit self-congratulatory at times but it's not over done. I very nearly Love this book. I would recommend it to anyone who has even a slight interest in putting Gaming into context.

Being a developer of games and simulation/training software, myself, I think that this book delves into an important question: why do we play games? After all, when one thinks about it, most games are simply work, a series of repetitive tasks. What makes them *fun*? And why doesn’t work we do in real life engage us in the same way? Why do people enjoy doing chores in The Sims and Farmville, but hate doing their actual dishes and laundry? Why are X-Box first person shooter matches so popular with soldiers in Afghanistan, who presumably get enough of the real deal?

If you can mentally compensate for the author’s extremely starry-eyed view of gaming and gamers, she does raise some interesting points. There’s no question that games tap into our neurochemical wiring, stimulating our brains' reward systems with bite-sized challenges and constant feedback. We enjoy the competition and freedom of experimentation that games offer. Playing them also has more meaningful benefits, such as building self-confidence, providing healthy escape from stress, allowing us to explore and experiment, fostering community and connection, even creating a feeling of connection to something bigger.

This leads to the book's central questions: how can we apply what works in games to make aspects of the real world more engaging? How can we use game-like systems to solve problems that really matter? Would we have more fun with reality if it was more benignly competitive, more open to experimentation, more full of positive feedback for doing the right thing? If you weren't familiar with buzzy terms like "augmented reality" or "massively single-player", you will be.

While McGonigal probably won’t sell you on the notion that games can solve humanity’s problems, her anecdotes about successful projects make a convincing case for their future potential. Yes, many of the cutesy social apps she described, such as the one that rewards users with virtual prizes for jogging, seem a little inconsequential, but the point is the *possibility* they imply. If we're using smart phones to manage our lives anyway, why not make the experience fun? I was fascinated by the use of crowd-sourcing to unravel a British political scandal (with astonishingly effective results) and McGonigal's assessment of wikipedia in gaming terms. The World Without Oil game and some similar experiments show a potential role for gamelike collaborative systems in addressing widespread political disconnect.

The author also provides a sense of the sheer energy, enthusiasm, and range of interests of gamers themselves. Let’s face it, if hundreds of millions of people across the Earth are using computers and playing games every day, this represents a huge mindshare that might be tapped. Sure, not all of their skills translate to real-world problems, but many do. As I’ve seen in my own line of work, part of the reason that game-based military simulations are so effective is because they leverage an already-existing base of skills found among most young people who join the US military (and I don’t mean shooting stuff, but navigating virtual environments).

McGonigal’s unbridled excitement may not speak to every reader, but I think that most who have had a more-than-casual experience with gaming will understand where it's coming from. Even if you decide not to read the book, I recommend googling some of the author’s talks and projects.

Having been around computers and games since I was 2, and having played online games from the start when I was 13, I can say that Jane McGonigal's description of the online world today's kids are growing up with is extremely accurate. When I sat down to write what soft skills I've picked up from all my years playing online games, I came up with a rather exhaustive list. It's astounding, regardless of the genre played (FPS, like Halo, MMOs like World of Warcraft).

Why do we find games so engaging, so engrossing? Many schools, businesses and the like are blaming 'addiction' to games for people tuning out. It goes far, far beyond simple 'addiction' (though problems do exist). Jane goes to great lengths to EXPLAIN the concepts of engagement this 'video game addiction' really consists of - and that schools, businesses and the greater community can and SHOULD learn from such an efficient, accessible use of these concepts to improve the quality of life for everyone in society.

Yes

The concepts were easy to follow; I would say that McGonigal's sentence structure is a little complex, and suited to someone of an academic background.

This book is incredibly well researched, and ties together complex themes in psychology, sociology, and computer science. Part 1, the background of McGonigal's thesis, was fascinating, and Part 2, which related more of her own personal story, was also interesting. But the list of games and web sites in Part 3 seemed unnecessarily long. That's why I marked down the rating. For such a strong start, the book didn't finish in a very interesting way.

That said, I did find myself bookmarking important concepts and jotting down names of web sites and games to check out later. McGonigal motivated me to explore games to improve my health and the planet.

This book does a great job of taking a look at game design- from traditional games to MMORPG's to alternative reality games- for the interested computer scientist. I think anyone who regularly teaches would also appreciate this book. Fantastic job, it's already inspired me with various ideas on math games for kids. The only thing I would like for books like this are some cliff notes to help me remember what I've listened to.

Just got the audio book, but in one word I would have to call it interesting. Being a gamer I related to a lot of segments Jane McGonigal wrote about. I first found out about the book, by watching her interview on G4 TV's show "Attack Of The Show". I myself had to get in front of an audience once, to talk about the positive interaction that games have for people. I hope this small review helps your decision making on buying this audio book. By the way Jane, good job with everything.

Incredibly insightful book about the games culture and why it's so engrossing. Don't be scared off by the length of the book. Totally worth the time.

She outlines specifically what games give us and how we can use that in reality.

I like how in the second half of the book, Ms. McGonigal focuses on how games can be used to improve our lives and to address some of the larger problems affecting our world. Her research will make a huge difference in our world if we take it and run with her ideas.

Great job, and as a bonus, it's fun to listen to!

Reality Is Broken is excellent, but the amount of detail provided is excessive for making and demonstrating the author's points. For most readers it would be a better book if it were abridged. In particular the second half of the book seems to be a discussion of every game project the author had ever been involved with.

5 out of 5 stars. Jane McGonigal does a fantastic presentation of a very thought provoking subject. Julia Whelan did a wonderful job on the narration as well. (So much so that it was kind of a jolt when I watched the clip of Jane on the Colbert report and she didn't sound like Julia!) One drawback is I had to buy a Kindle copy after listening because I wanted to check out all of the links that are mentioned. ^_^

The first half of this book is a really interesting discussion of games and their psychology, what this reveals about the way we interact with our world, and a trenchant argument that at the very least, games are not the giant mind-suck you might think they are. However, the author gives a decidedly one-sided take - she's a game designer, not a social critic - and she barely addresses some of the thornier questions about games, such as their addictive nature, whether they alter attention spans, etc.

The second of the half of the book was not as good as the first half - it is more or less an extended description of the various projects the author has worked on. Not uninteresting, but not exactly worth a few hours of listening.

Also, the narration was certainly not bad, but personally, it sounded to me like a sophomore doing a research report. Not enough to not enjoy the book, but you might want to listen to the sample before you spend a credit.

Those minor points aside, If you have a significant other who spends serious time with Halo, if you have kids who are sucked into Club Penguin and you wonder why - this is a book well worth your time.