Reality Is Broken

Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World

By: Jane McGonigal

Narrated by: Julia Whelan

Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

In today’s society, games are fulfilling real human needs in ways that reality is not. Hundreds of millions of people globally — 174 million in the United States alone — regularly inhabit game worlds because they provide the rewards, stimulating challenges, and epic victories that are so often lacking in the real world. Instead of futile handwringing about this exodus from reality, world-renowned game designer Jane McGonigal argues that we need to figure out how to make the real world—our homes, our businesses and our communities—engage us in the way that games do.

Drawing on positive psychology and cognitive science, McGonigal reveals how game designers have hit on core truths about what makes us happy, from social connection to having satisfying work to do. Game designers intuitively understand how to optimize human experience. Reality is Broken shows that games can teach us essential lessons about mass collaboration, creating emotional incentives, and increasing engagement that will be relevant to everyone.

©2011 Jane McGonigal (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Excellent

Helped me a lot with my college class. I really enjoyed this very entertaining book.

I <3 J.M. She is a guide for the mid 21st century!

If you could sum up Reality Is Broken in three words, what would they be?

Optimistic, Brilliant, Applicable

Who was your favorite character and why?

Jane... the slayer

If you could give Reality Is Broken a new subtitle, what would it be?

Gamification to save humanity

Any additional comments?

She's wonderful & creative. See her talks on TED & around the internet. Take her seriously, she's not a bimbo, she is serious, you've got to get through the program to realize that she is indeed credible & correct!

Very inspiring

Sometimes it seems too long, but it's full of awesome social games experiments and interesting views.

Informative, but plodding.

I thought the book was very educational and imaginative. I've seen the author doing TED talks in the past and wonder why they didn't have her do the narration. I thought the narrator was a bit dry and at times seem to have the enthusiasm of someone reading a technical manual.

Gaming insight

As only a sporadic Xbox-er and player of primarily 'casual' games, I appreciated the insight into gamer mindset and gaming culture, but it's premise that gaming can drastically change the world seems naive, an effect made more so by the pre-teen sounding narrator.

Great book!

Jane is the best. What a great read and she’s so right with her view that games can be the future we all need.

Good info, but hard to get through

Is there anything you would change about this book?

It was too long. This book could have been abridged without losing much

Would you ever listen to anything by Jane McGonigal again?

Probably not, though you never know. Though I think she did a good job researching the role games had and continue to have in society, I think some directions she went were a little too bizarre for what I had in mind.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Julia Whelan?

I don't choose books based on who narrates them.

Do you think Reality Is Broken needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No. Too long as it is.

Any additional comments?

This book took me a long time to get through. It wasn't that it was difficult. It was just a little creepy in some ways (making a game out of visiting cemeteries, trying to pass off participation in multi-player shoot-em-up games as being involved in something bigger than oneself, etc...) There was a lot of research to back up her themes, though some of it sounded superfluous. I was looking for a book about gaming and business. There is good content in this regard, but there was too much 'gaming will save the world' kind of themes. I'll need to get another book that sticks to gaming and business.

Great intro to Gamification subject

When my daughter became a Minecraft acolyte I knew that figuring out the power of Gameing was essential and Jane is a great teacher. I'm excited to apply these ideas in other places of my life.

Watch her TED Talk first

This is the long version of her 1st TED Talk; plus you will get her game design and developer notes for Augmented Reality games in this book .

However, 30% of this book will become dated pretty soon as games it references may no longer be as relevant as well as links. For example, the links at the end of the book are useful but the relationship between Games for Change and Gameful as evolved and changed.

Still, I think historically this book is probably one of the most influential books about game design that has applicable design techniques for the next hundred or more so years.

Changing the world: One Game at a Time

I love this book this book
Great Inspiration for anyone that wants to make a difference in the world.
Highly Recommend