Comments on TED Talk: Gaming Can Make a Better World

Comments on TED Talk: Gaming Can Make a Better World
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1 The claim of the speaker that we need to spend more hours playing games should be increased dramatically by the end of the next decade is quite intriguing, if not unbelievable or unconvincing. The speaker also claims that this could help us battle the most critical societal issues, including obesity, poverty, and others (McGonigal, 2010, 0:08-1:40). The speaker’s introduction is fascinating, and it caught the audience’s attention. However, the claim is entirely unconvincing as it predicted the future after a decade, considering that the talk was delivered in 2010, 12 years ago.
2 The speaker showed a picture of a gamer who was on the verge of an epic win. The speaker also explained that an epic win promotes surprise and optimism because the individual can achieve or surpass something difficult, such as an impossible win, and claims that a problem-solver should look like (McGonigal, 2010, 1:48-2:57). Optimism allows people to look at the silver lining and let hope flourish in their lives, even in the most unpredictable and unimaginable moments. This causes a domino effect that also has a positive effect on life. An example of this is the investigation of Lee et al. (2019) about the association of optimism with life expectancy, which revealed that optimistic people are more likely to have a longer life span.
3 The speaker explained that games allow the players to become the best versions of themselves. Here, they are allowed to fail, and the failure can be committed several times. Most of the time, the games bring the best version of the players until they reach their goal or the finish line. However, this does not happen in real life because people often give up on the first or second try, and some do not even attempt to stand up again after a failure (McGonigal, 2010, 3:23-4:22). This is probably because video gaming is a coping mechanism for many players, where they try to finish virtually what they cannot finish in reality. Hence, it reduces the stressful events in their lives. Moreover, it provides a platform to create a meaningful and purposeful activity, such that it allows the players to extend their personal growth and be pushed or pulled to certain circumstances that would make them think and practice their skills (Shi et al., 2019).
4 The players are better in virtual games than in reality because of the constant positive or negative feedback that they receive from games. For instance, finishing a particular stage will help the player level up his character (i.e., +1 intell...