游戏邦注：本文摘自著名游戏研究家和开发者简·麦格尼格尔的新书《破碎的现实》，文章把游戏分为不同类型，阐述了它们如何以各种方式吸引玩家。

游戏使我们快乐，因为这是我们自己选择的艰难任务，没有什么比出色、艰难的任务更能让我们的开心的了。我们一般不把游戏当作是艰难的任务。但事实上游戏就是一项艰难的任务。正如杰出的游戏心理学家布里安·萨顿-史密斯（Brian Sutton-Smith）所言，“玩的对立面并不是工作，而是抑郁”。

Jane-McGonigal

根据临床学的定义，当我们感到沮丧的时候，我们处于这样两种心理状态：不自信和缺乏活力。与之相反的两种状态是：充满自信和活力。

据游戏邦了解，临床心理学目前还没有相关术语可以形容这种积极状态，但这两种状态却是游戏心理体验的完美描述。游戏提供机会让我们把精力应用到擅长和感兴趣的地方，并始终保持乐观的情绪。换句话说，玩游戏所呈现状态正好与沮丧相反。

当我们在玩一个好游戏，或者说当我们正在解决这些自找的麻烦时——我们其实正主动把自己推向心理状态的积极面。我们深深为游戏所迷，游戏将我们引向正确的心理和生理状态，从而产生各种积极的情感和体验。

所有产生快乐的神经和心理系统——注意力系统、反馈中心、刺激系统、情感和记忆中心——都完全被游戏体验激活了。

这一极端的情感激活正是今天多数电脑和电子游戏如此让人沉迷和热血沸腾的原因。如果我们处于乐观的状态，就很可能产生积极的想法，乐于与人交流以及培养优点。我们主动让自身心理和身体处于愉快的状态。

要是现实生活中的工作也能产生同样的效果该有多好啊。在实际生活中，艰难的任务通常是我们不得不做的工作——为了谋生、获得成功、达到某人的期望，或者仅仅是完成某人交办的任务。我们讨厌这种工作，它让我们疲惫不堪，占用了我们和家人、朋友相处的时间，还经常被挑三拣四，它让我们害怕失败。我们常常不能直接看到努力的成果，所以很少有满足感。

还有可能更糟糕，现实世界的任务并没有那么困难。但它就是让我们觉得乏味，无法施展才华，没人赏识，虚度光阴。

如果某项艰难的任务不是由我们自己选择的，那么它的出现并非天时地利，它不是适合我们的工作。我们无法充分施展才能，不能控制工作进展，对于前进方向一无所知，也不知道最终将得到什么回报。别人要求我们完成的工作并不能以同样的方式激活我们的快乐系统。它无法让我们全神贯注地投入其中，或者表现出乐观的情绪，也无法受到鼓舞。

如果我们能够通过给予亿万人更适合的艰难任务，积极调动他们的身心，这对全球快乐系统的形成将会是个多大的推动啊！我们可以提供给他们有挑战性的、量身定做的使命和任务，他们可以谁时谁地独自一人或和朋友、家人共同完成这些任务。我们可以提供给他们生动、实时的任务进展报告，让他们清楚自己的所做所为对社会所产生的积极影响。

游戏邦认为，游戏行业的出现，恰好满足了我们对更适合自己的艰难任务的心理需求，它让我们自由选择正确的时间和合适的任务。

所以忘了那就古老的格言吧，“只会做事，不懂得玩，就最终变成傻子一个”。好的游戏体验就如同一项艰难的任务，一项我们自己选择并且乐在其中的艰难任务。当我们在做一件自己感兴趣的艰难任务时，浑身都充满了幸福感。

针对不同的时间，不同的人群，恰当的艰难任务的表现形式也会有所不同。为了满足这些不同的需求，游戏在这几十年来，已经为我们提供了越来越纷繁多样的任务。

高风险的任务，这是玩家玩电动游戏的首选。它注重速度和动作，成败之间的巨大落差往往让玩家兴奋不已。不论是像《Gran Turismo》系列的赛车电子游戏中的高速急转弯，还是像第一人称射击游戏《Left 4 Dead》中与僵尸决斗，其中的撞击、葬身火海或者头破血流的惊险都让我们热血沸腾。

但也有繁琐的任务，它没什么惊喜，并且单调。繁琐的工作在现实生活中一般不受欢迎，但如果是我们自己选择的，它实际上会帮我们集中精力，变得更有创造力。例如，在《宝石迷阵》（Bejeweled）之类的休闲游戏中我们调换各种各样的宝石，而在《FarmVille》之类的在线角色扮演游戏中我们收获虚拟庄稼。在这些游戏中我们全身心投入劳动，并获得显著成果，这让我们感到快乐。

脑力任务，这有助于加快提高我们的认知能力。就像任天堂《Brain Age 》游戏中的32个数学问题一样，这是考验速度的浓缩型游戏。这类游戏有的持续时间很长，内容很复杂，就像实时策略类游戏《帝国时代》（Age of Empires）中冗长的征服战役模式一样。不论在那种游戏中，在我们充分利用自己的聪明才智后，都会充满成就感。

然后是体力任务，极度考验我们的五脏六腑。如果任务有足够的难度，我们的大脑将会充满内啡肽，让我们感觉良好。但更重要的是，不论我们是否在《Wii Boxing》中出拳，或者在《Dance Dance Revolution》中舞蹈，我们都很享受这个让自己筋疲力尽的过程。

探索任务，这一任务的乐趣来自于积极研究陌生的物体和空间。探索任务让我们变得自信，强大，倍受鼓舞。当我们在探索神秘的3D环境时，如探索角色扮演类射击游戏《BioShock》中隐藏于海底的巨大城市，抑或是当我们陌生人物接触时，如碰到掌机战斗游戏《The World Ends with You》中居住于东京的时髦少年，都可以大大满足我们对于一切事物的好奇心。

如今的电脑和电子游戏中都有越来越多的团队任务，它强调齐心协力，服务于更大的团队。

这种复杂的任务赋予我们的特殊使命，如《魔兽世界》（World of Warcraft）中的25人团伙作战，或是在像《Castle Crashers》之类的4人组合探险游戏中，保护自己的朋友，我们都会产生巨大的满足感，因为我们知道在这个大团队中我们扮演着独特而且重要的角色。

最后就是创意任务。在做创意任务的时候，我们所做的决定意义重大，并为自己的作为感到自豪。

创意任务的形式多种多样，如《Sims》游戏中设计房子和组建家庭成员，或者将自己的卡拉OK视频上传到SingStar网站等等。每创造一项成果，都让我们自觉比游戏刚开始时更有成就感。

高风险任务、繁琐的任务、脑力劳动、体力任务、探索任务、团队任务以及创意任务——所有这些游戏中的艰难任务都让我想起了剧作家Noël Coward 的话：“工作比玩乐更有趣” 。

是的，这听起来似乎有荒谬。工作比玩乐更有趣？但就游戏来讲，这一点完全正确。游戏激发我们应对挑战，积极乐观，充满活力，善于应变。当玩一个好游戏时，我们变得极其勤奋。

与游戏相比，现实生活其实要简单得多了。但游戏让我们积极面对挑战，克服其中的障碍，更好地发挥我们的主观能动性。

简*麦格尼格尔的新书《破碎的现实》对现实生活中其他14个困境有更详尽的描述。（本文为游戏邦编译/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Playing Games Is Hard Work: An Excerpt From Reality Is Broken

[In this excerpt from noted game researcher and developer Jane McGonigal's new book Reality is Broken, games are broken down into several different types of satisfying work, suggesting many ways to engage players.]

Games make us happy because they are hard work that we choose for ourselves, and it turns out that almost nothing makes us happier than good, hard work. We don’t normally think of games as hard work. After all, we play games, and we’ve been taught to think of play as the very opposite of work. But nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, as Brian Sutton-Smith, a leading psychologist of play, once said, “The opposite of play isn’t work. It’s depression.”

When we’re depressed, according to the clinical definition, we suffer from two things: a pessimistic sense of inadequacy and a despondent lack of activity. If we were to reverse these two traits, we’d get something like this: an optimistic sense of our own capabilities and an invigorating rush of activity.

There’s no clinical psychological term that describes this positive condition. But it’s a perfect description of the emotional state of gameplay. A game is an opportunity to focus our energy, with relentless optimism, at something we’re good at (or getting better at) and enjoy. In other words, gameplay is the direct emotional opposite of depression.

When we’re playing a good game — when we’re tackling unnecessary obstacles — we are actively moving ourselves toward the positive end of the emotional spectrum. We are intensely engaged, and this puts us in precisely the right frame of mind and physical condition to generate all kinds of positive emotions and experiences.

All of the neurological and physiological systems that underlie happiness — our attention systems, our reward center, our motivation systems, our emotion and memory centers — are fully activated by gameplay.

This extreme emotional activation is the primary reason why today’s most successful computer and video games are so addictive and mood-boosting. When we’re in a concentrated state of optimistic engagement, it suddenly becomes biologically more possible for us to think positive thoughts, to make social connections, and to build personal strengths. We are actively conditioning our minds and bodies to be happier.

If only hard work in the real world had the same effect. In our real lives, hard work is too often something we do because we have to do it — to make a living, to get ahead, to meet someone else’s expectations, or simply because someone else gave us a job to do. We resent that kind of work. It stresses us out. It takes time away from our friends and family. It comes with too much criticism. We’re afraid of failing. We often don’t get to see the direct impact of our efforts, so we rarely feel satisfied.

Or, worse, our real-world work isn’t hard enough. We’re bored out of our minds. We feel completely underutilized. We feel unappreciated. We are wasting our lives.

When we don’t choose hard work for ourselves, it’s usually not the right work, at the right time, for the right person. It’s not perfectly customized for our strengths, we’re not in control of the work flow, we don’t have a clear picture of what we’re contributing to, and we never see how it all pays off in the end. Hard work that someone else requires us to do just doesn’t activate our happiness systems in the same way. It all too often doesn’t absorb us, doesn’t make us optimistic, and doesn’t invigorate us.

What a boost to global net happiness it would be if we could positively activate the minds and bodies of hundreds of millions of people by offering them better hard work. We could offer them challenging, customizable missions and tasks, to do alone or with friends and family, whenever and wherever. We could provide them with vivid, real-time reports of the progress they’re making and a clear view of the impact they’re having on the world around them.

That’s exactly what the game industry is doing today. It’s fulfilling our need for better hard work — and helping us choose for ourselves the right work at the right time.

So you can forget the old aphorism “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” All good gameplay is hard work. It’s hard work that we enjoy and choose for ourselves. And when we do hard work that we care about, we are priming our minds for happiness.

The right hard work takes different forms at different times for different people. To meet these individual needs, games have been offering us increasingly diverse kinds of work for decades now.

There’s high-stakes work, which is what many people think of first when it comes to video games. It’s fast and action oriented, and it thrills us not only with the possibility of success but also of spectacular failure. Whether we’re driving hairpin turns at top speeds in a racing video game like the Gran Turismo series or battling zombies in a first-person shooter game like Left 4 Dead, it’s the risk of crashing, burning, or having our brains sucked out that makes us feel more alive.

But there’s also busywork, which is completely predictable and monotonous. Busywork generally gets a bad rap in our real lives, but when we choose it for ourselves, it actually helps us feel quite contented and productive. When we’re swapping multicolored jewels in a casual game like Bejeweled or harvesting virtual crops in an online role-playing game like FarmVille, we’re happy just to keep our hands and mind occupied with focused activity that produces a clear result.

There’s mental work, which revs up our cognitive faculties. It can be rapidfire and condensed, like the thirty-second math problems in Nintendo’s Brain Age games. Or it can be drawn-out and complex, like the simulated ten-thousand-year conquest campaigns in the real-time strategy game Age of Empires. Either way, we feel a rush of accomplishment when we put our brains to good use.

And then there’s physical work, which makes our hearts beat faster, our lungs pump harder, our glands sweat like crazy. If the work is hard enough, we’ll flood our brains with endorphins, the feel-good chemical. But more importantly, whether we’re throwing punches in Wii Boxing or jumping around to Dance Dance Revolution, we just enjoy the process of getting ourselves completely worn out.

There’s discovery work, which is all about the pleasure of actively investigating unfamiliar objects and spaces. Discovery work helps us feel confident, powerful, and motivated. When we’re exploring mysterious 3D environments, like a vast city hidden in the sea in the role-playing shooter game BioShock, or when we’re interacting with strange characters, like the fashionable undead teenagers who populate Tokyo in the handheld battle game The World Ends with You, we relish the chance to be curious about anything and everything.

Increasingly in computer and video games today there’s teamwork, which emphasizes collaboration, cooperation, and contributions to a larger group.

When we carve out special duties for ourselves in a complex mission like the twenty-five-player team raids in World of Warcraft, or when we’re defending our friends’ lives in a four-player cooperative game of the comic adventure Castle Crashers, we take great satisfaction in knowing we have a unique and important role to play in a much bigger effort.

Finally, there’s creative work. When we do creative work, we get to make meaningful decisions and feel proud of something we’ve made.

Creative work can take the form of designing our homes and families in the Sims games, or uploading video karaoke performances of ourselves to the SingStar network, or building and managing an online franchise in the Madden NFL games. For every creative effort we make, we feel more capable than when we started.

High-stakes work, busywork, mental work, physical work, discovery work, teamwork, and creative work — with all this hard work going on in our favorite games, I’m reminded of something the playwright No?l Coward once said: “Work is more fun than fun.”

Sure, this sounds mildly absurd. Work more fun than fun? But when it comes to games, it’s undoubtedly true. Games inspired us to tackle tough challenges with optimism, energy and resilience. When we play a good game, we become the hardest working versions of ourselves.

Compared to games, reality is too easy. Games challenge us with voluntary obstacles and help us put our personal strengths to better use.

To discover the other 14 fixes for reality, read Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World by Jane McGonigal (Penguin Press).（Source：gamasutra）