畅销书《破碎的现实：游戏何以改变世界》的作者Jane McGonigal以传达下列信息为己任：玩游戏并非浪费时间，它可以帮助改善人们的生活并解决现实世界中的问题。

自从2010年在极具影响力的TED Talk大会上发表演讲起，她就被人喻为全球产值604亿美元的视频游戏行业大使。她的书籍在1月份大量上市，2月份跻身《纽约时报》畅销书排行榜。现在，她频频出现于各研讨会和脱口秀上，比如《科尔伯特报告》节目。McGonigal告知路透社：“我们可以用从视频游戏中获得的积极情感和社交联系来改变现实世界的生活。”

2001年正是McGonigal在加利福尼亚大学伯克利分校读研的第一学期，她通过Craigslist网站上的广告应聘某游戏设计职位，自此接触视频游戏运营。游戏邦获悉，一款与微软视频游戏《光晕2》同期发布的任务类游戏使她在行业内名声大噪。但她并不因此止步于视频游戏领域，其设计的未来型游戏《World Without Oil》展示数千人如何协作应对石油短缺问题。出自McGonigal之手的游戏《Tombstone Hold ‘Em》更具争议性，玩家在墓地中使用墓碑玩纸牌游戏。对此游戏的主题，她在书中辩称其用更社会化及娱乐化的方式让玩家铭记人类普遍恐惧的死亡。

Jane McGonigal

McGonigal的研究主要关注游戏如何使人快乐，而该想法恰恰源于其自身经历。2009年，McGonigal在创作过程中罹患脑部疾病，这使她极为消沉且无法继续写作。医生告诉她，只有情绪好转大脑才会痊愈。因此，她为自己制作了一款游戏来克服压抑的情绪。

玩家可以在这款称为《SuperBetter》的游戏中扮演某个角色，而现实生活中的朋友和家人需要按各自在游戏中的角色进行配合。比如，她妹妹在游戏中扮演“观察者”，就需要每天检查McGonigal的情感状况。游戏邦了解到，还有许多朋友配合McGonigal以缓解其压力。她说道：“这款游戏可以加快病人从伤痛或疾病中康复，对哮喘、糖尿病或减肥等均适用。”今年夏天，俄亥俄州立大学医学中心将临床测试《SuperBetter》的功效。

McGonigal最初担心行业同仁会反对此番理论，因为游戏向来只是被当成纯粹的娱乐方式，但现实与其预想的并不相同。最近，EA公司职员Sam Houston在Penny Arcade Expo East上倾听了McGonigal的主题演讲，他对其将个人经历与公众联系起来并倡导所有人体验游戏的方式感到震惊。Houston说道：“Jane成功地用只言片语传达游戏玩家能够改变世界的观点。”

McGonigal下个项目称为《Find the Future》，这款游戏将于5月在纽约公共图书馆上演。近500人将花上整晚的时间搜寻某些特殊的物品，如Thomas Jefferson的《独立宣言》手稿。到第二天清晨，胜者所找到的资料将编成书本，成为图书馆的藏书。她说道：“普通大众在此能够通过游戏的形式得以实现真实生活中出版书籍的目标，他们有着足够的信心和动力做成这件事。”（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Author McGonigal on a mission to make games matter

Best-selling author Jane McGonigal is on a mission, spreading a message that playing games, whether electronic or physical, is not a waste of time but can improve lives and solve real world problems.

She has been viewed as a kind of ambassador of the $60.4 billion global video game industry since she spoke at the influential TED Talk conference in 2010. Her book, “Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World” hit stores in January and by February made the New York Times bestseller list. And now, she is a regular guest at seminars and on TV talk shows, such as “The Colbert Report.” “We can use the positive emotions and social connections that we take from video games to start making a difference in the real world,” McGonigal told Reuters.

McGonigal got into the video game business when she applied for a game design job off an advertisement on Craigslist in 2001 during her first semester as a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley. She made her name in the industry by helping design a popular mission-based game that accompanied the launch of Microsoft’s video game “Halo 2.” But her work did not stop at video games. One game she designed was a futuristic one called “World Without Oil,” a collaborative effort where thousands of people showed how they would cope with an oil shortage. A more controversial game is her “Tombstone Hold ‘Em,” where participants play a physical version of poker using tombstones in cemeteries. Her book argues the game creates a “social, and more enjoyable way of remembering death,” a universal human fear.

But much of her research focuses on how games make people happier, and they stem from an idea she used to overcome challenges in her own life.

In 2009, midway through writing her book, McGonigal suffered a brain injury that left her depressed and unable to write. A doctor said her brain wouldn’t heal unless she lifted her mood. So, she did what she knew best and created a game that helped her cope with the depression.

The game, called “SuperBetter” involves creating a secret identity as a superhero (her’s was ‘Jane the Concussion Slayer’) and then recruiting friends and family to play side kicks in real life. Her sister, for example, became the “Watcher” and had to call McGonigal each day to check on her mood, while she had other friends provide comic relief. “This is a game designed to increase your resilience in the face of any injury or illness, anything from asthma to diabetes to losing weight,” she said. “SuperBetter” will be tested in clinical trials at The Ohio State University Medical Center this summer.

Initially, McGonigal was worried that her theories would be rejected by an industry that wanted games to be seen as purely entertainment or escapist, but the opposite happened. Sam Houston, who works for Electronic Arts, recently saw McGonigal deliver a keynote address at the Penny Arcade Expo East and said he was struck by how she connected with the crowd and got everyone to take part in a massive thumb-war. “Jane did a good job of introducing the concept that gamers can change the world without getting preachy,” Houston said.

McGonigal’s next project is called “Find the Future,” a game that will be played at the New York Public Library in May. About 500 people will spend the night searching for special items like a Thomas Jefferson handwritten copy of the Declaration of Independence. By morning, the winner will have collected enough material for a book that will go into the library’s collection. “It’ll give people the chance to achieve the real life goal of becoming an author and by doing it through a game, they’ll have the structure and motivation to get it done,” she said. (Source: Reuters)