作者：Jane McGonigal

我们对于游戏的最大误解是，它们是逃避现实的浪费时间消遣活动。但10多年来的科学研究表明，游戏其实是最高效的时间利用方式。

玩游戏无法提高GDP，但游戏给我们带来比经济底线更重要的东西：能够改变我们生活的强烈情感和社交关系——-有望帮助我们改变世界。

目前全球约有5亿用户每天平均体验至少1小时的在线游戏，其中单美国就有1.83亿用户。越是年轻，越有可能是游戏玩家——18岁以下的男女电子游戏玩家比例分别是97%和94%。21岁年轻人的平均总游戏时间约是1万小时。这相当于他们在初高中的全部上课时间（在全勤情况下）。最令人惊讶的是，美国有500万玩家每周花费40多小时玩游戏——这相当于一份全职工作！

我们为什么日益转投于游戏体验？据我的调查显示，这是因为游戏更能够唤起我们最强烈的正面情感——例如好奇心、乐观、自豪感及想要同他人一起创造杰出成就的欲望。游戏还是联系朋友和他人的有效方式——以其他社交互动所没有的方式强化我们的现实生活和在线社交网络。

这就是我在《破碎的现实》这本书提到的观点。全球众多各年龄层的玩家纷纷选择花时间体验游戏，这揭示了一个需要我们充分认识的事实。

实际情况是：在如今的社会，电脑和电子游戏满足了真实世界所无法满足的真实人类需求。游戏带来现实世界所没有的奖励。它们以现实世界所没有的方式教导、鼓励我们，同我们进行互动。除非出现戏剧性变化，彻底改变这一逃避现实现象，否则很快我们将进入到这样一个社会：大批用户在游戏体验中投入大把精力，在游戏环境中创造最美好回忆，在游戏设计中经历最杰出的成就。

幸运的是，短暂的逃避现实并非完全浪费时间。

当我们体验一款杰出游戏时，我们需要练习如何呈现出最好的自己：我们变得更乐观、更富创造性、更专注、更加会树立野心勃勃的目标，在遇到挫折变得更灵活。当我们体验多人游戏时，我们变得更具合作性，更愿意帮助他人。事实上，在共同体验游戏的过程中，我们变得更喜欢、更信任对方——即便我们最终失败了。更重要的是，和他人一起玩游戏是把握对方优劣势的有效方式——还有就是他们的行为动机。而这正是我们想要和他人共同应对现实挑战所需具备的社交知识。

有关游戏方面的一个好消息是，最近的科学研究显示，所有这些感觉和行动都可以渗透至我们的现实生活中。

Super Mario Sunshine from onlyhdwallpapers.com

例如：花30分钟玩《阳光马里奥》之类“推崇社交性”的游戏的孩子更愿意在现实生活中的一整周里帮助朋友、家人和邻居。

据悉，玩《摇滚乐队》和《吉他英雄》之类音乐游戏的各年龄层玩家会比玩游戏前投入更多时间学习和弹奏真实乐器。

简单的90秒钟《魔兽世界》体验（游戏邦注：你在其中有个强大的角色）就能够在随后的24小时里提高大学生们的自信心，促使他们更有可能顺利通过考试，在现实生活的社交场合中更加活泼外向。

这一游戏“溢出”效应意味着，年轻玩家具备的真实天赋和优势能够在未来发挥作用——前提是这些是真实而非虚拟的技能。这就是我想要撰写《破碎的现实》的原因：告诉玩家，体验游戏如何帮助我们应对诸如治疗癌症、结束世界饥荒及阻止气候变化之类的挑战。

当然好东西通常不会太多。据大学研究人员及美国Army Mental Health Assessment Team的研究结果显示，每周体验不超过21小时的游戏能够给健康和快乐带来积极影响——尤其是当你和朋友、家庭面对面一起玩游戏时，或是共同体验合作性游戏（而非竞争性游戏）。这就是为什么我建议玩家的父母也在此投入尽可能多的时间玩游戏。事实上，杨百翰大学家庭生活学院的一个最新研究表明，和父母一起玩电子游戏的女儿会和父母建立更密切的关系——她们的攻击性、行为问题及沮丧感相对较低。

但当你的游戏时间超过28小时/周的时候，游戏就会开始分散你的现实生活目标以及对高品质生活而言必不可少的社交互动。许多研究表明，21小时这一分界点非常关键——每天玩游戏超过3小时，你就很难获得积极影响。相反，你会遭遇各种负面影响——如沮丧和社交焦虑症。

那么什么是最佳游戏状态？对多数人而言，每天花1小时玩喜爱的游戏能够促使他们全力应对困难挑战，同自己关心的人建立更密切的关系——而且能够让我们知道什么时候该退出虚拟世界，将自己的角色优势带回现实生活中。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Video Games: An Hour A Day Is Key To Success In Life

By Jane McGonigal

The single biggest misconception about games is that they’re an escapist waste of time. But more than a decade’s worth of scientific research shows that gaming is actually one of the most productive ways we can spend time.

No, playing games doesn’t help the GDP – our traditional measure of productivity. But games help us produce something more important than economic bottom line: powerful emotions and social relationships that can change our lives–and potentially help us change the world.

Currently there are more than half a billion people worldwide playing online games at least an hour a day — and 183 million in the US alone. The younger you are, the more likely you are to be a gamer — 97% of boys under 18 and 94% of girls under 18 report playing videogames regularly. And the average young person racks up 10,000 hours of gaming by the age of 21. That’s almost exactly as much time as they spend in a classroom during all of middle school and high school if they have perfect attendance. Most astonishingly, 5 million gamers in the U.S are spending more than 40 hours a week playing games — the same as a full time job!

Why are we increasingly turning to games? According to my research, it’s because games do a better job than ordinary life of provoking our most powerful positive emotions — like curiosity, optimism, pride, and a desire to join forces with others to achieve something extraordinary. Games also, increasingly, are a particularly effective way to bond with our friends and family — strengthening our real-life and online social networks in ways that no other kind of social interaction can.

That’s what I mean when I say — in the title of my new book — that Reality is Broken.” The fact that so many people of all ages, all over the world, are choosing to spend so much time in game worlds is a sign of something important, a truth that we urgently need to recognize.

The truth is this: in today’s society, computer and video games are fulfilling genuine human needs that the real world is currently unable to satisfy. Games are providing rewards that reality is not. They are teaching and inspiring and engaging us in ways that reality is not. They are bringing us together in ways that reality is not. And unless something dramatic happens to reverse the resulting exodus, we’re fast on our way to becoming a society in which a substantial portion of our population devotes its greatest efforts to playing games, creates its best memories in game environments, and experiences its biggest successes in game worlds.

Fortunately, however, this temporary exodus is not a complete waste of time!

When we play a good game, we get to practice being the best version of ourselves: We become more optimistic, more creative, more focused, more likely to set ambitious goals, and more resilient in the face of failure. And when we play multiplayer games, we become more collaborative and more likely to help others. In fact, we like and trust each other more after we play a game together — even if we lose! And more importantly, playing a game with someone is an incredibly effective way to get to know their strengths and weaknesses–as well as what motivates them. This is exactly the kind of social knowledge we need to be able to cooperate and collaborate with people to tackle real-world challenges.

The good news about games is that recent scientific research shows that all of these feelings and activities can trickle into our real lives.

For example: kids who spend just 30 minutes playing a “pro-social” game like Super Mario Sunshine (in which you clean up pollution and graffiti around an island) are more likely to help friends, family and neighbors in real-life for a full week after playing the game.

People of all ages who play musical games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero report spending more time learning and playing real musical instruments than before they started playing the videogame.

And just 90 seconds of playing a game like World of Warcraft – where you have a powerful avatar – can boost the confidence of colleges students so much that for up to 24 hours later, they’re more likely to be successful taking a test at school… and more outgoing in real-world social situations.

This “spill-over” effect of games means that young people who identify strongly as gamers have real-world talents and strengths that will indoubtedly serve the well in the future — if they understand that these are real skills and abilities, not just virtual ones. That’s why I wanted to write Reality is Broken: to show gamers (and parents of gamers) exactly how playing games can prepare us to tackle challenges like curing cancer, ending world hunger, and stopping climate change. (Yes, it’s true! There are games to help players do all of these things).

Of course, there can always be too much of a good thing. Studies by both university researchers and the U.S. Army Mental Health Assessment Team show that playing games up to 21 hours a week can produce positive impacts on your health and happiness — especially if you’re playing games face-to-face with friends and family, or playing cooperative games (rather than competitive games). That’s why I personally recommend that parents of gamers spend as much time as they can playing, too. In fact, just this week, a new study by Brigham Young University’s School of Family Life revealed that daughters who play videogames with their parents report feeling much closer to their parents — and demonstrate significantly lower levels of aggression, behavior problems, and depression.

But when you hit 28 hours a week of gaming or more, the time starts to distract you from real life goals and other kinds of social interaction that are essential to leading a good life. Multiple studies have shown it’s the 21-hour mark that really makes the difference — more than 3 hours a day, and you’re not going to get those positive impacts. Instead, you’ll be at risk for negative impacts — like depression and social anxiety.

So what’s the optimal level of gaming? For most people, an hour a day playing our favorite games will power up our ability to engage whole-heartedly with difficult challenges, strengthen our relationships with the people we care about most — while still letting us notice when it’s time to stop playing in virtual worlds and bring our gamer strengths back to real life.（Source：huffingtonpost）