TED Talk

There were many motivations that Jane McGonigal gave to us as to how we are helped by video games that also connect to Rusel de Maria's article,"Why We Play." One example is the idea of skill practice used in both pieces. Skill practice represents doing other activities in order to better yourself at a certain skill. Another example is the idea of epic meaning, or feeling. Gamers do whatever it takes to get past challenges no matter how hard it is, even if they don't think they'll be able to do it. The feeling that gamers get after accomplishes this kind of challenge is an epic feeling, also talked about in "Why We Play" (the challenges.) The last example is the idea of urgent optimism. This is basically when games have the mindset of not giving up until they finish what they're trying to accomplish. In the gaming world, the ability to have multiple lives/chances teachers games problem solving and how to have that mindset of never giving up.