Reality is Broken

I am about halfway through a book called Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World by Jane McGonigal. My school principal bought the book for me after I mentioned

to her that incorporating games and game design into our curriculum and school philosophy might help improve and increase student engagement. I didn't expect her to buy me the book. I really thought I was planting a seed that she would nourish and see through to its maturity. Well, I was wrong. I guess I am the new researcher and cheerleader for this theory at my school.

And this isn't such a bad thing. Personally, I am not a gamer, or at least I don't describe or classify myself as such. Every now and then I might play an app on my smart phone or my iPad, but it is usually to waste time. To be honest, I play games like Angry Birds and Escape if You Can. I am definitely not dedicated to these games; I only play them when I have no better option. Board games, on the other hand, I simply adore. I like the challenge, the teamwork, the problem solving, the decision making, and the competitive nature of many board games. Still, I don't think of myself as a gamer.

However, I live with a gamer. My fiance has been playing computer games longer than we've been together, so I've often felt a little disempowered to ask him to spend less time playing games and more time with me. It used to be a point of contention between us, but over time, we've come to find a balance between his wants and mine. More recently, I have come to understand his gaming differently because of Reality is Broken. McGonigal posits that gamers do what they do and spend large amounts of time doing it because they receive a huge sense of personal satisfaction from the games. Virtual games offer things that the real world does not, or does not as frequently and as quickly. Things like instant feedback of your efforts; the ability to "level up" and progress; the opportunity to be involved in something purposeful and with a larger community of peers; the knowledge that it is OK to fail because you can always try again. My fiance is an intelligent guy, and I would say he is beyond average intelligence. He needs the extra stimulation from these games because he can't get it regularly from work, relationships, or life.

So the question is: How will I change my school environment based on this book and its gaming theories? I don't know just yet. But this book is providing a different lens through which I look at our student population. These students have grown up with technology devices. They don't know about typewriters, computers with black screens and green characters, rotary phones, or pagers. They don't know how to patiently wait for something or how to work hard to earn something. And this is OK. These things can be taught, but before trying to do that, teachers are supposed to meet their students wherever they are. Our students are gamers. They were born with technology. We have to meet them as gamers and then go from there. At least I know I can share this piece of insight with my colleagues in August.