Jane Mcgonigal is known as an ambassador for the gaming industry and games for social change. As a writer, game producer, and speaker, she has helped spread the word about games being good for you. I was able to hear her speak in person at the Games For Change conference in New York that I attended last week, where she was the opening keynote speaker.
Part of what she shared was that almost two years ago, she suffered a debilitating concussion. It affected her sleep, her eating and her social life. She tried doctors and resting, but nothing seemed to make her feel better. That is, until she made a game of her recovery. In this game she became Jane the Concussion-Slayer (modeled after Buffy the Vampire-Slayer) and found that through the form of games that she could feel better. The outcome of this is her new project, a game called SuperBetter, which was originally designed to treat concussions, or mild traumatic brain injuries but has been used in its tests by people with cancer, Crohn’s disease, diabetes, and other illnesses.
Since the project started, SuperBetter has been developed as a system that can be used to feel better, faster through any injury, illness or chronic condition — including asthma, diabetes, migraines, depression, chronic pain, quitting smoking, and rehabilitation for sports-related injuries. For the game, she partnered with four universities, which includes the University of Berkeley, and Ohio State University. The game has been submitted, and is waiting for approval from Apple so it can be available on the Itunes store.
In her talk, Mcgonigal started by talking about what games for change. 4 days before the Games for Change Conference, she tweeted the question, “ What do you think games can change?” Comments ranged from answers like, “games change my bad mood,” “games change our willingness to trust and get me to try new things, “ “games can change my mind, brain map, and structure of my brain,” “my social confidence and family relationships,” “my self image and perception.”
Mcgonigal summed these answers up by saying “ Games basically can change your life.” She went on to talk about the need for proof and research, and that her website www.showmethescience.com has all of the papers, citations, and research for everything in her talk.
She went on to show some research done with hospice workers, which surveyed people who were close to dying about their regrets. The research showed that there were 5 regrets most people had. These included, “ I wish I would not have worked so hard, I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends more, I wish I’d let myself be happier, I wish I had had the courage to express myself more, and I wish I’d led a life true to my dreams and not what others expected of me.
Mcgonigal went through each of these regrets – and related each one to aspects of gaming. After she went through the list – it was clear that gaming and playing games addresses each of the regrets in the study.
She then shared her personal story about how she hit her head and got a traumatic brain injury. She had mental fog, could not work, and had constant pain. She was told that she had to rest her brain, and for the first time in her life she felt a sense of hopelessness and that she had no reason to live.
She then got to the idea that I’m either going to kill myself or I’m going to make a game out of it. Being a game designer – she decided to view he r situation as a game. She worked with her husband to make a list of enemies – or things that made her feel worse. She then made a list of allies, which were things like cuddling with her dog, which made her feel better. One frustration she had is that she felt that friends and family did not understand her challenges and experience. By having them play the game with her, she felt that they could better understand how she felt and the challenges she faced.
She found that after a few days of trying this game, the depression went away. She went on to make a video called Jane the Concussion Slayer – which eventually became Super Better. She had other people try the game, and others with cancer, Crohn’s disease, and diabetes felt that the game helped them feel happier, and they felt understood by friends and family better.
The symptoms were still there for a year, but she mentally felt better and braver. For the game, challenges are called power ups. If you reach your goal it is called an epic win. Power ups are the things that make you feel better. Players can set a goal which might be to sleep at least 4 hours a night, to get your sugar level to a certain number, or to lose ten pounds.
To have us understand the game, Mcgonigal had us in the audience try some challenges in the game, or play the game of super better. We had to hold our hands in the air for 5 seconds or take 3 steps forward. This was to power up our physical resilience. Next we had to snap 50 times or count from 100 to 7 backwards which was for mental resilience.
She talked about the research that shows that tackling a tiny quest even small will increase your willpower. Next we were to look outside the window or look up your favorite baby animal, which would power up our emotional resilience. Research shows that if you can experience three positive emotions to one bad one we have more emotional resilience.
The final challenge was to shake hands for 6 seconds for someone or to send a thank you email or text to someone. This was for social resilience.
Mcgonigal talked about Hope Lab, a group that made a remission game to teach about chemotherapy did some research about why people who played the game had better chemotherapy adherence, in that they would stay with the directions and dosages that they were supposed to do. They also found that the chemical in the body were 20 percent higher. Their research showed that active gameplay activated the brain. What was interesting about the research is that it showed that the main time that the brain was activated was in response to pursuing an outcome and waiting to see the impact of the action, such as firing at something and waiting to see what would happen.
In her closing remarks she talked about games can change our lives, destiny and that we can measure that change. She then showed us her research that by doing the super better exercises during her talk that our lifespan had been increased by seven and a half minutes.
I strongly recommend watching the video of her talk, which you can see through the Games For Change livestream online page. It might just give you seven and a half more minutes to your lifespan, and tell others that games are good for your health.
Images:
Jane Mcgonigal – Keynote Video on Livestream
Jane Mcgonigal website and blog
Links:
Jane Mcgonigal – Video of The Game That Changed My Life, Opening Keynote Video on Livestream
Jane the Concussion Slayer, Ep 66 – Youtube Video
Jane Mcgonigal website and blog
Super Better – the Game website
SuperBetter – updates from Jane Mcgonigal website
Show Me the Science – research, citations, and papers from Jane Mcgonigal’s talks