
Jane McGonigal at TED: Can Gaming Save the World?  - dwynings
http://mashable.com/2010/03/18/jane-mcgonigal-ted-gaming-saving-world/#
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3dFlatLander
Her point about "real life" not being as quantifiable as games in terms of how
well you're doing is really interesting. A gadget like fitbit plus some kind
of D&D scoring system would be pretty neat.

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startuprules
Actually, gaming is already saving the world, and let me explain why: The big
problems of the world Jane described included poverty, hunger, climate change.
These are actually pretty easy to solve, but one thing always stands in the
way: big, corrupt government. So, how would we fix that using games? well,
notice that the governments run on the labor/consumption of their people.
Since lots of people have already 'escaped' to virtual worlds due to the
addictiveness of the games and/or the economic depression occuring in real
life, governments are able to steal less and less from their people, thus they
have to get smaller (or print more money/hike up tax, which pressures people
to withdrawal). As more people leave the 'real' world, there's no choice but
for the large bloated governments to default and collapse.

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zilchzilch
Hee hee! You're insane.

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startuprules
Actually, the reason why online game is so popular in China is because it is
one of the cheapest entertainment you can have....so you can be brainwashed
and stop thinking about the fact that you're making $1/hour. (When Jane
McDougal said online users are 'optimistic', I spit out my prune juice.) And
notice that Zynga became real popular after september of 2008 ;)

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zilchzilch
I suspect you didn't watch the talk, where McGonigal talks about taking that
placated attitude and turning it towards the real world. She doesn't deny what
you're saying, though certainly she has a deeper grasp of this than you seem
to.

But no, I was referring to your ludicrous theory of "escaping government".

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startuprules
I don't believe it's that ludicrous. I can either work 40 hours, and get taxed
50-70% on that, or I can work 20 hours, make enough to survive, and play video
games for 20 hours which I enjoy. The government loses that 20 hours tax
income.

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zilchzilch
You are an edge case and will continue to be so. Most of us actually like the
real world more than we like video games.

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necrecious
NO.

