Dr. Jane McGonigal is the Director of Game Research and Development at the Institute for the Future. Her work has been featured in The Economist, Wired, and The New York Times and on MTV, CNN, and NPR. She has been called one of the top ten innovators to watch (BusinessWeek), one of the one hundred most creative people in business (Fast Company), and one of the fifty most important people in gaming (Game Developers Magazine). In her book Reality is Broken, McGonigal proposes a fascinating and provocative manifesto that elaborates on the true potential of video games in the twenty-first century.

In the United Kingdom, more than 31 million individuals play video games. By the age of twenty-one, the average young person in the United Kingdom will have spent 10,000 hours gaming. Drawing on positive psychology, Reality is Broken shows that games are not used just for escapist entertainment. In this ground-breaking investigation of the power and future of gaming, she demonstrates how gamers have evolved into adept problem solvers and collaborators, and explains how we may apply game design skills to socially construct goals in our own lives, communities, and businesses.

For this mini-challenge, I chose to solve the problem of rising mental illness. First of all, it is true that, worldwide, mental illnesses are on the rise. According to the World Health Organization, there has been a 13% rise in mental health conditions and substance use disorders in the last decade. I believe that such a global issue may not be completely solved with video games, but majorly controlled. According to Jane’s book, the dopamine effect of playing video games, for a specific number of hours per week, are very clearly positively affecting people’s lives and mental health. When used with caution, video games are shown to make people perform better in their daily activities, especially when the games are played with others. With that in mind, I really believe that something is to be said about using some sort of “video game therapy” for people that are suffering from anxiety or depression. This theory obviously needs to be tested and checked for its efficiency, but as of the data we have now, all fingers point toward the fact that video games might very well help the situation. I can definitely vote for this theory in my personal experience as I have found it, personally, to be very helpful in cases of such mental obstacles. I definitely think that we should get people involved in playing more video games, and help them also socialize through them. This is definitely sure to make a lot of people’s lives and mental health a lot better.