COMPUTER GAMES more often than not would be a source of distraction and bad habits to many of us, especially to school kids who could end up playing video games all day and neglect their studies. But this awesome book “SuperBetter: A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver and More Resilient - Powered by the Science of Games” by Jane McGonigal, who has a doctorate in performance studies specialized in video gaming, makes use of the “gameful” mindset we learn from video games and applying it to life’s many challenges.
Dr.
McGonigal used this gameful mindset to overcome a big adversity in her life
when she suffered a concussion and was confined to bed and could not do the
things she loved: jogging, reading and working in her office. She had
suicidal thoughts in that ordeal but fought back against it by saying to
herself, “I am either going to kill myself or turn this into a game.”
The
principles of playing a video game can be applied to life. In a computer
game, we turn a threat into an opportunity. Whatever computer game you
are playing there is a threat of losing to an opponent but you try to turn it
around and convert it into a victory. Second, in playing we learn to
develop strategies as we experience losses.
We can
apply these two principles to life, first, by turning our failures and problems
into an opportunity and second, by learning to develop strategies after
experiencing failures. A failure in business or studies for instance can
be an opportunity to try another type of business that will eventually turn out
to be successful or choose another course in college that really fits your
talent. The key is to not give up.
In
playing a video game, we always have lots of patience when losing because we
are enjoying the challenge. It’s time to apply that virtue of resilience
to one’s life. In applying the second principle, we try to find out what
particular area we make a mistake, then try to develop strategies to overcome
that mistake the next time around.
The
author recommends 3 steps to further develop that gameful mindset through
embarking on self-efficacy by keeping a score, searching for power-ups and
facing the bad guy.
Self-Efficacy:
The idea of self-efficacy is to develop skills and confidence in reaching goals
and solving problems by keeping a score. Scores can come from simple tasks to
tougher ones and develop those skills and self-confidence in our abilities
along the way.
In a
video game, we get points when we defeat an enemy or capture a flag. In
life, we should also assign points and keep a score when we accomplish daily
activities that we find challenging no matter how small. Making your bed
for example can be 2 points, fixing breakfast can be 4 points and completing an
office or school report can be 22 points. As we acquire more points, we
prepare ourselves to take on tougher challenges in life much like in playing a
computer game when we would go up to an advanced level after having conquered
the beginner’s stage.
Power-Ups:
In computer games, power-ups are objects that add temporary benefits or extra
abilities to the player character. In life, these are activities that
make us happier, healthier and stronger so that we can take on life’s
challenges with more energy. The four power-ups in life can be classified
as physical, social, emotional and mental. Examples of power-ups are
looking out the window (mental), hold your spouse’s hand for six seconds (social),
eat ten walnuts, because they’re good for your brain (physical), send a text
message to mom (social), listening to my favorite music (mental) and do ten
push-ups even when exhausted (physical).
Facing
the Bad Guy: In video games, the bad guys are those enemies that hinder us from
reaching the more advanced level. In life, the author says the bad guys
are the inner demons and bad habits that hamper us from achieving our
goals. An inner demon could be that “Lord of Impossibility” character in
us that tells us we are not good enough, or it’s impossible or it’s too
difficult for us. Other bad guys as the author of the book would classify
them could be villain foods.
In her
case she identifies them as pizza, soda, marshmallows and hot chocolate that
ruins her health. In playing computer games, the bad guys make us come up
with strategies to defeat them. In life, we should not run away from our
bad guys or try to ignore them but come up with strategies to overcome
them. To counter bad habits such as laziness, or lack of discipline for
example we need a strategy to practice the virtues of hard work and
diligence.
Life is
full of challenges. Many would cower from these challenges because they
find it hard to overcome and would rather waste time by playing computer
games. The solution is to approach life like a computer game by accepting
the challenge, enjoy the adventure and win in the end. (ECC)
No comments:
Post a Comment