turn your life into a game

Another good TED talk, this one by Jane McGonigal.

She talks about turning life into a game. Why? In short, games are fun and challenging, and the benefits from these challenges are real (and she backs it up with science, so you know it's true).

I have spent an immense amount of time playing games. I've wasted a lot of time with bad games, but also had great experiences with others. It's a category as diverse as people themselves, so it's hard to say much about all the games that's always true.

But good games should always challenge you, and stretch your imagination. If they can be social as well, so much the better.

I've been using games in my ESL lessons for over a year, and the kids are far more responsive and eager to use their English during the game than in the "regular lesson." Games do something to our brains that make us want to challenge ourselves, and that power can be channeled in any direction we want.

For example, the 30 day challenges are about things I'd like to do but never do, but when put into a game context, somehow I become excited to do them.

Am I really that dumb? I can't motivate myself to do something unless it's part of a game? Well, if that's the case, I'm going to be doing a lot more games.