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Jane McGonigal鈥檚 Reality is Broken: Why games make us better and how they can change the world will inspire and inform gamers and non-gamers alike

CONSIDER this: no less than 5.9 million years have collectively been spent playing the online game World of Warcraft since it was released in 2004. That鈥檚 roughly the amount of time that鈥檚 passed since our ancestors first stood upright.

To me, even the 2 hours a day most gamers spend on computer games 鈥� in apparently escapist activities, disengaged from the real world 鈥� is almost inconceivable. Yet the more I read of Jane McGonigal鈥檚 Reality is Broken, the clearer it becomes: I may not own a games console, or spend time sat in front of a screen playing shoot 鈥檈m ups, but I am nonetheless constantly playing games in my daily life. What鈥檚 more, they don鈥檛 distract me from reality, they make it better.

Before writing this review, for example, I went for a run. I was tired and felt like giving up after 30 minutes, but stuck it out for 45. Why? Because I knew when I got home I鈥檇 be docking my iPod with my computer and logging my run on a website called Nike Plus. The site not only tracks my progress and records my mood, but also lets me 鈥渓evel up鈥� the more I run. Since I joined up, I鈥檝e run 858 kilometres, so I鈥檓 classed as a green runner. When I hit 1000 km I鈥檒l move up to blue, hopefully ahead of my running buddies who joined up with me. I know every extra step I run will get me further in this game.

Unsurprisingly, McGonigal is also signed up to Nike Plus: she鈥檚 a computer game designer deeply involved in these so-called 鈥渁lternate reality鈥� games, which are designed to enhance, not avoid, real life. Would we run anyway? Yes. But by making a game of it, we get more out of it.

Reality is Broken is a compelling exploration of why playing games makes us feel so good, and why, far from being a distraction from reality, technology-led games are increasingly providing solutions to our daily dissatisfactions.

McGonigal also argues convincingly that people who like to play online games, far from being social recluses, are perhaps well equipped to make positive changes in the world, and could even solve some of the greatest problems facing humanity. 鈥淕ames inspire extreme effort,鈥� she explains, and create communities that stick together long enough to get things done. Now designers like McGonigal are inventing games that tap into this potential, to direct the colossal effort that gamers represent towards real-world challenges.

If the world of gaming seems alien to you, this book will crack it wide open. For experienced gamers, it will likely inspire you to play 鈥� or even invent 鈥� better, more meaningful games. Despite her expertise, McGonigal鈥檚 book is never overly technical, and as with a good computer game, anyone, regardless of gaming experience, is likely to get sucked in.