How Can Alternate Realities Benefit You?

In my last post I talked about how games can feel truly epic. Many people tend to believe that alternate realities or video games in general tend to be a tremendous waste of time. However, that belief is not necessarily true. There are principles in alternate realities that can be present in real life situations. For example, she references the game Chore Wars, which is a game where you play in your real life to enjoy it more. (McGonigal 120). You might be asking, how can you make a game out of life? The game is specifically designed for people to "track how much housework people are doing - and to inspire everyone to do more housework, more cheerfully, than you would otherwise." (McGonigal 120) Whenever you complete one of your chores, you go online and report on it through the game. Every chore is described to give you a specific amount of experience points, virtual gold, etc. You can also customize the game the way you want to, by adding modifiers to make the least desirable chores worth more experience points. McGonigal also states that "as an added bonus, [her] place is cleaner now." (McGonigal 121) This proves that the virtual reality created through Chore Wars can be an efficient and fun way to get work done.




Me looking at my review packet, reluctant to start it





Though McGonigal used Chore Wars to demonstrate how these alternate realities can benefit us, I used the same basic principle to use in real life situations. Recently, we've all been stressed out when it comes to finals, and we've all been bombarded with review packet after review packet. Having felt overwhelmed myself, I used these same principles in Chore Wars to help me complete my math packet. Going into it, I knew this was something I needed to do rather than something I wanted to do, so I did something similar to McGonigal. She rewarded herself with an abundance of experience points, whereas I rewarded myself with my favorite snack, Doritos whenever I completed a page of problems. It might sound silly, but these simple motivators, as present in Chore Wars, can be very effective when it comes to getting work done that you need to complete.

Overall, these concepts and principles of alternate realities have benefited me in real life by giving me the motivation and drive to complete my review packet. This, in turn, will enable me to score higher on the final exam. How do you incorporate some form of game principle/motivation into your everyday life?

McGonigal, Jane. Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. New York: Penguin Group, 2011. Print.