PLUSONEME
(Chapter 8) Send someone you know a +1 inspiring, +1 kindness, +1 humor, or dozens of other positive strengths at
http://plusoneme.com
, created by Clay Johnson.
QUEST TO LEARN
(Chapter 7) Download sample curricula and assignments at the world’s first game-based public school, developed by the Institute of Play, at
http://q2l.org
.
SPORE
CREATURE CREATOR
(Chapter 13) Contribute to the
Spore
galaxy by creating your own
Spore
creature for free at Maxis/Electronic Arts’
www.spore.com
.
SUPERBETTER
(Chapter 7) To learn the rules for this injury or illness recovery game, or to share them with friends and family, visit
www.superbetter.org
.
SUPERSTRUCT
TOMBSTONE HOLD ’EM
(Chapter 10) To learn the rules of this cemetery poker game, invented by Jane McGonigal for 42 Entertainment, visit
www.avantgame.com/tombstone
.
TOP SECRET DANCE-OFF
WORLD WITHOUT OIL
(Chapter 14) Explore a week-by-week replay of the peak-oil simulation, presented by ITVS and produced by Writer Guy, or download lesson plans for teachers, at
http://worldwithoutoil.org
.
Notes
1
Suits, Bernard.
The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia
(Ontario, Canada: Broadview Press, 2005), 159.
INTRODUCTION
1
Castronova, Edward.
Exodus to the Virtual World
(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), xiv-xvii. This condensed passage from the preface appears with the permission of the author.
4
These regional statistics are drawn from a variety of industry reports and market research studies conducted over the past three years, as follows: “An Analysis of Europe’s 100 Million Active Gamers.” Strategy Analytics, September 2008.
http://www.strategyanalytics.com/reports/ix7hx8in7j/single.htm
; “IA9 Interactive Australia 2009.” National research prepared by Bond University for Interactive Games & Entertainment Association, August 2009.
www.igea.net/wp.../2009/08/IA9-Interactive-Australia-2009-Full-Report
. pdf; “Online Games Market in Korea.” Pearl Research, July 2009.
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reportinfo.asp?report_id=1208384
; “Games Market Summary: Russia.” Prepared by Piers Harding-Rolls for Games Intelligence/Screen Digest, June 2010.
http://www.screendigest.com/intelligence/games/russia/games_intel_russia_100/view.html?start_ser=gi&start_toc=1
; “Emerging Markets for Video Games.” Chris Stanton-Jones for Games Intelligence/Screen Digest, March 2010.
http://www.screendigest.com/reports/10_03_18_emerging_markets_video_games/10_03_18_emerging_markets_video_games/view.html
; “Online Games Market in Vietnam.” Pearl Research, November 2008.
http://www.mindbranch.com/Online-Games-Vietnam-R740-14/
; “Study: Vietnam, India Gaming Population To Hit 25 Million By 2014.” Pearl Research, March 2010.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/27525/Study_Vietnam_India_Gaming_Population_To_Hit_25Million_By_2014.php
; “Gaming Business in the Middle East.” Game Power 7 Research Group, February 2010.
http://images.bbgsite.com/news/download/gaming_business_in_the_middle_east_KOGAI_2009.pdf
; Menon, Naveen. “Insights on Mobile Gaming in India.” Vital Analytics. March 2009.
http://www.telecomindiaonline.com/telecom-india-daily-telecom-insights-on-mobile-gaming-in-urban-india.html
. “The Global Entertainment & Media Outlook: 2010-2014.” PricewaterhouseCoopers, June 2010.
http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/global-entertainment-media-outlook
. The gamer market statistics are constantly changing; the global trends are upward in every country, so higher numbers are likely to be accurate for each region with each passing year since the studies were published.
6
“Games Segmentation 2008 Market Research Report.” The NPD Group.
8
In 2009, the annual spending on games in the United States was $25.3 billion; in the United Kingdom, it was £3.8 billion; in Germany, 3.7 billion euros; and in France, 3.6 billion euros. “Newzoo Games Market Report.”
12
Reinecke, Leonard. “Games at Work: The Recreational Use of Computer Games During Work Hours.”
Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking
[formerly
CyberPsychology & Behavior
], August 2009, 12(4): 461-65. DOI: 10.1089/cpb.2009.0010.
PART I
1
Csíkszentmihályi, Mihály.
Beyond Boredom and Anxiety: The Experience of Play in Work and Games
(San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1975), 206.
CHAPTER 1
1
Suits,
The Grasshopper
, 38. Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman were among the first game researchers to outline these three characteristics as essential to a game, drawing on the work of Bernard Suits. I am indebted to them, as are many other game designers and researchers, for drawing attention to Suits’ definition. Salen, Katie, and Eric Zimmerman.
Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals
(Cambridge: MIT Press, 2004).
2
Tetris
has been named “The Greatest Game of All Time” by
Electronic Gaming Monthly
, Issue 100, among others. “The Best Videogames in the History of Humanity,” an extraordinary compilation of greatest-games lists compiled by J. J. McCullough, can be found at
http://www.filibustercartoons.com/games.htm
.
4
Csíkszentmihályi,
Beyond Boredom and Anxiety
, 36.
5
Carse, James P.
Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility
(New York: Free Press, 1986), 3.
6
Sutton-Smith, Brian.
Ambiguity of Play
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001), 198.
7
This kind of real-time data collection helps researchers collect much better data than traditional surveys or questionnaires. It’s much easier to report your activity and mood in the moment than to try to remember what you were doing and feeling hours or days afterward.
8
Csíkszentmihályi, Mihály.
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
(New York: Harper Perennial, 1991). See also: Csíkszentmihályi, M. “Optimal Experience in Work and Leisure.”
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
, 1989, 56(5): 815-22; Csíkszentmihályi, M., and R. Kubey. “Television and the Rest of Life: A Systematic Comparison of Subjective Experience.”
Public Opinion Quarterly
, 1981, 45: 317-28; and Kubey, R., R. Larson, and M. Csíkszentmihályi. “Experience Sampling Method Applications to Communication Research Questions.”
Journal of Communication
, 1996, 46(2): 99-120.
9
Kash, Thomas, et al. “Dopamine Enhances Fast Excitatory Synaptic Transmission in the Extended Amygdala by a CRF-R1-Dependent Process.”
Journal of Neuroscience
, December 17, 2008, 28(51): 13856-65. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4715-08.2008.
12
Ben-Shahar, Tal.
Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007), 77.
13
Nicole Lazzaro deserves the credit for introducing this term to the game industry via her presentations at the annual Game Developers Conference.
CHAPTER 2
1
Csíkszentmihályi,
Beyond Boredom and Anxiety
, xiii.
5
Sutton-Smith, Brian, and Elliot Avedon, eds.
The Study of Games
(New York: Wiley, 1971).
12
Hoeft, Fumiko, et al., “Gender Differences.”
15
Lyubomirsky, S., K. M. Sheldon, and D. Schkade. “Pursuing Happiness: The Architecture of Sustainable Change.”
Review of General Psychology
, 2005, 9: 111-31; and Sheldon, K. M., and S. Lyubomirsky. “Is It Possible to Become Happier? (And if So, How?)”
Social and Personality Psychology Compass
, 2007, 1: 1-17.
16
Originally described by Brickman and Campbell in “Hedonic Relativism and Planning the Good Society.” In M. H. Apley, ed.,
Adaptation Level Theory: A Symposium
(New York: Academic Press, 1971), 287-302. Most recently assessed in Bottan, Nicolas Luis, Pérez Truglia, and Ricardo Nicolás. “Deconstructing the Hedonic Treadmill: Is Happiness Autoregressive?” Social Science Research Network, January 2010.
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1262569
.
17
The term “autotelic” was originally coined by Csíkszentmihályi in
Beyond Boredom and Anxiety
, 10.