Wii Shall Overcome

Video games have a lot of influence in today’s society.  According to the article “Wii Shall Overcome,” “McGonigal estimates that humans have spent nearly 6 million cumulative years playing World of Warcraft.” When I first read this I had to stop for a minute and let that sink in.  As the article goes on to say, that’s about the same amount of time that’s elapsed since our ancestors first walked the earth on two legs.  This is a very staggering realization.  McGonigals argument is that because we play video games so much, we should embrace it.  “McGonigal’s fantasy is to create a 1,000 year long game played by every person on the planet, “achieving a new scale of cooperation, coordination, and cocreation.”  McGonigal believes that video games encourage collaboration and confidence; she believes that it gives people the types of skills necessary to solve complex problems. 

I agree with her basic argument.  The fact is video games are incredibly popular and are only becoming more so as people gain greater access to the internet so, if we have something that is so dominant in our everyday lives then why shouldn’t we use it for the greater social good.  It’s the basic argument of “Why not fish where the fish are?”   

Though I agree with this argument, I have a hard time believing that this idea will ever be reality.  There have been no games up until this point that have been remotely close to the game that McGonigal suggests.  The games that have come out that have been socially relevant have lacked fun.  “Nobody will devote their days to playing world-changing games until they can vie with their less virtuous competitors.”

Though it is possible for a game to come out that incorporates fun and social relevance, I still have a hard time believing that this is in the future for us as a society.  Though the concept really appeals to me, the idea of being able to spend an average of 10,000 hours playing video games and stopping climate change isn’t something I think a lot of people would be against.  But is it really possible? Maybe it is, Id even go so far as to say probably.  The problem I see is that people go to games to escape reality, not solve it.  “The beauty of games is that you don’t feel overwhelmed by your virtual defeats, because you know you can eventually advance, and mastering the skills to do it takes only hours or days.  In reality, you get just one life, and by the time you’ve figured everything out, it’s game over.”