“Reality is broken. Game designers can fix it.” — Jane McGonigal, game designer
I’m on the fence with the sentiment in this quote, but before I address that, we need a preamble. Character creation, if you will.
I’ve been a gamer nearly my entire life. Even though I didn’t get my own gaming system until I was 10 years old (ah, the Atari 7800; lots of great memories), I’ve been exposed to games for as long as I can remember. They have always been a part of my cultural landscape. Playing the Atari 2600 at a cousin’s house, or pumping quarters into the arcade machines in restaurants and gas stations, were my introductions to these fascinating pixel worlds. Growing up in the 80s and 90s, I’ve seen video games grow from an activity that naysayers claimed was only something for kids, to an entire subculture driven more by adults than children.
I don’t enumerate these things to establish some sort of ‘gaming cred’. I’ve loved this subculture for a long time. But now, video games are more than just entertainment. They have become virtual worlds that many of us enjoy spending time in, long after we have completed their challenges and goals.
There are many reasons for this. With the advent of online gaming (ooo, the original Unreal Tournament, baby), video games became much more social as…
