We all know this already. It's nice to see it borne out by incredibly poignant research. Thank-you all for being the reasons why, when it comes time for me to express my regrets for my life, these top five will not be among them. (You only need to watch the first six minutes. The rest is really interesting, but the first six minutes is what I wanted to share.)
http://youtu.be/5t3y7EeBhxg (http://youtu.be/5t3y7EeBhxg)
By the way, if you've never heard of Jane McGonigal, she's a game developer with platinum creds who has influenced your world in some way already, even if you didn't realize it.
As someone going through my own rough patch, the part where she talks about her injury and how it affected her... really brought on the feels. :'(
*hugs Askari* SuperBetter is pretty cool. I'm designing an adventure for myself right now. Folks might want to check out the site and see if it could benefit them, too. www.superbetter.com (http://www.superbetter.com) I bet I know where any of us could find some allies... :)
Very interesting! Thanks, Mixxi. I know that for me, the people I have met here I feel a true friendship for, as close as the bonds that I feel for friends that I see in real life an equal amount of time. I have wondered about that more than once. Just how important is face to face communication to feel the bonds of friendship? We share stories, laughs, and fond memories with our gaming friends. Sometimes we get to know each other outside of forums and games and share more personal sides of ourselves. How is that any different from our interactions with people we see on a weekly or even daily basis? It is those connections, in my opinion, that we need for good mental health. I have known some of my gaming friends for years and I do not feel that my interaction with them is any less significant because it is mostly in written form. It is an interesting dynamic.
So happy to see a site going for SuperBetter! I've long been someone who tries to gamify real life. I've kind of been making my own system, but I think I can overlay it onto SuperBetter.
McGonigal has been a favorite of mine for years. I first came across her not from TED, but from digitally attending the Buddhist Geeks conference. I so wish I could link her presentation from that "Awakening is Epic Win" (spirituality & gaming), but I can't find any active links for the video, but did find the transcript here (http://www.tricycle.com/sites/default/files/images/ABuddhistGameDesigner-pt1.pdf). Here's her follow up talk to it on the Buddhist Geeks podcast. "Is Super Mario a Buddhist?" https://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2012/05/bg-255-is-super-mario-a-buddhist/
Although it's her faith, don't get hung up on the Buddhist label if you're another (or no) faith. It's about using gaming to express being a good person and spread the goodness around.
All the Jane McGonigal video links from her web page http://janemcgonigal.com/videos/ .
Oh yeah, and if you love gamification, check this out- Epic Win- an app for your IPhone that lets you organize your chores/tasks into an RPG kind of thing. It's very engaging. My house has been pretty spotless since I got it. Been using it for years. It holds up well over time.
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/trinka5/epicwinapp_zps1302195d.jpg) (http://s2.photobucket.com/user/trinka5/media/epicwinapp_zps1302195d.jpg.html)
You Tube trailer for it --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU1Q3b1EN9M About two or three bucks on iTunes. :)
Thanks for the link, Mixxi! I really enjoyed the video and am looking into SuperBetter now. :D
If anybody wants an ally in SuperBetter, feel free to add me! My email is robotxorange (at) gmail (dot) com. :D I'm enjoying it so far.
Also add me! humarjason (at) gmail (dot) com.