Reality Is Broken -- Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World

I am currently reading the above book, written by Jane McDonigal and published in 2011. I am also part of the minority who do not play [computer] games. Or do I? In the opening chapter, McDonigal writes that all games share four defining traits: a goal, rules, a feedback system, and voluntary participation.

It occurs to me that my music making is a game. It has

• a goal:  create a song
  
• rules: the 'rules' of music, primarily melody, harmony and rhythm
• a feedback system: I listen to the song and can hear (hopefully) where it needs improving. Also, one could include posting the song on YouTube then counting the number of plays that it receives, along with any comments
• voluntary participation: no one is making me do this!

I've only read the opening chapter so far, but somehow I don't expect that McDonigal will include making music amongst the games covered in the book. But still ... I quote a paragraph slightly further on in the chapter: When we’re playing a good game—when we’re tackling unnecessary obstacles—we are actively moving ourselves toward the positive end of the emotional spectrum. We are intensely engaged, and this puts us in precisely the right frame of mind and physical condition to generate all kinds of positive emotions and experiences. All of the neurological and physiological systems that underlie happiness—our attention systems, our reward center, our motivation systems, our emotion and memory centers—are fully activated by gameplay.  That's how I feel when I'm making music.

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This day in history:

Blog #	Date	Title	Tags
465	25/03/2012	Pharyngitis, Darkness	Health, Van der Graaf Generator