Recently I can across this TED talk by Jane McGonigal about gaming and why it can save the world.  Now, I would not call myself a gamer by any stretch of the imagination.  I’ve enjoyed playing games throughout my life – from Atari, through Nintendo, then Playstation, and now currently, the Wii.  The fact that I use our Wii more for Netflix than for gaming tells you where I am coming from as far as gaming is concerned.  However, the idea that gaming can save or change the world for the better piqued my interest, so I watched the talk.

I must say that I am intrigued by her idea – enough so that I plan to read her book, Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World.  What intrigues me is the idea of games and playing games making people happier, more creative, more resilient, and better able to work together to solve real problems, even world-changing problems.  Shouldn’t the church be doing those same things?  Could there be an underlying principle here that the church could benefit from knowing and putting into practice?  I think that there could be and that McGonigal is on to something important here.  Time will tell.  I plan on reading the book this summer.  I’ll post a review and address my questions in depth at that time.  In the meantime, I encourage you to watch her TED talk.