Quote

A game is an opportunity to focus our energy, with relentless optimism, at something we’re good at (or getting better at) and enjoy. In other words, gameplay is the direct emotional opposite of depression.

Jane McGonigal

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Jane McGonigal
Age: 47
Born: 1977
Born: October 21
Author
Game Designer
Writer
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
Words
Direct
Energy
Emotional
Better
Game
Something
Focus
Relentless
Good
Games
Optimism
Getting
Depression
Opportunity
Opposite
Enjoy
Opposites

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I've been running since high school. My boyfriend was on the track team, and I'd run with him.
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There is no problem that doesn't have some underlying need for more optimism, stamina, resilience and collaboration. And games are, I believe, the best platform we have for providing that.
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My favorite part of running is the thinking time.
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We can boost our immune systems by strengthening our social networks and decreasing stress.
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Reality is broken and we need to make it work more like a game.
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The single biggest misconception about games is that they're an escapist waste of time.
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My mom is a public school teacher and works with third grade students.
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When we know our strengths, we're more likely to use them.
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I want to see a game designer nominated for a Nobel Prize.
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The idea of the 'lone gamer' is really not true anymore. Up to 65 percent of gaming now is social, played either online or in the same room with people we know in real life.
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Growing up, I was prone to anxiety.
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Every game designer should make one explicitly world-changing game. Lawyers do pro bono work, why can't we?
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There are people who are very dismissive of games and gamers.
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I see a future in which games once again are explicitly designed to improve quality of life, to prevent suffering, and to create real, widespread happiness.
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Clinically speaking, depression is a pessimistic sense of your own capabilities, and despondent lack of energy.
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Game developers know that people have more fun when they're in large groups. They feel more fired up when the challenges are more epic.
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You can't play the same game every day for years. New games are key.
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Games that make you feel good about yourself are good games to be playing.
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If you can manage to experience three positive emotions for every one negative emotion … you dramatically improve your health and your ability to successfully tackle any problem you're facing.
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There is so much more knowledge than most people realize about how to maximize the benefits of play and minimize the potential harms.
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