Jane McGonigal

Video game designer Jane McGonigal talks about ways we can use video games to solve real-world problems and improve global happiness. Her book Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World looks at the growing interest in gaming, and examines how videogames can fulfill human needs.

All of her life, Jane McGonigal has been interested in games. At the tender age of ten, she programmed her first game on a Commodore 64. In the years since, she’s designed award winning alternate reality games and massively multiplayer online games — some of which celebrate the fun of dancing, others that deal with human extinction.