Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Chapter 10-11 Journal Entry

     Chapter 10 of Reality is Broken describes ways to bring happiness to the world. The goal she is trying to complete is something she calls "happiness hacking". What Jane means by this is the more happiness you put into a video game, the happier the player will be in the real world. They would then spread this happiness to others and so on. This idea seems fine on paper but it is just hard to actually complete. Jane created games that would include "happiness hacking", but I don't think they turned out so well. One example is her game, Cruel 2 Be Kind, where players must kill people with kindness. This game is played in the real world with a group of people. While playing this game, you might actually compliment people who aren't playing. Although this sounds harmless, it would sound like some sort of weird joke if a group of people were constantly complimenting you for a certain amount of time. Jane also created another game called Tombstone Hold 'Em. You play this game in a graveyard with a group of people. A graveyard is a place where people to go to grieve and pay respects, not fool around. While these games seem like fine ideas, they are a bit strange.
     Chapter 11 of Reality is Broken is talking about The Engagement Economy. Jane believes that if people can challenge themselves and strive for a bigger goal in games, they will be able to do it in reality. This has seemed to be working in certain ways. One example is something I have actually came upon in the past. It is called Free Rice. The objective is to complete questions and for every right answer, the website, freerice.com, will donate 10 grains of rice to help fight world hunger. I believe if more games were made like this, then big things in the world can be achieved.
   

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