WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.222 I'm Jane McGonigal. I'm a game designer. 00:00:02.246 --> 00:00:04.976 I've been making games online now for 10 years, 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:07.976 and my goal for the next decade 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:13.396 is to try to make it as easy to save the world in real life 00:00:13.420 --> 00:00:15.976 as it is to save the world in online games. 00:00:16.626 --> 00:00:18.617 Now, I have a plan for this, 00:00:18.641 --> 00:00:21.554 and it entails convincing more people, 00:00:21.578 --> 00:00:26.435 including all of you, to spend more time playing bigger and better games. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:26.459 --> 00:00:30.976 Right now we spend three billion hours a week playing online games. 00:00:31.357 --> 00:00:32.976 Some of you might be thinking, 00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:35.143 "That's a lot of time to spend playing games. 00:00:35.167 --> 00:00:36.469 Maybe too much time, 00:00:36.493 --> 00:00:39.976 considering how many urgent problems we have to solve in the real world." 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:43.976 But actually, according to my research at the Institute for the Future, 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:46.976 actually the opposite is true. 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:50.325 Three billion hours a week is not nearly enough game play 00:00:50.349 --> 00:00:52.747 to solve the world's most urgent problems. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:52.771 --> 00:00:55.390 In fact, I believe that if we want to survive 00:00:55.414 --> 00:00:56.976 the next century on this planet, 00:00:57.000 --> 00:00:59.523 we need to increase that total dramatically. 00:00:59.547 --> 00:01:01.525 I've calculated the total we need 00:01:01.549 --> 00:01:04.587 at 21 billion hours of game play every week. 00:01:05.547 --> 00:01:08.189 So, that's probably a bit of a counter-intuitive idea, 00:01:08.213 --> 00:01:10.754 so I'll say it again, let it sink in: 00:01:10.778 --> 00:01:12.976 If we want to solve problems like hunger, 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:16.246 poverty, climate change, global conflict, obesity, 00:01:16.270 --> 00:01:20.286 I believe that we need to aspire to play games online 00:01:20.310 --> 00:01:23.882 for at least 21 billion hours a week, by the end of the next decade. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:23.906 --> 00:01:24.914 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:01:24.938 --> 00:01:27.056 No. I'm serious. I am. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:27.080 --> 00:01:28.231 Here's why. 00:01:28.255 --> 00:01:31.498 This picture pretty much sums up why I think games are so essential 00:01:31.522 --> 00:01:33.661 to the future survival of the human species. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:33.685 --> 00:01:34.689 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:01:34.713 --> 00:01:35.864 Truly. 00:01:35.888 --> 00:01:38.505 This is a portrait by photographer Phil Toledano. 00:01:38.529 --> 00:01:40.769 He wanted to capture the emotion of gaming, 00:01:40.793 --> 00:01:43.903 so he set up a camera in front of gamers while they were playing. 00:01:43.927 --> 00:01:46.852 And this is a classic gaming emotion. 00:01:46.876 --> 00:01:48.781 Now, if you're not a gamer, 00:01:48.805 --> 00:01:51.202 you might miss some of the nuance in this photo. 00:01:51.226 --> 00:01:53.976 You probably see the sense of urgency, 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:57.384 a little bit of fear, but intense concentration, 00:01:57.408 --> 00:02:00.976 deep, deep focus on tackling a really difficult problem. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:04.737 If you are a gamer, you will notice a few nuances here: 00:02:04.761 --> 00:02:07.550 the crinkle of the eyes up, and around the mouth 00:02:07.574 --> 00:02:09.169 is a sign of optimism, 00:02:09.193 --> 00:02:11.628 and the eyebrows up is surprise. 00:02:11.652 --> 00:02:15.779 This is a gamer who's on the verge of something called an "epic win." NOTE Paragraph 00:02:15.803 --> 00:02:16.976 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:18.406 Oh, you've heard of that. 00:02:18.430 --> 00:02:20.962 OK, good, so we have some gamers among us. 00:02:20.986 --> 00:02:25.232 An epic win is an outcome that is so extraordinarily positive, 00:02:25.256 --> 00:02:28.272 you had no idea it was even possible until you achieved it. 00:02:28.296 --> 00:02:32.555 It was almost beyond the threshold of imagination, and when you get there, 00:02:32.579 --> 00:02:35.238 you're shocked to discover what you're truly capable of. 00:02:35.262 --> 00:02:36.420 That's an epic win. 00:02:36.444 --> 00:02:38.828 This is a gamer on the verge of an epic win. 00:02:38.852 --> 00:02:41.265 And this is the face that we need to see 00:02:41.289 --> 00:02:43.976 on millions of problem-solvers all over the world 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:47.321 as we try to tackle the obstacles of the next century -- 00:02:47.345 --> 00:02:49.976 the face of someone who, against all odds, 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:51.897 is on the verge of an epic win. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:51.921 --> 00:02:55.237 Now, unfortunately this is more of the face that we see 00:02:55.261 --> 00:02:58.032 in everyday life now as we try to tackle urgent problems. 00:02:58.056 --> 00:03:00.555 This is what I call the "I'm Not Good At Life" face. 00:03:00.579 --> 00:03:02.079 This is actually me making it. 00:03:02.103 --> 00:03:03.356 Can you see? Yes. Good. 00:03:03.380 --> 00:03:05.976 This is me making the "I'm Not Good At Life" face. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:08.381 This is a piece of graffiti in my old neighborhood 00:03:08.405 --> 00:03:10.660 in Berkeley, California, where I did my PhD 00:03:10.684 --> 00:03:13.898 on why we're better in games than we are in real life. 00:03:13.922 --> 00:03:16.201 And this is a problem that a lot of gamers have. 00:03:16.225 --> 00:03:20.502 We feel that we are not as good in reality as we are in games. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:20.526 --> 00:03:23.976 I don't mean just good as in successful, although that's part of it. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:25.845 We do achieve more in game worlds. 00:03:25.869 --> 00:03:29.835 But I also mean good as in motivated to do something that matters -- 00:03:29.859 --> 00:03:32.643 inspired to collaborate and to cooperate. 00:03:32.667 --> 00:03:34.119 And when we're in game worlds, 00:03:34.143 --> 00:03:37.200 I believe that many of us become the best version of ourselves -- 00:03:37.224 --> 00:03:39.342 the most likely to help at a moment's notice, 00:03:39.366 --> 00:03:42.207 the most likely to stick with a problem as long at it takes, 00:03:42.231 --> 00:03:44.317 to get up after failure and try again. 00:03:44.341 --> 00:03:47.976 And in real life, when we face failure, 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:50.890 when we confront obstacles, we often don't feel that way. 00:03:50.914 --> 00:03:53.756 We feel overcome, we feel overwhelmed, 00:03:53.780 --> 00:03:57.520 we feel anxious, maybe depressed, frustrated or cynical. 00:03:57.544 --> 00:04:00.100 We never have those feelings when we're playing games, 00:04:00.124 --> 00:04:01.663 they just don't exist in games. 00:04:01.687 --> 00:04:04.744 So that's what I wanted to study when I was a graduate student. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:04.768 --> 00:04:07.240 What about games makes it impossible 00:04:07.264 --> 00:04:09.717 to feel that we can't achieve everything? 00:04:09.741 --> 00:04:12.145 How can we take those feelings from games 00:04:12.169 --> 00:04:13.832 and apply them to real-world work? 00:04:13.856 --> 00:04:16.254 So I looked at games like World of Warcraft, 00:04:16.278 --> 00:04:19.563 which is really the ideal collaborative problem-solving environment. 00:04:19.587 --> 00:04:21.411 And I started to notice a few things 00:04:21.435 --> 00:04:24.592 that make epic wins so possible in online worlds. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:24.616 --> 00:04:27.901 The first thing is whenever you show up in one of these online games, 00:04:27.925 --> 00:04:29.504 especially in World of Warcraft, 00:04:29.528 --> 00:04:31.822 there are lots and lots of different characters 00:04:31.846 --> 00:04:36.100 who are willing to trust you with a world-saving mission, right away. 00:04:36.124 --> 00:04:37.625 But not just any mission, 00:04:37.649 --> 00:04:41.465 it's a mission that is perfectly matched with your current level in the game. 00:04:41.489 --> 00:04:43.195 Right? So you can do it. 00:04:43.219 --> 00:04:45.664 They never give you a challenge you can't achieve. 00:04:45.688 --> 00:04:48.063 But it is on the verge of what you're capable of, 00:04:48.087 --> 00:04:49.331 so you have to try hard. 00:04:49.355 --> 00:04:52.676 But there's no unemployment in World of Warcraft; no sitting around, 00:04:52.700 --> 00:04:53.851 wringing your hands -- 00:04:53.875 --> 00:04:56.694 there's always something specific and important to be done. 00:04:56.718 --> 00:04:58.551 There are also tons of collaborators. 00:04:58.575 --> 00:05:00.963 Everywhere you go, hundreds of thousands of people 00:05:00.987 --> 00:05:03.929 ready to work with you to achieve your epic mission. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:03.953 --> 00:05:06.579 That's not something we have in real life that easily, 00:05:06.603 --> 00:05:09.592 this sense that at our fingertips are tons of collaborators. 00:05:09.616 --> 00:05:13.107 And there's this epic story, this inspiring story of why we're there, 00:05:13.131 --> 00:05:14.292 and what we're doing, 00:05:14.316 --> 00:05:16.194 and we get all this positive feedback. 00:05:16.218 --> 00:05:20.211 You guys have heard of leveling up, +1 strength, +1 intelligence. 00:05:20.235 --> 00:05:22.917 We don't get that kind of constant feedback in real life. 00:05:22.941 --> 00:05:24.182 When I get off this stage, 00:05:24.206 --> 00:05:29.088 I'm not going to have +1 speaking, and +1 crazy idea, 00:05:29.112 --> 00:05:30.776 +20 crazy idea. 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:32.818 I don't get that feedback in real life. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:32.842 --> 00:05:37.690 Now, the problem with collaborative online environments like World of Warcraft 00:05:37.714 --> 00:05:41.869 is that it's so satisfying to be on the verge of an epic win all the time, 00:05:41.893 --> 00:05:44.468 we decide to spend all our time in these game worlds. 00:05:44.492 --> 00:05:45.976 It's just better than reality. 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:48.976 So, so far, collectively all the World of Warcraft gamers 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:51.976 have spent 5.93 million years 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:55.976 solving the virtual problems of Azeroth. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:58.160 Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing. 00:05:58.517 --> 00:06:00.376 It might sound like it's a bad thing. 00:06:00.400 --> 00:06:01.724 But to put that in context: 00:06:01.748 --> 00:06:03.831 5.93 million years ago 00:06:03.855 --> 00:06:08.480 was when our earliest primate human ancestors stood up. 00:06:08.504 --> 00:06:11.234 That was the first upright primate. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:11.258 --> 00:06:14.362 So when we talk about how much time 00:06:14.386 --> 00:06:16.398 we're currently investing in playing games, 00:06:16.422 --> 00:06:19.200 the only way it makes sense to even think about it 00:06:19.224 --> 00:06:22.976 is to talk about time at the magnitude of human evolution, 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:24.976 which is an extraordinary thing. 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:26.508 But it's also apt, 00:06:26.532 --> 00:06:29.690 because it turns out that by spending all this time playing games, 00:06:29.714 --> 00:06:32.976 we're actually changing what we are capable of as human beings. 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:36.314 We're evolving to be a more collaborative and hearty species. 00:06:36.663 --> 00:06:38.108 This is true. I believe this. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:38.449 --> 00:06:41.290 So, consider this really interesting statistic; 00:06:41.314 --> 00:06:44.798 it was recently published by a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University: 00:06:44.822 --> 00:06:48.976 The average young person today in a country with a strong gamer culture 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:52.654 will have spent 10,000 hours playing online games 00:06:52.678 --> 00:06:53.924 by the age of 21. 00:06:54.439 --> 00:06:57.745 Now 10,000 hours is a really interesting number for two reasons. 00:06:58.420 --> 00:07:01.866 First of all, for children in the United States, 00:07:01.890 --> 00:07:06.874 10,080 hours is the exact amount of time you will spend in school, 00:07:06.898 --> 00:07:09.000 from fifth grade to high school graduation, 00:07:09.024 --> 00:07:10.547 if you have perfect attendance. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:10.571 --> 00:07:11.572 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:07:11.596 --> 00:07:15.181 So, we have an entire parallel track of education going on, 00:07:15.205 --> 00:07:18.913 where young people are learning as much about what it takes to be a good gamer 00:07:18.937 --> 00:07:21.417 as they're learning about everything else in school. 00:07:21.441 --> 00:07:25.028 Some of you have probably read Malcolm Gladwell's new book "Outliers," 00:07:25.052 --> 00:07:27.394 so you would have heard of his theory of success, 00:07:27.418 --> 00:07:29.517 the "10,000 hours" theory of success. 00:07:29.541 --> 00:07:31.976 It's based on this great cognitive-science research 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:35.317 that says if we can master 10,000 hours 00:07:35.341 --> 00:07:38.714 of effortful study at anything by the age of 21, 00:07:38.738 --> 00:07:40.237 we will be virtuosos at it. 00:07:40.261 --> 00:07:41.976 We will be as good at whatever we do 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:43.841 as the greatest people in the world. 00:07:43.865 --> 00:07:46.623 And so, now what we're looking at 00:07:46.647 --> 00:07:50.528 is an entire generation of young people who are virtuoso gamers. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:51.758 --> 00:07:53.976 So, the big question is, 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:57.317 "What exactly are gamers getting so good at?" 00:07:57.341 --> 00:07:59.126 Because if we could figure that out, 00:07:59.150 --> 00:08:03.555 we would have a virtually unprecedented human resource on our hands. 00:08:03.579 --> 00:08:05.842 This is how many people we now have in the world 00:08:05.866 --> 00:08:08.753 who spend at least an hour a day playing online games. 00:08:08.777 --> 00:08:10.873 These are our virtuoso gamers, 00:08:10.897 --> 00:08:14.729 500 million people who are extraordinarily good at something. 00:08:15.658 --> 00:08:16.976 And in the next decade, 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:19.000 we're going to have another billion gamers 00:08:19.024 --> 00:08:21.801 who are extraordinarily good at whatever that is. 00:08:21.825 --> 00:08:23.976 If you don't know it already, this is coming. 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:25.976 The game industry is developing consoles 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:29.354 that are low-energy and that work with the wireless phone networks 00:08:29.378 --> 00:08:31.204 instead of broadband Internet, 00:08:31.228 --> 00:08:32.976 so that gamers all over the world, 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:36.824 particularly in India, China, Brazil, can get online. 00:08:36.848 --> 00:08:39.474 They expect one billion more gamers in the next decade. 00:08:39.498 --> 00:08:41.522 It will bring us up to 1.5 billion gamers. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:41.957 --> 00:08:43.425 So I've started to think about 00:08:43.449 --> 00:08:45.665 what these games are making us virtuosos at. 00:08:45.689 --> 00:08:47.640 Here are the four things I came up with. 00:08:47.664 --> 00:08:49.624 The first is urgent optimism. 00:08:49.648 --> 00:08:52.330 OK, think of this as extreme self-motivation. 00:08:52.743 --> 00:08:55.791 Urgent optimism is the desire to act immediately 00:08:55.815 --> 00:08:57.472 to tackle an obstacle, 00:08:57.496 --> 00:09:01.076 combined with the belief that we have a reasonable hope of success. 00:09:01.743 --> 00:09:04.429 Gamers always believe that an epic win is possible, 00:09:04.453 --> 00:09:07.158 and that it's always worth trying, and trying now. 00:09:07.182 --> 00:09:08.432 Gamers don't sit around. 00:09:08.773 --> 00:09:12.829 Gamers are virtuosos at weaving a tight social fabric. 00:09:12.853 --> 00:09:15.110 There's a lot of interesting research that shows 00:09:15.134 --> 00:09:17.690 we like people better after we play a game with them, 00:09:17.714 --> 00:09:19.523 even if they've beaten us badly. 00:09:19.547 --> 00:09:22.889 And the reason is, it takes a lot of trust to play a game with someone. 00:09:22.913 --> 00:09:25.205 We trust that they will spend their time with us, 00:09:25.229 --> 00:09:27.071 that they will play by the same rules, 00:09:27.095 --> 00:09:30.427 value the same goal, stay with the game until it's over. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:30.451 --> 00:09:32.019 And so, playing a game together 00:09:32.043 --> 00:09:34.976 actually builds up bonds and trust and cooperation. 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:38.825 And we actually build stronger social relationships as a result. 00:09:39.238 --> 00:09:40.976 Blissful productivity. I love it. 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:44.294 You know, there's a reason why the average World of Warcraft gamer 00:09:44.318 --> 00:09:46.976 plays for 22 hours a week -- kind of a half-time job. 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:49.602 It's because we know, when we're playing a game, 00:09:49.626 --> 00:09:51.975 that we're actually happier working hard 00:09:51.999 --> 00:09:54.250 than we are relaxing, or hanging out. 00:09:54.274 --> 00:09:56.552 We know that we are optimized as human beings, 00:09:56.576 --> 00:09:58.194 to do hard and meaningful work. 00:09:58.218 --> 00:10:01.425 And gamers are willing to work hard all the time, 00:10:01.449 --> 00:10:03.050 if they're given the right work. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:03.829 --> 00:10:05.266 Finally: epic meaning. 00:10:05.774 --> 00:10:09.511 Gamers love to be attached to awe-inspiring missions 00:10:09.535 --> 00:10:13.547 to human planetary-scale stories. 00:10:13.571 --> 00:10:17.311 So, just one bit of trivia that helps put that into perspective: 00:10:17.335 --> 00:10:20.976 So, you all know Wikipedia, biggest wiki in the world. 00:10:21.357 --> 00:10:24.976 Second biggest wiki in the world, with nearly 80,000 articles, 00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:26.976 is the World of Warcraft wiki. 00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:28.976 Five million people use it every month. 00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:32.659 They have compiled more information about World of Warcraft on the Internet 00:10:32.683 --> 00:10:35.790 than any other topic covered on any other wiki in the world. 00:10:35.814 --> 00:10:37.850 They are building an epic story. 00:10:37.874 --> 00:10:40.096 They are building an epic knowledge resource 00:10:40.120 --> 00:10:41.652 about the World of Warcraft. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:41.676 --> 00:10:45.976 Okay, so these are four superpowers that add up to one thing: 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:50.486 Gamers are super-empowered hopeful individuals. 00:10:50.795 --> 00:10:54.000 These are people who believe that they are individually capable 00:10:54.024 --> 00:10:55.574 of changing the world. 00:10:55.598 --> 00:10:57.233 And the only problem is, 00:10:57.257 --> 00:11:00.286 they believe that they are capable of changing virtual worlds 00:11:00.310 --> 00:11:01.976 and not the real world. 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:04.113 That's the problem that I'm trying to solve. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:04.613 --> 00:11:06.976 There's an economist named Edward Castronova. 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:08.170 His work is brilliant. 00:11:08.194 --> 00:11:11.096 He looks at why people are investing so much time and energy 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:12.976 and money in online worlds. 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:14.183 And he says, 00:11:14.207 --> 00:11:17.515 "We're witnessing what amounts to no less than a mass exodus 00:11:17.539 --> 00:11:19.976 to virtual worlds and online game environments." 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:22.189 And he's an economist, so he's rational. 00:11:22.213 --> 00:11:23.650 And he says -- NOTE Paragraph 00:11:23.674 --> 00:11:25.317 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:11:25.341 --> 00:11:27.626 Not like me, I'm a game designer; I'm exuberant. 00:11:27.650 --> 00:11:31.849 But he says that this makes perfect sense, 00:11:31.873 --> 00:11:34.297 because gamers can achieve more in online worlds 00:11:34.321 --> 00:11:35.647 than they can in real life. 00:11:35.671 --> 00:11:38.132 They can have stronger social relationships in games 00:11:38.156 --> 00:11:39.711 than they can have in real life; 00:11:39.735 --> 00:11:42.702 they get better feedback and feel more rewarded in games 00:11:42.726 --> 00:11:43.976 than they do in real life. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:46.000 So he says, for now it makes perfect sense 00:11:46.024 --> 00:11:49.599 for gamers to spend more time in virtual worlds than the real world. 00:11:49.623 --> 00:11:52.976 Now, I also agree that that is rational, for now. 00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:55.976 But it is not, by any means, an optimal situation. 00:11:56.000 --> 00:11:58.976 We have to start making the real world work more like a game. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:59.377 --> 00:12:02.359 I take my inspiration from something that happened 00:12:02.383 --> 00:12:03.812 2,500 years ago. 00:12:04.392 --> 00:12:07.976 These are ancient dice, made out of sheep's knuckles. 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:09.976 Before we had awesome game controllers, 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:11.813 we had sheep's knuckles. 00:12:11.837 --> 00:12:14.905 And these represent the first game equipment 00:12:14.929 --> 00:12:16.795 designed by human beings, 00:12:16.819 --> 00:12:20.563 and if you're familiar with the work of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, 00:12:20.587 --> 00:12:22.096 you might know this history, 00:12:22.120 --> 00:12:25.040 which is the history of who invented games and why. 00:12:25.716 --> 00:12:28.560 Herodotus says that games, particularly dice games, 00:12:28.584 --> 00:12:30.976 were invented in the kingdom of Lydia, 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:32.809 during a time of famine. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:32.833 --> 00:12:35.172 Apparently, there was such a severe famine 00:12:35.196 --> 00:12:38.976 that the king of Lydia decided they had to do something crazy. 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:41.096 People were suffering. People were fighting. 00:12:41.120 --> 00:12:44.976 It was an extreme situation, they needed an extreme solution. 00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:47.976 So, according to Herodotus, they invented dice games, 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:50.976 and they set up a kingdom-wide policy: 00:12:51.000 --> 00:12:53.582 On one day, everybody would eat, 00:12:53.606 --> 00:12:55.976 and on the next day, everybody would play games. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:58.634 And they would be so immersed in playing the dice games, 00:12:58.658 --> 00:13:00.102 because games are so engaging, 00:13:00.126 --> 00:13:03.338 and immerse us in such satisfying, blissful productivity, 00:13:03.362 --> 00:13:06.076 they would ignore the fact that they had no food to eat. 00:13:06.100 --> 00:13:08.386 And then on the next day, they would play games; 00:13:08.410 --> 00:13:10.286 and on the next day, they would eat. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:10.310 --> 00:13:11.976 And according to Herodotus, 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:13.976 they passed 18 years this way, 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:15.739 surviving through a famine, 00:13:15.763 --> 00:13:18.429 by eating on one day, and playing games on the next. 00:13:18.453 --> 00:13:22.157 Now, this is exactly, I think, how we're using games today. 00:13:22.726 --> 00:13:25.433 We're using games to escape real-world suffering -- 00:13:25.457 --> 00:13:27.048 we're using games to get away 00:13:27.072 --> 00:13:29.661 from everything that's broken in the real environment, 00:13:29.685 --> 00:13:32.231 everything that's not satisfying about real life, 00:13:32.255 --> 00:13:34.353 and we're getting what we need from games. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:34.377 --> 00:13:35.976 But it doesn't have to end there. 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:37.976 This is really exciting. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:42.976 According to Herodotus, after 18 years the famine wasn't getting better, 00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:46.440 so the king decided they would play one final dice game. 00:13:47.408 --> 00:13:49.781 They divided the entire kingdom in half. 00:13:50.169 --> 00:13:51.877 They played one dice game, 00:13:51.901 --> 00:13:55.320 and the winners of that game got to go on an epic adventure. 00:13:55.344 --> 00:13:56.976 They would leave Lydia, 00:13:57.000 --> 00:13:59.975 and they would go out in search of a new place to live, 00:13:59.999 --> 00:14:02.199 leaving behind just enough people 00:14:02.223 --> 00:14:04.516 to survive on the resources that were available, 00:14:04.540 --> 00:14:08.365 and hopefully to take their civilization somewhere else where they could thrive. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:08.389 --> 00:14:10.288 Now, this sounds crazy, right? 00:14:10.312 --> 00:14:14.730 But recently, DNA evidence has shown that the Etruscans, 00:14:14.754 --> 00:14:16.516 who then led to the Roman Empire, 00:14:16.540 --> 00:14:19.445 actually share the same DNA as the ancient Lydians. 00:14:19.469 --> 00:14:21.976 And so, recently, scientists have suggested 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:24.397 that Herodotus' crazy story is actually true. 00:14:24.421 --> 00:14:27.390 And geologists have found evidence of a global cooling 00:14:27.414 --> 00:14:31.150 that lasted for nearly 20 years, that could have explained the famine. 00:14:31.174 --> 00:14:33.404 So this crazy story might be true. 00:14:33.428 --> 00:14:37.324 They might have actually saved their culture by playing games, 00:14:37.348 --> 00:14:39.270 escaping to games for 18 years, 00:14:39.294 --> 00:14:40.746 and then been so inspired, 00:14:40.770 --> 00:14:43.452 and knew so much about how to come together with games, 00:14:43.476 --> 00:14:46.213 that they actually saved the entire civilization that way. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:46.237 --> 00:14:47.402 Okay, we can do that. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:47.426 --> 00:14:48.448 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:14:48.472 --> 00:14:50.810 We've been playing Warcraft since 1994. 00:14:50.834 --> 00:14:54.505 That was the first real-time strategy game from the World of Warcraft series. 00:14:54.529 --> 00:14:55.928 That was 16 years ago. 00:14:56.340 --> 00:14:58.133 They played dice games for 18 years, 00:14:58.157 --> 00:15:00.403 we've been playing Warcraft for 16 years. 00:15:00.427 --> 00:15:03.585 I say we are ready for our own epic game. 00:15:03.609 --> 00:15:08.219 Now, they had half the civilization go off in search of a new world, 00:15:08.243 --> 00:15:12.092 so that's where I get my 21 billion hours a week of game-play from. 00:15:12.116 --> 00:15:13.976 Let's get half of us to agree 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:15.976 to spend an hour a day playing games, 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:17.842 until we solve real-world problems. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:17.866 --> 00:15:19.438 Now, I know you're asking, 00:15:19.462 --> 00:15:22.141 "How are we going to solve real-world problems in games?" 00:15:22.165 --> 00:15:25.276 Well, that's what I've devoted my work to over the past few years, 00:15:25.300 --> 00:15:26.976 at the Institute for the Future. 00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:29.286 We have this banner in our offices in Palo Alto, 00:15:29.310 --> 00:15:33.135 and it expresses our view of how we should try to relate to the future. 00:15:33.445 --> 00:15:35.706 We do not want to try to predict the future. 00:15:35.730 --> 00:15:37.762 What we want to do is make the future. 00:15:37.786 --> 00:15:40.278 We want to imagine the best-case scenario outcome, 00:15:40.302 --> 00:15:43.976 and then we want to empower people to make that outcome a reality. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:45.976 We want to imagine epic wins, 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:48.976 and then give people the means to achieve the epic win. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:49.000 --> 00:15:52.098 I'm just going to very briefly show you three games that I've made 00:15:52.122 --> 00:15:55.178 that are an attempt to give people the means to create epic wins 00:15:55.202 --> 00:15:56.535 in their own futures. 00:15:56.559 --> 00:15:57.976 This is World Without Oil. 00:15:58.000 --> 00:15:59.691 We made this game in 2007. 00:15:59.715 --> 00:16:01.073 This is an online game 00:16:01.097 --> 00:16:03.817 in which you try to survive an oil shortage. 00:16:04.507 --> 00:16:06.102 The oil shortage is fictional, 00:16:06.126 --> 00:16:08.976 but we put enough online content out there 00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:10.680 for you to believe that it's real, 00:16:10.704 --> 00:16:13.590 and to live your real life as if we've run out of oil. 00:16:13.614 --> 00:16:15.050 So when you come to the game, 00:16:15.074 --> 00:16:17.003 you sign up, tell us where you live, 00:16:17.027 --> 00:16:19.367 and then we give you real-time news videos, 00:16:19.391 --> 00:16:22.511 data feeds that show you exactly how much oil costs, 00:16:22.535 --> 00:16:25.264 what's not available, how food supply is being affected, 00:16:25.288 --> 00:16:27.122 how transportation is being affected, 00:16:27.146 --> 00:16:29.217 if schools are closed, if there's rioting, 00:16:29.241 --> 00:16:32.090 and you have to figure out how you would live your real life 00:16:32.114 --> 00:16:33.353 as if this were true. 00:16:33.377 --> 00:16:35.176 And then we ask you to blog about it, 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:36.976 to post videos, to post photos. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:40.400 We piloted this game with 1,700 players in 2007, 00:16:40.424 --> 00:16:42.757 and we've tracked them for the three years since. 00:16:42.781 --> 00:16:45.858 And I can tell you that this is a transformative experience. 00:16:45.882 --> 00:16:47.765 Nobody wants to change how they live, 00:16:47.789 --> 00:16:51.191 just because it's good for the world, or because we're supposed to. 00:16:51.518 --> 00:16:53.976 But if you immerse them in an epic adventure 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:55.976 and tell them, "We've run out of oil. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:59.265 This is an amazing story and adventure for you to go on. 00:16:59.289 --> 00:17:01.976 Challenge yourself to see how you would survive," 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:04.048 most of our players have kept up the habits 00:17:04.072 --> 00:17:05.868 that they learned in this game. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:05.892 --> 00:17:07.976 So for the next world-saving game, 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:10.976 we decided to aim higher -- bigger problem than just peak oil. 00:17:11.495 --> 00:17:14.877 We did a game called Superstruct at the Institute for the Future. 00:17:14.901 --> 00:17:17.976 And the premise was, a supercomputer has calculated 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:20.976 that humans have only 23 years left on the planet. 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:22.549 This supercomputer was called 00:17:22.573 --> 00:17:24.976 the Global Extinction Awareness System, of course. 00:17:25.334 --> 00:17:26.976 We asked people to come online -- 00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:29.099 almost like a Jerry Bruckheimer movie. 00:17:29.123 --> 00:17:31.976 You know Jerry Bruckheimer movies, you form a dream team -- 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:34.751 you've got the astronaut, the scientist, the ex-convict, 00:17:34.775 --> 00:17:37.212 and they all have something to do to save the world. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:37.236 --> 00:17:38.243 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:17:38.267 --> 00:17:41.655 But in our game, instead of just having five people on the dream team, 00:17:41.679 --> 00:17:43.608 we said, "Everybody's on the dream team, 00:17:43.632 --> 00:17:45.976 and it's your job to invent the future of energy, 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:47.976 the future of food, the future of health, 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:51.048 the future of security and the future of the social safety net." 00:17:51.072 --> 00:17:53.661 We had 8,000 people play that game for eight weeks. 00:17:53.685 --> 00:17:56.733 They came up with 500 insanely creative solutions 00:17:56.757 --> 00:17:59.296 that you can go online, Google "Superstruct," and see. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:59.611 --> 00:18:00.976 So, finally, the last game, 00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:02.456 we're launching it March 3rd. 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:04.914 This is a game done with the World Bank Institute. 00:18:04.938 --> 00:18:06.142 If you complete the game, 00:18:06.166 --> 00:18:08.976 you will be certified by the World Bank Institute 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:11.698 as a Social Innovator, class of 2010. 00:18:11.722 --> 00:18:14.976 Working with universities all over sub-Saharan Africa, 00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:17.976 and we are inviting them to learn social innovation skills. 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:20.976 We've got a graphic novel, we've got leveling up 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:23.976 in skills like local insight, knowledge networking, 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:26.001 sustainability, vision and resourcefulness. 00:18:26.485 --> 00:18:28.072 I would like to invite all of you 00:18:28.096 --> 00:18:30.231 to please share this game with young people, 00:18:30.255 --> 00:18:32.976 anywhere in the world, particularly in developing areas, 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:35.198 who might benefit from coming together 00:18:35.222 --> 00:18:38.931 to try to start to imagine their own social enterprises to save the world. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:39.750 --> 00:18:41.163 So, I'm going to wrap up now. 00:18:41.766 --> 00:18:42.976 I want to ask a question. 00:18:43.536 --> 00:18:45.020 What do you think happens next? 00:18:45.361 --> 00:18:48.029 We've got all these amazing gamers, we've got these games 00:18:48.053 --> 00:18:50.165 that are kind of pilots of what we might do, 00:18:50.189 --> 00:18:52.395 but none of them have saved the real world yet. 00:18:52.419 --> 00:18:56.768 Well I hope you will agree with me that gamers are a human resource 00:18:56.792 --> 00:18:58.976 that we can use to do real-world work, 00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:01.219 that games are a powerful platform for change. 00:19:01.577 --> 00:19:03.569 We have all these amazing superpowers: 00:19:03.593 --> 00:19:06.976 blissful productivity, the ability to weave a tight social fabric, 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:10.976 this feeling of urgent optimism and the desire for epic meaning. NOTE Paragraph 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:14.509 I really hope that we can come together to play games that matter, 00:19:14.533 --> 00:19:16.759 to survive on this planet for another century. 00:19:16.783 --> 00:19:20.435 That's my hope, that you will join me in making and playing games like this. 00:19:20.459 --> 00:19:24.259 When I look forward to the next decade, I know two things for sure: 00:19:24.283 --> 00:19:26.976 that we can make any future we can imagine, 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:30.110 and we can play any games we want, so I say: 00:19:30.134 --> 00:19:31.850 Let the world-changing games begin. NOTE Paragraph 00:19:31.874 --> 00:19:33.032 Thank you. NOTE Paragraph 00:19:33.056 --> 00:19:37.230 (Applause)