On The Job: The Player

When you're a hammer, everything is a nail, and when you're a game designer, you approach every problem with a twinkle in your eye. With a Ph.D. in performance studies from Berkeley, Jane McGonigal develops alternate reality games (ARGs) to address real-world dilemmas, from boredom to boardroom mismanagement. ARGs might involve chronicling life in a hypothetical world without oil, solving a mystery with clues from surprise phone calls, or "assassinating" other players (and innocent bystanders) on the street by complimenting them. All work and all play makes Jane an innovator.

What do you do at the Institute for the Future?

I think about how games might influence the way we do work, business, science, government. And I'm developing collaborative forecasting games: We immerse experts and the public in hypothetical future scenarios and figure out how to bring about the better ones. For instance, what if the trend of the wealthy amateur who self-funds scientific research continues—how might that change the kinds of problems that are solved?

Did you make up games as a kid?

Oh, yes. My twin sister and I went through a phase of making up playground games, incredibly convoluted versions of hide-and-seek.

What's it like living in an ARG?

Embedding game content in stuff you encounter every day, whether it's e-mail or social networks or the physical environment, makes every moment of the day interesting. You could receive game missions via text message, or your
in-car GPS device could download the coordinates of hiding spots. It opens you up to what's around you in a way that reduces alienation and boredom.

You call that "happiness hacking."

All of these things coming out of positive psychology experiments map directly onto game design: having work that you can do well, being a part of something bigger, getting feedback so that you can learn. It's like games are this engine for happiness. They engage you socially, they engage you mentally, and they engage your longing for mythology and meaning in life.

Until it's game over.

Even when they're done, you feel like a more powerful and intelligent person. It's like reading a book, except you've practiced what you learned. You're a real hero. And games give you a sense of comfort with failure as a step toward ultimate success. We have to put games into schools and politics and neighborhoods and architecture and everything.

Any crazy stories from games?

We created World Without Oil because people can't picture an energy crisis and so there's little political will. It worked: After the game, one player quit her job in the auto industry.

Join in her latest game at TheLostRing.com