Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World (54 page)

18
Lyubomirsky, Sonja.
The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want
(New York: Penguin Press, 2008), 64.

19
Nelson, Debra L., and Bret L. Simmons. “Eustress: An Elusive Construct, and Engaging Pursuit.”
Research in Occupational Stress and Well-being
, 2003, 3: 265-322.

20
I owe credit to Chris Bateman for enlightening me about the neurochemical basis for fiero, in “Top Ten Videogame Emotions.” Only a Game, April 9, 2008.
http://onlyagame.typepad.com/only_a_game/2008/04/top-ten-videoga.html
.

21
Berns, G. S. “Something Funny Happened to Reward.”
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
, 2004, 8(5): 193-94. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2004.03.007.

22
Keltner, Dacher.
Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life
(New York: Norton, 2009), 219-20.

23
Ibid., 250-69.

24
Gilbert, Elizabeth.
Eat, Pray, Love
(New York: Viking, 2006), 260.

25
Many of the studies whose results I’ve based this set of intrinsic rewards on are reviewed in the following books: Martin Seligman’s
Authentic Happiness
and
Learned Optimism
; Seligman and Christopher Peterson’s
Character Strengths and Virtues
; Sonja Lyubomirsky’s
The How of Happiness
; Tal Ben-Shahar’s
Happier
; Jean M. Twenge’s
Generation Me
; Mihály Csíkszentmihályi’s
Beyond Boredom and Anxiety
; and Eric Weiner’s
The Geography of Bliss
.

26
Lyubomirsky,
The How of Happiness
, 16.

1
That’s a back-of-the-envelope calculation—derived from adding up the average number of subscribers each year since 2004, ranging from 2 million to 11.5 million, times the average hours per player according to Blizzard statistics and Stanford University research, added up through early 2010. This isn’t a precise way to measure gameplay, but even with a margin of error of as much as 50 percent, we’re still talking about gameplay on the magnitude of millions of years.

2
In 2008, scientists discovered fossils suggesting man’s earliest upright ancestors date to 6 million years ago. Richmond, Brian G., and William L. Jungers. “
Orrorin tugenensis
Femoral Morphology and the Evolution of Hominin Bipedalism.”
Science
, March 21, 2008, 319(5870): 1662. DOI: 10.1126/ science.1154197.

3
Nielsen reports seventeen hours per week per
World of Warcraft
player, while a Stanford researcher reports twenty-two hours; other studies confirm consistent numbers in this range. “Online Games Battle for Top Spot.” BBC News, December 26, 2007.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7156078.stm
; and “
WoW
Basic Demographics.” The Daedalus Project, 2009, vol. 7-1.
http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/001365.php
.

4
“Full Transcript of Blizzard 2010 Plans.” Activision Blizzard Fourth-Quarter Earnings, conference call, posted online by INC Gamers, February 11, 2010.
http://www.incgamers.com/News/20949/full-transcript-blizzard-2010-plans
; and “
World of Warcraft
Expansion Shatters Sales Records.”
PC Magazine
, November 20, 2008.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2335141,00.asp
.

5
The term “blissful productivity” was first applied to
WoW
by a team of computer scientists at the Indiana University School of Informatics; they were studying the unusually high gaming stamina of
WoW
players, particularly in the face of what seemed like repetitive and often tedious tasks. Bardzell, S., J. Bardzell, T. Pace, and K. Reed. “Blissfully Productive: Grouping and Cooperation in
World of Warcraft
Instance Runs.” In
Proceedings of the 2008 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work
, San Diego, November 8-12, 2008 (New York: ACM, 2008), 357-60. DOI:
http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1460563.1460621
.

6
Castronova,
Exodus to the Virtual World
, 124.

7
Cavalli, Earnest. “Age of Conan’s Maximum Level Only 250 Hours Away.”
Wired
, May 14, 2008.
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2008/05/age-of-conans-m/
.

8
“Why Questing Is the Fastest and Most Enjoyable Way to Level.” WoW Horde Leveling, January 23, 2007.
http://wowhordeleveling.blogspot.com/2007/01/why-questing-is-fastest-and-most.html
.

9
Cavalli, “Age of Conan’s Maximum Level.”

10
Lyubomirsky,
The How of Happiness
, 67.

11
“
World of Warcraft
: Wrath of Lich King Review.” GameSpot, November 13, 2008.
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/worldofwarcraftwrathofthelichking/review.html
.

12
Seligman, Martin.
Authentic Happiness
(New York: Free Press, 2004), 40.

13
“Raiding for Newbies.” WoWWiki.
http://www.wowwiki.com/Raiding_for_newbies
.

14
“World of Warcraft: Phasing Explained.” MMORPG. September 28, 2008.
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/2329941#2329941
.

15
Calvert, Justin. “Wrath of Lich King Review.” Gamespot. November 13, 2008.
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/worldofwarcraftwrathofthelichking/review.html
.

16
De Botton, Alain.
The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work
(New York: Pantheon, 2009), 80.

17
Crawford, Matthew. “The Case for Working with Your Hands.”
New York Times Magazine
, May 21, 2009.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magazine/24labor-t.html
.

18
Reinecke, Leonard, “Games at Work.”

19
De Botton,
The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work
, 260.

1
Personal interview with Nicole Lazzaro, April 25, 2009.

2
Ravaja, Niklas, Timo Saari, Jari Laarni, Kari Kallinen, and Mikko Salminen. “The Psychophysiology of Video Gaming: Phasic Emotional Responses to Game Events.”
Changing Views: World in Play
. Digital Games Research Association, June 2005.
http://www.digra.org/dl/db/06278.36196.pdf
.

3
The study was named #1 Finding in Games Research at the annual Game Developers Conference in 2006. References for all of the top studies can be found at
http://www.avantgame.com/top10.htm
.

4
“Can I Have My Life Back?” Player review of
Super Monkey Ball
, Amazon, July 1, 2002.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R27IJK4R3ITHIR/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm/
.

5
Thompson, Clive. “The Joy of Sucking.”
Wired
, July 17, 2006.
http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/commentary/games/2006/07/71386?currentPage=all
.

6
Koster, Raph.
A Theory of Fun for Game Design
(Phoenix: Paraglyph Press, 2004), 8-9.

7
Ibid., 40.

8
Ibid., 118.

9
Seligman, Martin.
Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life
(New York: Free Press, 1998), 164-66.

10
Ibid., 69.

11
Nesse, R. M. “Is Depression an Adaptation?”
Archives of General Psychiatry
, 2000, 57: 14-20. Full text also available at
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~nesse/Articles/IsDepAdapt-ArchGenPsychiat-2000.pdf
; and Kellera, M. C., and R. M. Nesse. “The Evolutionary Significance of Low Mood Symptoms.”
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
, 2005, 91(2): 316-30. Full text also available at
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~nesse/Articles/Keller-Nesse-EvolDepSx-JPSP-2006.pdf
.

12
Lyubomirsky,
The How of Happiness,
213.

13
“
Rock Band
Franchise Officially Surpasses $1 Billion in North American Retail Sales, According to the NPD Group.” Company press release, New York, March 26, 2009.
http://www.rockband.com/news/one_billion_dollars
.

14
Davies, Chris. “Pro Drum Kit Mod into Full-Size
Rock Band
Controller.” Slash Gear, January 11 2009.
http://www.slashgear.com/pro-drum-kit-mod-into-full-size-rock-band-controller-119585/
.

15
“
Guitar Hero II
: Playing vs. Performing a Tune.” Ludologist.
http://www.jesperjuul.net/ludologist/?p=312
; and “In
Rock Band
, Actually Play Drums and Sing.” Ludologist.
http://www.jesperjuul.net/ludologist/?p=412
.

16
Lang, Derrik J. “
Rock Band 2
Will Include New Instruments, Online Modes, Songs.” Associated Press, June 30, 2008. Accessible at
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2008-06-30-rock-band-2_N.htm
.

17
Brightman, James. “
Guitar Hero
,
Rock Band
Players Showing Increased Interest in Real Instruments.” GameDaily, November 25, 2008.
http://www.gamedaily.com/games/rock-band-2/playstation-3/game-news/guitar-hero-rock-band-players-showing-increased-interest-in-real-instruments/
.

18
Seligman,
Learned Optimism
, 174.

1
The gameplay is so similar, in fact, Lexulous (formerly known as Scrabulous) barely survived a copyright infringement lawsuit by the creators of the original board game. Timmons, Heather. “Scrabble Tries to Fight a Popular Impostor at Its Own Game.”
New York Times
, April 7, 2008.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/07/technology/07scrabulous.html
.

2
McDonald, Thomas. “Absolutely Scrabulous!”
Maximum PC
, September 24, 2008.
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/%5Bprimary-term%5D/absolutely_scrabulous
.

3
“What Happened to Scrabulous?” New Home of Suddenly Susan, September 26, 2008.
http://desperatelyseekingsuddenlysusan.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/what-happened-to-scrabulous/
.

4
For example: “Facebook Friends?,” screenshot taken March 27, 2009.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennynerd/3389278659/
; “Baby’s First Scrabulous Game,” screenshot taken February 28, 2008.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chickitamarie/2299675218/
; and “Online Scrabble with Mom,” screenshot taken April 15, 2009.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaboney/3444811350/
.

5
“Domination,” screenshot taken May 14, 2008.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yummiec00kies/2494160470/
.

6
“The Big Pic+ure of my #U+$@(< Kicking,” screenshot taken May 27, 2008.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hemantvt83/2529818600/
.

7
“Stepdaughter Spurns Scheduled Scrabulous.” Postcards from Yo Mama, February 19, 2009.
http://www.postcardsfromyomomma.com/2009/02/19/stepdaughter-spurns-scheduled-scrabulous/
.

8
“Loving Scrabulous,” screenshot taken August 12, 2007.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/etches-johnson/1095923577/
.

9
“Funny Lexulous Game,” screenshot taken July 11, 2009.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/avantgame/3710408343/in/photostream/
.

10
“Bring It, Ben!,” screenshot taken April 10, 2008.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kendalchen/2404592798/
.

11
Brophy-Warren, Jamin. “Networking Your Way to a Triple-Word Score.”
Wall Street Journal
, October 13, 2007.
http://online.wsj.com//files/17/69/08/f176908/public/article_print/SB119222790761657777.html
.

12
Weiner, Eric.
The Geography of Bliss
(New York: Twelve, 2008), 325.

13
Ibid., 114.

14
McElroy, Griffin. “FarmVille Community Surpasses 80 Million Players.” Joystiq, February 20, 2010.
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/20/farmville-community-surpasses-80-million-players/
; and FarmVille Application Info, AppData, accessed March 2010. Current statistics available at
http://www.appdata.com/facebook/apps/index/id/102452128776
.

15
“The Most Intense Game of Scrabulous Ever,” screenshot taken June 3, 2008.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mariss007/2547926935/
.

16
“Online Scrabble with Mom.”

17
“My Amazing Lexulous Score—87 points!,” screenshot taken June 12, 2009.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sour_patch/3621419260/
.

18
“Pwn.” Wikipedia entry, accessed May 1, 2010.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pwn
.

19
Keltner,
Born to Be Good
, 163.

20
“
WarioWare: Smooth Moves
Review.” GameSpot, January 12, 2007.
http://www.gamespot.com/wii/puzzle/wariowaresmoothmoves/review.html
.

21
Bateman, “Top Ten Videogame Emotions.”

22
Ibid.

23
Ekman, Paul.
Emotions Revealed: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life
(New York: Times Books, 2003), 197.

24
Seligman,
Learned Optimism
, 282.

25
Ibid., 282, 284.

26
Jenkins, Henry. “Reality Bytes: Eight Myths about Videogames Debunked.” The Videogame Revolution, PBS, 2005.
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html
.

27
“
Braid
Review.” IGN, August 4, 2008.
http://xboxlive.ign.com/articles/896/896371p1.html
.

28
“
Braid
Is Now Live.” Official
Braid
blog, August 5, 2008.
http://braid-game.com/news/?p=255
.

29
“
Braid
Thrives on Live.”
Edge
, August 13, 2008.
http://www.edge-online.com/news/braid-thrives-live
.