I saw this on Ted Talk. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE1DuBesGYM

A bit of a controversial discussion could come from it.

My opinion: While I think that the points she make are very good (except the Lydian story), very interesting, I doubt it would actually "work". IF, big if... IF we could somehow get gamers into these "real life" games, then yes, she's totally right.

But honestly, I think gamers will always prefer the huge epic medieval fake world.

I stilled loved it.

Interesting concept. Unfortunately, I don't agree. Anyone can change the world, it neither includes nor excludes gamers. In real life, we can't just pull out bazookas and blast our way through the bad guys; we can't just reset when life doesn't go our way. I also don't like how we separate ourselves from other people- there is no need to ponder whether or not gamers can change the world, the true question is whether you, or me, as individual people, can make a difference.
Despite this, I like this question a lot. It's thought provoking and you used Ted Talks. But you're right. There's a really big IF in this situation.

I think she is full of it lol. Gamers changing the world for good? I don't think so, go play COD2 and listen to the little kids on there talking crap on mic. Yeah that makes the world better doesnt it? If people WANT to change the world they will put down their joy sticks and do something about it. You might be saving the virtual world in the game your playing but in real life you cant save the world by playing video games 24/7.

Maybe if people looked at life like a game they would do better and try harder but they tend to look at it as lame so they go play their games to make up for it. She said we are not playing enough games? Is she serious? It's the other way around, games are entertainment life is the real game here. I mean you can't press the pause button on life and expect to change the world. Get up off couch, turn your virtual games off and do something about it.

Davideo7 : is a good example in this case. He may be a game addict but that doesn't mean he can sit and play games 24/7 and expect to change world. He pressed pause on his virtual games and did something about it by changing online gaming forever.

Also I don't like how she is using this just for gamers... anyone with dedication can change something in the world whether you play games or not. I don't like how other directories and networking sites are made does that mean I should sit back and still use them? No, so I got up and did something about it

It's definitely possible to make games that educate, teach morality, etc. but a lot of games out there (like GTA) are just corrupting the youth of this country. Some of these parents are buying their kids games that they should NOT be playing at their age. Like JigSaw said, if you ever play some of these games online, you'd be shocked by the language kids are using on some of these games.

There's to many flaws in what this lady is saying in this video. I agree on some things but other things I definitely don't agree on. She's basically saying the things you do and achieve in games can reflect the things you can do or are capable of in real life, she makes it seem like a good thing but I instantly think of overly violent games where you're killing people for no reason like GTA.

Like JigSaw said, I'm a big game addict, I've been a pretty big gamer all my life but for the past few years I haven't gamed nearly as much as I have in the past, mainly because I don't want to spend all my time playing games otherwise I wouldn't be getting anything else accomplished, such as vizzed.

Yeah, I highly doubt necessarily gamers can make a better world. I think anyone can. I definitely think gamers can bring a strong sense of creativity to the world. The bad part is that gamers, particularly the gamers I know, tend to be very lazy. Plus as Davideo7 said, games are highly corrupt, but than again, Lots of things in society that weren't corrupt 20-60 years ago, are very corrupt now. Even though video games have only been around 30 years, the same thing applies.

Davideo7 : how is a video game corrupting anyone?

Bobbynibbles : I think it's more that bad parents buy their kids GTA games and so the game has a bad influance on them.
So while the game itself might be considered to be "corrupting the youth" it is the parents fault for letting their children have games like that.
But as a whole games are not corrupt, there is really a small portion of games that are actually bad.
Any other ganes that people claim are bad are actually just unsuitable for certain audiences, audiences that shouldnt have the game in the first place

On topic. What people are not hearing is more the fact that this woman want more people to play games so they can win games, so that they get increased confidence, and learn complex problem solving methods.
Now the first part is easy, game companies are now experts at making games so easy that anyone can play and win.
It's the second part that is difficult- getting people to play difficult games so they can learn troubleshooting and gain intelligence.
That's one thing game companies are failing miserably at...