Carrot-and-stick approach not only often does not work, it often does harm when it comes to 21st-century tasks. This has been known – and been ignored – for many years.
21st-century tasks require creative thinking. Cognitive skills. The carrot-and-stick approach is more suitable for mechanical skills.
Mastery, autonomy and purpose. THAT is the real secret of the gaming approach. It is NOT in the “rewards” themselves, it is in the mastery they stand for.
Gaming can make a better world
I’m with her on this.
Also watch this one, by Seth Priebatsch, and other talks.
The talk by Jane McGonigal (PhD from Berkeley) made me pose some questions about the UK, such as “Does the UK have a big gaming culture?” I did a search and found a survey by PopCap, of the US and the UK. Two differences struck me:
“Only 17% of UK-based social gamers chose “connect with others” as a reason for playing, compared to 28% of their U.S. counterparts.”
“U.S.-based social gamers are far more likely to play with strangers than their UK counterparts (41% vs. 29%).”
Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3oIiH7BLmg. It’s a presentation by Professor Philip Zimbardo.
And this one – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc – on motivation, by Dan Pink.