Jane Mcgonigal Quotes

Powerful Jane Mcgonigal for Daily Growth

About Jane Mcgonigal

Jane McGonigal is an American game designer, futurist, and public speaker, known for her exploration of how games can improve real-world problems and foster a sense of community. Born on March 26, 1973, in Woburn, Massachusetts, she grew up as the eldest child in a family of five children. McGonigal's fascination with gaming began at an early age, spending countless hours playing games like The Oregon Trail and Myst on her family's Apple IIe computer. This passion for games led her to pursue a degree in cognitive science from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She later earned a Master's Degree in Performance Studies and a Ph.D. in Psychology and New Media from the University of California, Berkeley. In 2008, McGonigal co-founded the Institute for Future Studies, where she directed the Game Research & Development Lab. Her most influential work is the book "Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make us Better and How They Can Change the World," published in 2011. In this groundbreaking work, McGonigal argues that games have the power to solve real-world problems by engaging players in meaningful ways. In 2012, McGonigal created "SuperBetter," a game designed to help individuals overcome tough situations such as illness, injury, or stress. The game has been used by millions of people worldwide and was named one of the World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Health Care by Fast Company. Today, McGonigal is a renowned thought leader on gaming and its potential to improve society. She continues to design games that address real-world issues and advocates for the integration of gaming principles into education, healthcare, and work environments.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Gaming can make a better world - a world worth fighting for."

Jane McGonigal's quote emphasizes that video games, when harnessed effectively, can serve as powerful tools for improving real-world issues and fostering positive change. The phrase "a world worth fighting for" suggests that gaming can inspire individuals to actively engage in solving global challenges, thereby creating a more desirable future for all. This perspective highlights the transformative potential of games in promoting problem-solving skills, collaboration, and social impact, ultimately making the world a better place.


"The future isn't something we're passively drifting toward. We create it with our choices and our actions."

This quote emphasizes that our future is not a predetermined destination, but rather an outcome of the collective choices and actions we make as individuals and as a society. It encourages active participation in shaping our own destiny, implying that we have the power to create the kind of world we want to live in by making responsible decisions and taking meaningful actions towards our goals.


"The most powerful way to change the world is to become the kind of person who changes the world."

This quote highlights that personal transformation and development can lead to significant, worldwide impact. It suggests that individuals possessing the qualities of resilience, creativity, empathy, and determination are more likely to take actions and create solutions for societal problems. In essence, it emphasizes that each person has the potential to effect change when they choose to become agents of positive transformation in their communities and beyond.


"Reality is broken, but we have the power to fix it - by bringing more of our games into the real world."

Jane McGonigal's quote suggests that modern society, or "reality," has shortcomings, such as a lack of purpose, connection, or meaning for many people. She proposes that we can address these issues by incorporating elements from games – like challenge, immersion, and social interaction – into real-life situations. In essence, she's advocating for the application of game design principles to improve our world, making it more engaging, meaningful, and collaborative. This approach could lead to solving real-world problems while enriching people's lives and fostering a sense of community.


"Games are not a waste of time. They're a test of time, a way to explore new possibilities and learn who we can become."

Jane McGonigal suggests that games are not mere time-wasters; rather, they serve as trials of our ability to adapt and learn. They offer opportunities to test strategies, experiment with different approaches, and discover our potential in various scenarios. Essentially, games allow us to safely practice becoming better versions of ourselves within a controlled environment.


Gamers always believe that an epic win is possible and that it's always worth trying, and trying now. Gamers don't sit around.

- Jane McGonigal

Believe, Possible, Always, Epic

I'm not a fan of simulations. Where, 'Oh, we'll go play a simulation of world peace and figure out how to make peace' and then somehow magically that will get translated into the real world. No, that's not the kind of games that I make.

- Jane McGonigal

Play, World Peace, Simulation

There is no problem that doesn't have some underlying need for more optimism, stamina, resilience and collaboration. And games are, I believe, the best platform we have for providing that.

- Jane McGonigal

Need, Some, Providing, Stamina

'SuperBetter' is fundamentally about a mind shift. It's about claiming your power to be in charge of how you spend your time and energy, and focusing it on the things that matter the most to you. Focusing on things that will bring real happiness, real well-being.

- Jane McGonigal

Bring, Shift, About, Claiming

Every game designer should make one explicitly world-changing game. Lawyers do pro bono work, why can't we?

- Jane McGonigal

Game, Lawyers, Explicitly, Bono

In the future, I think it's pretty plausible that collective intelligence tools and skills will be important in order to be a part of global dialog, global business, and global creativity. People who know how to negotiate collective intelligence networks are going to be in a good position to contribute to global society.

- Jane McGonigal

I Think, Part, Contribute, Plausible

It seems like what happens when we play games is that we go into a psychological state called eustress, or positive stress. It's basically the same as negative stress in the sense that we get our adrenaline up, you know, our breathing rate quickens, our pulse quickens.

- Jane McGonigal

Play, Psychological, Our, Pulse

Game developers know that people have more fun when they're in large groups. They feel more fired up when the challenges are more epic.

- Jane McGonigal

Game, Fired, Large, Large Groups

A dramatic decrease in oil availability is not at all far-fetched.

- Jane McGonigal

Oil, Dramatic, Availability, Far-Fetched

We can boost our immune systems by strengthening our social networks and decreasing stress.

- Jane McGonigal

Stress, Social Networks, Decreasing

Whenever I do talks around the country, I map out my run. Gives me something fun to do and to look forward to doing.

- Jane McGonigal

Doing, Forward, Country, Map

I want to see a game designer nominated for a Nobel Prize.

- Jane McGonigal

Game, Want, See, Nobel Prize

Clinically speaking, depression is a pessimistic sense of your own capabilities, and despondent lack of energy.

- Jane McGonigal

Own, Speaking, Capabilities, Pessimistic

The single biggest misconception about games is that they're an escapist waste of time.

- Jane McGonigal

Single, Waste, Biggest, Escapist

'Superbetter' looks more like a social media platform or a social network than a typical video game. You know, there aren't any 3-d spaces to explore. You don't have this avatar that you're building up. It's more about thinking like a gamer.

- Jane McGonigal

Game, Media, About, Spaces

When parents or gamers ask me, 'What's the best game to play?' I say that playing face-to-face is more beneficial than playing online.

- Jane McGonigal

Game, Play, More, Face-To-Face

I remember the first year at the Game Developers Conference I wore these big red giant knee-high boots. Nobody cared. You can wear anything you love, because that's what you do in games. You make yourself who you want to be.

- Jane McGonigal

Love, Big, I Remember, Boots

I ran through most of college and ran through most of grad school. When I was writing my dissertation for my Ph.D., it was literally the only hour of the day that I wasn't working. It was nine months of torture, but I made sure I got out to run.

- Jane McGonigal

College, Through, Nine, Ran

Urgent optimism is the desire to act immediately to tackle an obstacle, combined with the belief that we have a reasonable hope of success.

- Jane McGonigal

Optimism, Desire, Act, Obstacle

Compared with games, reality is disconnected.

- Jane McGonigal

Reality, Games, Compared, Disconnected

The Gamifaction Movement is trying to help companies engage their audience and community by using game mechanics and wrapping them around shopping or achievements, so you get achievements for coming to a store or purchasing things, like rewarding activities.

- Jane McGonigal

Game, Purchasing, Rewarding, Shopping

Although I'm perceived as very optimistic and upbeat, it comes out of being the opposite of that - feeling isolated or lonely, looking for meaning and the kinds of things that ease that suffering in life, and finding them in large-scale social interaction, like theater and games.

- Jane McGonigal

Suffering, Ease, Very, Large-Scale

Positive health means becoming whole-heartedly engaged with our own health care. It means not outsourcing our health to the health care system. It means getting rid of the fear and paralysis we too often feel, and instead cultivating a sense of agency.

- Jane McGonigal

Becoming, Engaged, Means, Outsourcing

When my life is stressful, my favorite game is called 'Pop It,' where you pop balloons and prizes fall out. It's a five-minute game that focuses my mind and gives me extra attention when I'm stressed.

- Jane McGonigal

Game, My Life, Balloons, Extra

Growing up, I was prone to anxiety.

- Jane McGonigal

Anxiety, Growing Up, Growing, Prone

Evidence shows that having even weak social connections in a stressful situation is really good for your health and your ability to handle that situation.

- Jane McGonigal

Evidence, Social, Having, Stressful

For most people, an hour a day playing our favorite games will power up our ability to engage whole-heartedly with difficult challenges, strengthen our relationships with the people we care about most - while still letting us notice when it's time to stop playing in virtual worlds and bring our gamer strengths back to real life.

- Jane McGonigal

Challenges, Virtual, Worlds, Notice

When we're in game worlds, I believe that many of us become the best version of ourselves: the most likely to help at a moment's notice. The most likely to stick with a problem as long as it takes. To get up after failure and try again.

- Jane McGonigal

Best, Game, Worlds, Notice

Scientists have demonstrated that dramatic, positive changes can occur in our lives as a direct result of facing an extreme challenge - whether it's coping with a serious illness, daring to quit smoking, or dealing with depression. Researchers call this 'post-traumatic growth.'

- Jane McGonigal

Changes, Direct, Facing, Illness

We've been playing games since humanity had civilization - there is something primal about our desire and our ability to play games. It's so deep-seated that it can bypass latter-day cultural norms and biases.

- Jane McGonigal

Play, Desire, Been, Bypass

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