Jane McGonigal-A Gamer's World

An author's credibilty can change the reader's mind on a certain topic. Persuasion, tugging on the heatstrings, stone hard facts, and the way a speech is delivered can make the reader see a different light to something that they may have seen in black and white before. In the video Jane McGonigal stated her opinion and her ideas in a credible anf flowing way. McGonigal utilized ethos, pathos, and logos to her advantage. According to McGonigal three billion hours of online gaming were documented in 2012 and that by the age of twenty-one 10,000 hours of online game playing will be documented by each individual. Jane McGonigal, PhD, also made a clear point that gaming has been around for centuries and used a prime example of how it even saved a civilization. She tugged at the heartstrings by using pathos to draw in the reader and build a connection with them. McGonigal pin-pointed how gaming is like an ego booster, the gamer levels up or even does a quest with other gamers and feels better about themselves. Mostly everyone wants to save this world and Jane and her team of researchers believe that gamers are the answer. Gamers put so much time and effort into their quests and journeys online that if they could channel their energy towards real world problems they could possibly help save the planet. In games individuals receive positive feedback and continue to try hard even if they get discouraged and lose because they believe they can do and it allows them to escape the real world and the problems they face. McGonigal pointed out four different stages that all gamers possess; increased optimisim, social fabric, epic meaning, and blissful productivity. These four stages combined create super powered hopefuly individuals. Logos is used within her speech to also add to her credibility. Such as the gamers' face breakdown where McGonigal flashed a picture of a person's face while gaming and outlined it's meaning. Before listening to Jane McGonigal's speech I would have never have thought that gamers could help the world but she has changed my mind a little bit. Dr. McGonigal gave me hope that if the gamers could project their productivity to real world problems then maybe they could be fixed. Her credentials and cold hard facts definitely won me over.