We’ll Take Good Solutions, From Whatever “Realm,” But…

In her WSJ article, Jane McGonigal says virtual reality may come to be considered as authentic as everyday life. The popularity of games and books about fantastical worlds like Game of Thrones, Hunger Games and Harry Potter proves that people want to get away from reality which they may consider boring and humdrum.

That’s too bad, because:

1. They are the very people, with their curiosity and creativity, who could help make reality better — more interesting, vital and valuable — for themselves and for the rest of us, and

2. Turning increasingly toward games and away from reality may further reduce their investment in the reality in which they live and work, dialing-down their involvement in it to something more akin to “just getting through it,” while spending more of their time and energy in those fantastical places.

Ms. McGonigal does share some ways they’re cooking up some tech solutions in the imaginary world they can port over to the real one to help us out.

But sometimes it’s the very process of grappling and struggling right here in the real-world arena, with all its problems, constraints, and tedium, that leads to the very insights we need and forges a battle-hardened team ready to face down the next set of real-world challenges.