SuperBetter

July 20, 2015
In this intriguing if sometimes slow-going guide, game designer McGonigal explains a self-help regimen that draws on her insights into the psychology of gam. Based on research, McGonigal concluded that undertaking “an extreme challenge” can help people unleash their best qualities and live happier lives. The Superbetter game has seven principles, including “challenge yourself,” “seek out quests,” “battle the bad guys,” and “go for epic wins.” The book is divided into three parts: Part 1 explains supporting research, Part 2 teaches “how to be gameful,” and Part 3 describes the games themselves. There are 45 “quests,” or mini-games, throughout, each providing a step-by-step process for building resilience, overcoming obstacles, and accomplishing goals. Some are physical exercises, such as the “Power Breath,” where a player must inhale for four seconds, then exhale for eight, for a total of five minutes, while other quests are more challenging thought experiments, for instance, the Alternate Universe quest, which asks players to imagine how they would spend their time if all their current worries were solved. While the book can be tedious and repetitive, the Superbetter game comes across as an appealingly playful approach to self-help and daily life improvement. Agent: Chris Parris-Lamb, the Gernert Agency.

June 1, 2015
New strategies to create a great life through the power of games. McGonigal (Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, 2011), the director of game research and development at the Institute for the Future, knows intimately the power of games. Not only is she recognized worldwide as a game designer, but she also used the skills she teaches readers in this book to help overcome a severe concussion. Using multiple examples from hundreds of players of "SuperBetter," the game she invented to aid her recovery, plus other video games such as "Tetris," "Hedgewars," and "Minecraft," McGonigal shows readers that concentration on intense tasks related to video games can reduce pain levels, enhance mental skills, and increase emotional and social interactions. She offers firsthand accounts of people who have suffered from anxiety, depression, cancer, and bullying, among many other ailments, and turned them around by incorporating games into their lives. "Video games create a rush in the brain as pleasurable and powerful as intravenous drugs," she writes. The act of playing releases dopamine, the "pleasure" neurotransmitter, into the brain, which in turn empowers the player to overcome challenges. McGonigal shows how the same methods used to conquer the "bad guys" in games, such as shields and armor, can be used to ward off negative influences in real life. The author offers dozens of exercises that help readers gain strength in areas where they are weak, with each "quest" building on skills from the previous quest. Most of the quests are simple-snapping your fingers for a count of 50 or examining the food you eat and identifying those items that make you feel powerful. For those in search of a new self-help regimen, "SuperBetter" might just be the answer. Strong medical research and firsthand accounts provide evidence that playing games can make you a healthier, happier, more confident person.

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September 1, 2015
Playing games, according to McGonigal (Reality Is Broken, 2011), teaches us to focus our attention, make allies, and increase our heroic qualities, such as determination, compassion, and willpower. When McGonigal, a game designer, suffers a serious concussion, she decides to use these same strategies to battle her condition. Flat on her back and unable to read or watch television, McGonigal begins by mapping out a series of quests (some as simple as looking out of the window for 15 minutes). As her tasks become progressively harder, she enlists help from friends, adopts a superhero as her secret identity, battles the bad guys (pain, medication), and scores some epic wins. Using her success as a springboard, McGonigal created the SuperBetter program, aimed at anyone facing a life challenge. Each chapter explains one of the program's steps for designing a game plan and is filled with quests that give players a chance to apply the program's principles. A mission accomplished segment recaps the important points. The process is quirky, but it will appeal to readers willing to try a fresh approach to problem solving.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)