Recently I had the surprising privilege of spending time on Second Life, a virtual reality space that I had always thought was a waste of time. I haven't even seen Avatar although for our visits to Second Life I had to make my own Avatar, which was great fun. It turns out that something like 7k educators are on Second Life. I found the work of young people in Second Life to be deep and awakening: one trip involves young folks creating games that teach and one of the teachings was about drug experimentation in Africa. I would have a very hard time playing this game; it is way to real. But I believe it is the kind of game that can change the world.
So, as I wait for tomorrow's health care reform outcome, I felt like the time had come to embrace the positive and happenstance had this video show up. This is one of those TED videos (March 2010) that so inspires. Jane McGonigal makes games to change the world. Maybe we can apply some of this philosophy as we work to make epic missions and epic stories into epic wins. Maybe we can start playing by passing health care. Let the game begin!
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