McGonigal: We look at what people want to play the game for and try to find research that will support that effort. What are a couple of examples of that, and what have you learned from it? I worked in a lab and to be able to bring that into the game design practice is great. And that's exciting for me because I came from a research background.

And then we can play with it and work with it, and figure out what the best way is to work it into the game. I've been able to go to scientific meetings and conferences and sit and absorb the new science and meet all these allies who are sending us their research even before their scientific paper comes out. McGonigal: We've probably spent as much time on research as we have the actual design and development of the game.

How much of the science you talk about did you have to learn, and was that exciting? And you can download power packs that have all the quests designed for you by scientists or doctors and experts. I'd wake up the next day and say What do I need more of today? And now it's a fully designed experience that you can come to and you don't have to know what you're doing. Jane McGonigal: The main thing is when I started playing, I was just making it up as I went along. Q: How different is SuperBetter today than when it was Jane the Concussion Slayer? The only question is, how many people's lives will be better off for having played a game? The game, now called SuperBetter, has been in private beta for six months, and now, the general public can take part. Deciding that coming up with a game to tackle her struggles was a better alternative than succumbing to the injury, she soon came up with a framework for what she called Jane the Concussion Slayer.Īnd return from the injury she did, not only to her blossoming career as a leading designer of intricate social, multiplayer games but to writing-she penned the bestseller 'Reality is Broken'-and to launching a startup built around her new creation. She created it after suffering a severe concussion and finding herself deep in depression at not being able to heal properly. But commit to taking on challenges, and a game like SuperBetter can help just about anyone tackle issues that have cowed them for years.įor McGonigal, SuperBetter is not just an intellectual exercise. McGonigal and her team built the game with a sense of reality: nothing important happens overnight. AUSTIN, Texas-If you want to lose weight or overcome the effects of asthma, Jane McGonigal thinks she has a solution you might not have considered: a game.Īt the South by Southwest festival here this week, the world-famous game designer formally launched her latest project, SuperBetter, a project that is designed to help players attack any of a wide variety of personal challenges.

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