TED talks & my reactions to each

Gaming can make a better world: Jane McGonigal on TED.com (20:04) (2010)

Jane says that games like World of Warcraft give players the means to save worlds, and incentive to learn the habits of heroes. Then she wonders what if we could harness this gamer power to solve real-world problems.  Watch the video and then post your reaction on your blog

My reaction to Jane McGonigal is that she does have a good idea of using games to create a better environment.  The idea of taking mass interest and mass intelligences and use them to create a solutions.  However, the only problem I found with this video is the lack of explaining how information or ideas to combine the problems found in the real world into the games. 

Will Wright makes toys that make worlds (16:40)( 2007)

Will Wright, the inventor of SimCity demonstrates his newest game, Spore, which challenges the player to design a creature and help it survive.  He compares the concepts behind playing with this type of game to the type of playing that Maria Montessori advocated to promote learning.

My reaction to Will Wright is that he does draw a good parallel to Maria Montessori.  With playing the game Spore the one is able to see and learn from the game.  A player of the game can learn about the possibility of what can/could happen in the galaxy environment.  This shows the possibility of learning from gaming.

Tom Chatfield: 7 ways games reward the brain (20:10) 2010

Tom Chatfield talks about games and how we might harness our innate desire for rewards to change the way we learn

My reaction to Tom Chatfield is that he draws a great parallel found in games to how it affects human gamers and how it can be used to cover main and realistic problems.  This shows the benefits that can be gained from studying and learning from the users of games.