Breaks are my time of ideas. I slow down, read, think, take
walks, drive my car without the radio on. Taking that time to
recharge and let ideas percolate is so important for me. Over
winter break this year, my favorite WNYC program, On the Media,
aired a show around gaming. Their last piece, The Future of
Gaming was an interview with journalist Tom Bissell which aired
pieces of the two following videos: Last year when I visited Al
Doyle at Quest 2 Learn (Q2L), I saw the vision of Katie Salen
who wrote Rules of Play and founded Q2L. Kids using system
design theory to learn History, English, Math and Science in a
21st Century way. Kids creating their own games to teach their
peers. This leads me to Jane McGonigal’s book, Reality is
Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the
World. I’m only 56% of the way through, but her stories of real
games being designed to make the world a better place is
compelling. Not that we have to solve all problems with games,
but designing compelling experiences f