6 Castronova, Exodus to the Virtual World, 124.
7 Cavalli, Earnest. “Age of Conan’s Maximum Level Only 250 Hours Away.” Wired, May 14, 2008. http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2008/05/age-of-conans-m/.
8 “Why Questing Is the Fastest and Most Enjoyable Way to Level.” WoW Horde Leveling, January 23, 2007. http://wowhordeleveling.blogspot.com/2007/01/why-questing-is-fastest-and-most.html.
9 Cavalli, “Age of Conan’s Maximum Level.”
10 Lyubomirsky, The How of Happiness, 67.
11 “World of Warcraft: Wrath of Lich King Review.” GameSpot, November 13, 2008. http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/worldofwarcraftwrathofthelichking/review.html.
12 Seligman, Martin. Authentic Happiness (New York: Free Press, 2004), 40.
13 “Raiding for Newbies.” WoWWiki. http://www.wowwiki.com/Raiding_for_newbies.
14 “World of Warcraft: Phasing Explained.” MMORPG. September 28, 2008. http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/2329941#2329941.
15 Calvert, Justin. “Wrath of Lich King Review.” Gamespot. November 13, 2008. http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/worldofwarcraftwrathofthelichking/review.html.
16 De Botton, Alain. The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work (New York: Pantheon, 2009), 80.
17 Crawford, Matthew. “The Case for Working with Your Hands.” New York Times Magazine, May 21, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magazine/24labor-t.html.
18 Reinecke, Leonard, “Games at Work.”
19 De Botton, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, 260.
CHAPTER 4
1 Personal interview with Nicole Lazzaro, April 25, 2009.
2 Ravaja, Niklas, Timo Saari, Jari Laarni, Kari Kallinen, and Mikko Salminen. “The Psychophysiology of Video Gaming: Phasic Emotional Responses to Game Events.” Changing Views: World in Play. Digital Games Research Association, June 2005. http://www.digra.org/dl/db/06278.36196.pdf.
3 The study was named #1 Finding in Games Research at the annual Game Developers Conference in 2006. References for all of the top studies can be found at http://www.avantgame.com/top10.htm.
4 “Can I Have My Life Back?” Player review of Super Monkey Ball, Amazon, July 1, 2002. http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R27IJK4R3ITHIR/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm/.
5 Thompson, Clive. “The Joy of Sucking.” Wired, July 17, 2006. http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/commentary/games/2006/07/71386?currentPage=all.
6 Koster, Raph. A Theory of Fun for Game Design (Phoenix: Paraglyph Press, 2004), 8-9.
7 Ibid., 40.
8 Ibid., 118.
9 Seligman, Martin. Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life (New York: Free Press, 1998), 164-66.
10 Ibid., 69.
11 Nesse, R. M. “Is Depression an Adaptation?” Archives of General Psychiatry, 2000, 57: 14-20. Full text also available at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~nesse/Articles/IsDepAdapt-ArchGenPsychiat-2000.pdf; and Kellera, M. C., and R. M. Nesse. “The Evolutionary Significance of Low Mood Symptoms.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2005, 91(2): 316-30. Full text also available at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~nesse/Articles/Keller-Nesse-EvolDepSx-JPSP-2006.pdf.
12 Lyubomirsky, The How of Happiness, 213.
13 “Rock Band Franchise Officially Surpasses $1 Billion in North American Retail Sales, According to the NPD Group.” Company press release, New York, March 26, 2009. http://www.rockband.com/news/one_billion_dollars.
14 Davies, Chris. “Pro Drum Kit Mod into Full-Size Rock Band Controller.” Slash Gear, January 11 2009. http://www.slashgear.com/pro-drum-kit-mod-into-full-size-rock-band-controller-119585/.
15 “Guitar Hero II: Playing vs. Performing a Tune.” Ludologist. http://www.jesperjuul.net/ludologist/?p=312; and “In Rock Band, Actually Play Drums and Sing.” Ludologist. http://www.jesperjuul.net/ludologist/?p=412.
16 Lang, Derrik J. “Rock Band 2 Will Include New Instruments, Online Modes, Songs.” Associated Press, June 30, 2008. Accessible at http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2008-06-30-rock-band-2_N.htm.
17 Brightman, James. “Guitar Hero, Rock Band Players Showing Increased Interest in Real Instruments.” GameDaily, November 25, 2008. http://www.gamedaily.com/games/rock-band-2/playstation-3/game-news/guitar-hero-rock-band-players-showing-increased-interest-in-real-instruments/.
18 Seligman, Learned Optimism, 174.
CHAPTER 5
1 The gameplay is so similar, in fact, Lexulous (formerly known as Scrabulous) barely survived a copyright infringement lawsuit by the creators of the original board game. Timmons, Heather. “Scrabble Tries to Fight a Popular Impostor at Its Own Game.” New York Times, April 7, 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/07/technology/07scrabulous.html.
2 McDonald, Thomas. “Absolutely Scrabulous!” Maximum PC, September 24, 2008. http://www.maximumpc.com/article/%5Bprimary-term%5D/absolutely_scrabulous.
3 “What Happened to Scrabulous?” New Home of Suddenly Susan, September 26, 2008. http://desperatelyseekingsuddenlysusan.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/what-happened-to-scrabulous/.
4 For example: “Facebook Friends?,” screenshot taken March 27, 2009. http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennynerd/3389278659/; “Baby’s First Scrabulous Game,” screenshot taken February 28, 2008. http://www.flickr.com/photos/chickitamarie/2299675218/; and “Online Scrabble with Mom,” screenshot taken April 15, 2009. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaboney/3444811350/.
5 “Domination,” screenshot taken May 14, 2008. http://www.flickr.com/photos/yummiec00kies/2494160470/.
6 “The Big Pic+ure of my #U+$@(< Kicking,” screenshot taken May 27, 2008. http://www.flickr.com/photos/hemantvt83/2529818600/.
7 “Stepdaughter Spurns Scheduled Scrabulous.” Postcards from Yo Mama, February 19, 2009. http://www.postcardsfromyomomma.com/2009/02/19/stepdaughter-spurns-scheduled-scrabulous/.
8 “Loving Scrabulous,” screenshot taken August 12, 2007. http://www.flickr.com/photos/etches-johnson/1095923577/.
9 “Funny Lexulous Game,” screenshot taken July 11, 2009. http://www.flickr.com/photos/avantgame/3710408343/in/photostream/.
10 “Bring It, Ben!,” screenshot taken April 10, 2008. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kendalchen/2404592798/.
11 Brophy-Warren, Jamin. “Networking Your Way to a Triple-Word Score.” Wall Street Journal, October 13, 2007. http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB119222790761657777.html.
12 Weiner, Eric. The Geography of Bliss (New York: Twelve, 2008), 325.
13 Ibid., 114.
14 McElroy, Griffin. “FarmVille Community Surpasses 80 Million Players.” Joystiq, February 20, 2010. http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/20/farmville-community-surpasses-80-million-players/; and FarmVille Application Info, AppData, accessed March 2010. Current statistics available at http://www.appdata.com/facebook/apps/index/id/102452128776.
15 “The Most Intense Game of Scrabulous Ever,” screenshot taken June 3, 2008. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mariss007/2547926935/.
16 “Online Scrabble with Mom.”
17 “My Amazing Lexulous Score—87 points!,” screenshot taken June 12, 2009. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sour_patch/3621419260/.
18 “Pwn.” Wikipedia entry, accessed May 1, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pwn.
19 Keltner, Born to Be Good, 163.
20 “WarioWare: Smooth Moves Review.” GameSpot, January 12, 2007. http://www.gamespot.com/wii/puzzle/wariowaresmoothmoves/review.html.
21 Bateman, “Top Ten Videogame Emotions.”
22 Ibid.
23 Ekman, Paul. Emotions Revealed: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life (New York: Times Books, 2003), 197.
24 Seligman, Learned Optimism, 282.
25 Ibid., 282, 284.
26 Jenkins, Henry. “Reality Bytes: Eight Myths about Videogames Debunked.” The Videogame Revolution, PBS, 2005. http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html.
27 “Braid Review.” IGN, August 4, 2008. http://xboxlive.ign.com/articles/896/896371p1.html.
28 “Braid Is Now Live.” O
fficial Braid blog, August 5, 2008. http://braid-game.com/news/?p=255.
29 “Braid Thrives on Live.” Edge, August 13, 2008. http://www.edge-online.com/news/braid-thrives-live.
30 Ducheneaut, Nicolas, Nicholas Yee, Eric Nickell, and Robert J. Moore. “Alone Together? Exploring the Dynamics of Massively Multiplayer Online Games.” In Conference Proceedings on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2006, Montreal, Canada, April 22-27, 2006, 407-16. http://www.nickyee.com/pubs/Ducheneaut,%20Yee,%20Nickell,%20Moore% 20-% 20Alone% 20Together % 20(2006).pdf.
31 Short, J., E. Williams, and B. Christie. The Social Psychology of Telecommunications (London: Wiley, 1976).
32 Morrill, Calvin, David A. Snow, and Cindy H. White. Together Alone: Personal Relationships in Public Spaces (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005). The term “alone together” in the gaming context is inspired by this social theory text, which describes “social ties that paradoxically blend aspects of durability and brevity, of emotional closeness and distance, of being together and alone.”
33 “That’s Right! I Solo in Your MMOs!” Mystic Worlds, June 9, 2009. http://notadiary.typepad.com/mysticworlds/2009/06/thats-right-i-solo-in-your-mmos.html.
34 Ibid.
35 Myers, David G. “The Secrets of Happiness.” Psychology Today, October 2009. http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199207/the-secrets-happiness?page=2.
36 Ito, Mizuko, et al. Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2009), 195.
37 Cookman, Daniel. “Pick Your Game Community: Virtual, or Real?” Lost Garden, February 5, 2006. http://lostgarden.com/2006/02/pick-your-game-community-virtual-or.html.
38 Ibid.
39 “12 Ways Video Games Actually Benefit ‘Real Life.’” Pwn or Die, May 12, 2009. http://www.pwnordie.com/blog/posts/15739.
CHAPTER 6
1 “13 Billion Kills: Join the Mission.” Halo 3 forum, Bungie.net, February 20, 2009. http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=TenBillionKills.
2 Ibid.
3 “Players Attempt to Hit 7 Billion Kills While Halo 3 Killcount Exceeds Global Population.” Joystiq, June 27, 2008. http://xbox.joystiq.com/2008/06/27/players-attempt-to-hit-7-billion-kills-while-halo-3-killcount-ex/.
4 Leith, Sam. “Halo 3: Blown Away.” Telegraph, September 22, 2007. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3668103/Halo-3-blown-away.html.
5 “Campaign Kill Count: 10,000,000,000.” Halo 3 forum, Bungie.net, April 13, 2009. http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=32064021&postRepeater1-p=3.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid.
8 Seligman, Learned Optimism, 287.
9 “Bungie: 10 Billion Covenant Killed in Halo 3 . . . and Growing.” Joystiq, April 13, 2009. http://xbox.joystiq.com/2009/04/13/bungie-10-billion-covenant-killed-in-halo-3-and-growing/.
10 “Halo 3 Review.” NZGamer, September 24, 2007. http://nzgamer.com/x360/reviews/538/halo-3.html.
11 Paul Pearsall. Awe: The Delights and Dangers of Our Eleventh Emotion (Deerfield Beach, Florida: HCI, 2007), 193.
12 Keltner, Born to Be Good, 268.
13 Polack, Trent. “Epic Scale.” Gamasutra, July 16, 2009. http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/TrentPolack/20090716/2412/Epic_Scale.php.
14 Kuhrcke, Tim, Christoph Klimmt, and Peter Vorderer. “Why Is Virtual Fighting Fun? Motivational Predictors of Exposure to Violent Video Games.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Dresden, Germany, May 25, 2009. http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p91358_index.html.
15 “Return of the New Hotness.” Bungie.net, August 27, 2009. http://www.bungie.net/news/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=NewHotness.
16 Kelly, Kevin. “Scan This Book!” New York Times, March 14, 2006. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/14/magazine/14publishing.html.
17 “Watch New Halo 3 Ad: ‘Two Soldiers Reminisce.’” Joystiq, September 22, 2007. http://www.joystiq.com/2007/09/22/watch-new-halo-3-ad-two-soldiers-reminisce/.
18 “Halo 3 Ad Brings Battle to Reality.” Escapist, September 12, 2007. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.48542.
19 Crecente, Brian. “Halo Diorama May Tour Country.” Kotaku, September 13, 2007. http://kotaku.com/gaming/gallery/halo-diorama-may-tour-country-299470.php.
20 “Watch New Halo 3 Ad,” Joystiq.
21 “Hindsight: Halo 3.” Ascendant Justice, March 1, 2008. http://blog.ascendantjustice.com/halo-3/hindsight-halo-3/.
22 Leith, “Halo 3: Blown Away.”
23 Curry, Andrew. “Gobekli Tepe: The World’s First Temple?” Smithsonian, November 2008. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/gobekli-tepe.html#ixzz0T0oKlRQ6.
24 McIntosh, Lindsay. “‘Neolithic Cathedral Built to Amaze’ Unearthed in Orkney Dig.” The Times (UK), August 14, 2009. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6795316.ece.
25 Curry, “Gobekli Tepe.”
26 Ibid.
27 “Just the Right Sense of ‘Ancient.’” Xbox.com, February 19, 2002. www.xbox.com/en-US/games/splash/h/halo/themakers3.htm. Referenced in Wikipedia entry, “Halo Original Soundtrack,” accessed May 1, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_Original_Soundtrack. Originally quoted in http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/h/halo/themakers3.htm.
28 “NCAA Football 10 Review.” Team Xbox, IGN, July 10, 2009. http://r.views.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1736/NCAA-Football-10/p1/.
29 Robertson, Margaret. “One More Go: Why Halo Makes Me Want to Lay Down and Die.” Offworld, September 25, 2009. http://www.offworld.com/2009/09/one-more-go-why-halo-makes-me.html.
30 “Halo 3 Wiki: About.” HaloWiki, version 22:53, February 13, 2009. http://halowiki.net/p/Main_Page.
31 “10 Season Showdown.” Inside EA Sports, May 14, 2009. http://insideblog.easports.com/archive/2009/05/14/ncaa-football-10-season-showdown.aspx.
32 Huizinga, Johan. Homo Ludens (Boston: Beacon Press, 1971), 446.
33 Gentile, Douglas A., Craig A. Anderson, Shintaro Yukawa, et al. “The Effects of Prosocial Video Games on Prosocial Behaviors: International Evidence From Correlational, Longitudinal, and Experimental Studies.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2009, 35: 752-63.
34 “Some Video Games Can Make Children Kinder and More Likely to Help.” Science Daily, June 18, 2009. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090617171819.htm.
35 Maslow, Abraham. Motivation and Personality (New York: Harper Collins, 1987), 113.
CHAPTER 7
1 Personal website of Kevan Davis, accessed May 1, 2010. http://kevan.org/cv.
2 “Chore Wars Player Testimonials.” Chore Wars. http://www.chorewars.com/testimonials.php.
3 McGonigal, Jane. This Might Be Game: Ubiquitous Play and Performance at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century. Dissertion for the PhD in Performace Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. 2006. http://avantgame.com/McGonigal_THIS_MIGHT_BE_A_GAME_sm.pdf
4 For example, the alternate reality game Why So Serious? by 42 Entertainment for The Dark Knight achieved an audience of more than 10 million people, according to the viral Dark Knight “Why So Serious?” case study. (viewable at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD-HRI-N3Lg). The huge success of this ARG can be attributed not only to excellent game design, but also to the global popularity of the Batman movie franchise with which the game was linked.
5 Ito, Mizuko, Heather A. Horst, Matteo Bittanti, Danah Boyd, Becky Herr-Stephenson, Patricia G. Lange, C. J. Pascoe, and Laura Robinson, et al. “Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project.” White paper, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning, November 2008. http://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/report.
6 Prensky, Marc. “Engage Me or Enrage Me: What Today’s Learners Demand.” Educause Review, September/October 2005, 40(5): 60. http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0553.pdf.
7 King, Nigel S. “Post-Concussion Syndrome: Clarity Amid the Controversy?” Brit
ish Journal of Psychiatry , 2003, 183: 276-78.
8 Thompson, Bronwyn. “Goals and Goal Setting in Pain Management.” HealthSkills, December 1, 2008. http://healthskills.wordpress.com/2008/12/01/goals-and-goal-setting-in-pain-management/.
9 McGonigal, Jane. “SuperBetter: Or How to Turn Recovery into a Multiplayer Experience.” Avant Game, September 25, 2009. http://blog.avantgame.com/2009/09/super-better-or-how-to-turn-recovery.html.
10 DeKoven, Bernie. “Creating the Play Community.” In The New Games Book (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1976), 41-42.
CHAPTER 8
1 “Key Findings from a Survey of Air Travelers.” Peter D. Hart Research Associates/The Winston Group, May 30, 2008. http://www.poweroftravel.org/statistics/pdf/ki_dom_atp_summary.pdf.
2 Seligman, Learned Optimism, 17-30.
3 “Jetset: A Serious Game for iPhones.” VuBlog, February 16, 2009. http://blog.vudat.msu.edu/?p=232.
4 Day in the Cloud Challenge. Official website, accessed June 24, 2009. http://www.dayinthecloud.com.
5 The correct answer is The Graduate, for the phrase “Mrs. Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?”
6 Creative submissions work differently from the puzzles; they don’t automatically unlock points while you’re on the plane, because they have to be judged for creative merit by game masters on the ground. It’s a bit of delayed gratification in its current design, but you could easily imagine an updated version that allows travelers waiting at boarding gates or buying tickets online, for example, to browse and rate submissions so that creative submissions would be rated before the players land.
7 “Day in the Cloud—Virgin Flight 921.” Onigame, June 24, 2009. http://onigame.livejournal.com/41979.html.
8 Ibid.
Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World Page 40