Jane McGonigal

Director of Games R&D, Institute for the Future · 2 appearances on the record.

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authoracademicother@avantgame ↗LinkedIn ↗janemcgonigal.com ↗Wikipedia ↗YouTube ↗

She researches the psychological and cognitive benefits of video games, designing alternate reality games to build personal resilience and solve complex real-world challenges. She is the creator of the recovery platform SuperBetter and the author of acclaimed books including Reality Is Broken, SuperBetter, and Imaginable.

32statements → 16claims → 13claims resolved → 77%fully supported → 3.88/5average certainty → 2.53/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated →

10 supported 2 partly supported 1 contradicted 1 not yet assessed 2 not checkable as stated how the 16 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

2 predictions · 14 assertions · 4 opinions · 12 insights · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 16 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 13 are resolved, 1 is not yet assessed, and 2 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Jane argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported

Jane McGonigal: Gaming over 21 hours weekly negatively impacts mental health

“21 hours a week is, like, the tipping point where we do start to see it can get in the way of physical health or mental health.”

Jane McGonigal Dec 21, 2021 ▶ 50:54 #127 Best of 2021: Conversations of the Year

Their most notable contradicted claim

Assertion Contradicted

McGonigal: Taking three steps disrupts the brain's inflammation process

“Stand up and take three steps. And no matter how you're feeling because that gets the blood flowing and it automatically disrupts the inflammation process.”

Jane McGonigal Jan 19, 2021 ▶ 9:56 #101 Jane McGonigal: The Psychology of Gaming

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Jane McGonigal on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

What they said32 Episodes2

Everything Jane McGonigal said on the Knowledge Project that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Assertion Supported

McGonigal: Playing games consistently with the same people increases perceived social support

“We know that people who spend a lot of time playing the same game with the same people report getting more social support in their everyday lives.”

Jane McGonigal Jan 19, 2021 ▶ 22:05 #101 Jane McGonigal: The Psychology of Gaming

Insight

McGonigal: Gamers lead in developing virtual and remote collaboration skills

“There's, there are all of these skills around virtual environments, virtual collaboration, remote collaboration that gamers are definitely at the leading edge of developing the skills for.”

Jane McGonigal Jan 19, 2021 ▶ 24:30 #101 Jane McGonigal: The Psychology of Gaming

Insight

McGonigal: Playing peer-group games gives kids social confidence and cultural currency

“First of all, there's a cultural currency to playing the games that your peers are playing, and one of the big benefits that we know kids get is that kind of social confidence when they are in the culture as their peers.”

Jane McGonigal Jan 19, 2021 ▶ 25:17 #101 Jane McGonigal: The Psychology of Gaming

Insight

McGonigal: Disturbed individuals model violent fantasies on whatever media they consume

“Your fantasies are likely to be informed by whatever media you're consuming, whether it's graphic novels or movies or video games, and so you may act out what you've seen in a game. If you weren't a gamer, you might act out what you've seen in a movie.”

Jane McGonigal Jan 19, 2021 ▶ 29:06 #101 Jane McGonigal: The Psychology of Gaming

Insight

McGonigal: Escalating gaming alongside increasing real-life problems signals addiction

“The other warning sign is If gameplay seems to increase in intensity while real life problems are also increasing. So What you don't want to see is, like, a direct relationship between, like, more problems, more games.”

Jane McGonigal Jan 19, 2021 ▶ 30:45 #101 Jane McGonigal: The Psychology of Gaming

Insight

McGonigal: Gamers excel at anticipating higher-order consequences of future events

“So in my professional futures practice, what I've discovered is that people who spend a lot of time playing games are actually very effective at anticipating second, third, fourth order consequences of future events.”

Jane McGonigal Jan 19, 2021 ▶ 38:25 #101 Jane McGonigal: The Psychology of Gaming

Assertion Supported

Jane McGonigal: India Leads the World in Government-Mandated Internet Shutdowns

“The number one place where the government shuts down the internet is a democracy. It's India.”

Jane McGonigal Jan 19, 2021 ▶ 46:30 #101 Jane McGonigal: The Psychology of Gaming

Assertion Supported

McGonigal: 2.3 billion people globally regularly play video games

“There are 2.3 billion people on the planet now who regularly play video games. So like one in three people have actively chosen to make games a part of their lives, which is really exciting.”

Jane McGonigal Jan 19, 2021 ▶ 13:44 #101 Jane McGonigal: The Psychology of Gaming

Appearances (2)

Episode	Date	Speaking time
#127 Best of 2021: Conversations of the Year	Dec 21, 2021	8m
#101 Jane McGonigal: The Psychology of Gaming	Jan 19, 2021	48m

Jane McGonigal

The record, in short

Their most notable supported claim

Their most notable contradicted claim

How they sound: not measured why? →

Appearances (2)

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