Jane McGonigal demonstrates how to play Massively Multiplayer Thumb Wrestling

Yesterday, Donna and I journeyed to Richmond, VA to attend WomenEtc. by RichTech. We were originally inspired to make the trip to see Jane McGonigal, gaming guru and Ted Talk serial speaker extraordinaire. Jane’s life work has proven that gaming is not only has positive emotional and physiological benefits, she has demonstrated that gaming can also be used to improve the human condition. We’ll get to that part in another post.

Jane’s presentation was everything we imagined it would be… and more. In the beginning, Jane boldly proclaimed that she would be able to get all 500 attendees to experience the 10 positive emotions associated with gaming within 60 seconds. Believe it or not, she did.

So, what are those positive emotions, you might ask?

1. Creativity
2. Contentment
3. Awe and wonder
4. Excitement
5. Curiosity
6. Pride
7. Surprise
8. Love
9. Relief
10. Joy

Imagine, 500 people joining in a physical daisy-chain. The chain had hubs with up to 5 hands. Between giggles and shrieks, players across the entire room tried to prevail as people worked to pin opponents on the left and right sides of their bodies simultaneously. We had engaged in largest game of Massively Multiplayer Thumb Wrestling (MMTW) ever played in Virginia. And Jane was right. We’d experienced the full spectrum of positive emotions she’d promised. (It was so much fun, we’re going to play MMTW at the next Positive Business DC Meetup.)

To get a sense for how much fun we had, you can find a demonstration of MMTW at :47 on the video below.

Here’s another promise Jane makes. Play this game and add 10 extra years to your life. Please take a look.