Can gaming make the world a better place?

Video games can help address real-world problems.

I recently stumbled across a 2010 TED Talk by Jane McGonigal, in which she presents and defends the thesis: video games can help us solve real-world problems.

Bold? Maybe!

She argues that if we (collectively, all players) spend 21 billion hours a week gaming, we can solve the world’s most pressing problems—rather than the current 3 billion hours.

Because gamers have superpowers!

McGonigal identifies four key qualities that gamers develop:

Urgent optimism – extreme self-motivation and the belief that an “epic win” is always possible
Strong social bonds – games foster trust and teamwork among players
Blissful productivity – gamers love to work hard when they have the right task
Epic meaning – gamers love being part of inspiring, world-changing missions

There’s just one problem!

Gamers believe they can change virtual worlds, but not the real one. The solution—put simply—would be to make the real world work more like a game and to design games that solve real problems.

She presents practical examples with three games she developed:

World Without Oil (2007): Players simulate life during an oil crisis. While people outside the game were not willing to change their daily behavior for the sake of an oil shortage, the game’s participants—though it was fictional—completely turned their worlds upside down to solve the problem.
Superstruct: Here, around 8,000 players in a “super team” created about 500 creative solutions for global challenges
A game with the World Bank, designed to foster social innovation in sub-Saharan Africa

And 15 years later?

Time hasn’t stood still since this presentation and McGonigal’s research and theories. One of the many newer developments and studies based on her thesis are Citizen Science Games, which combine real-world research with game mechanics:

Nergal (2025): An epidemiology game for researching the spread of disease, accessible even for people with visual impairments.
Sea Hero Quest: Just 2 minutes of playtime generates the equivalent of 5 hours of traditional laboratory research for Alzheimer’s studies

McGonigal’s game “SuperBetter” has also had time to be validated and has now achieved scientifically proven results. Over 500,000 players have used the game, and randomized controlled studies have shown significant improvements in depression, anxiety, and traumatic brain injuries. Today, it’s recognized as an evidence-based platform for mental health.

New uses and further development

New areas—such as climate change and the environment, or complex system problems—are also tapping into games. The Play2Act initiative (2024), with over 900,000 global participants in partnership with the UNDP, has studied using games for climate protection. The UN, since 2021, has used Minecraft for urban planning and sustainable development. Blue Prince (2025) is an award-winning game that trains systemic thinking for urban planning and infrastructure design. And science itself is increasingly focusing on research projects like “Games Realising Effective and Affective Transformation.”

Conclusion

McGonigal’s 2010 thesis has proven to be remarkably prescient. The vision that games “can save the world” is becoming reality—but through systematic research and evidence-based applications, not just through more playtime. ;)

Quality over quantity applies not only in everyday life, but also in the world of games.

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