Jane Mcgonigal's Ten Thousand Hour Theory Essay

At the beginning of Jane McGonigal’s Reality is Broken, she discusses the number ten thousand. To put that number into perspective, McGonigal states that the average American student spends ten thousand hours in the classroom from fifth grade to their graduation. This also happens to be the amount of time the average young American spends playing video games. While at school, students are studying multiple subjects, but when they are playing games they are simply focusing on a single skill and “...becoming a better gamer” (pg.266). McGonigal then introduces Malcolm Gladwell’s ten thousand hour theory. He believes that the top athletes, musicians, and successful figures succeeded because they all spent ten thousand hours or more practicing and preparing themselves. The individuals that came in second to those who spent ten thousand hours, had only an average of eight thousand or fewer hours of practice. Gladwell wrote in his book, Outliers, that natural talent matters, but the practice and preparation triumph it. McGonigal believes that because the younger generation is already participating in long hours of gaming, we are “...creating an entire generation of virtuoso gamers” (pg. 267). She also believes that if every young person spends ten thousand
She has come to the conclusion that by engaging in numerous hours of game play, gamers become skilled at collaboration. Collaboration requires cooperation, coordination, and co-creation. Gamers collaborate to create group experiences, a knowledge resource, a work of art, and create good games. Games start off with establishing a common ground for working together. While playing, gamers practice shared concentration, foster mutual regard, and when they finish a game they are “...honing their ability to honor a collective commitment” (pg. 269). McGonigal believes that good games do not just happen, rather they are created by