Fixing Reality

I think what kind of makes me not really like this book is that she really seems to dislike the real world.  All of her fixes seem to be about why the real world sucks and that if we all lived in a make-believed utopia we would all be happier. Well duh! of course if we had a utopian society where fun and games were daily life we would all be happy but we don't live there.  Games do help make life easier but it shouldn't consume our active lives.

Fix 1: I disagree that reality is too easy, with her implication that games are more challenging. However I do agree that games are challenging and put our strengths to use to solve the puzzle/problem/task.

Fix 3: I disagree that reality is unproductive.  I would amend this 'Fix' to say that "reality is unpredictable and games are predictable with clear missions and stuff to do; but it is how they are designed to be challenging and how you chose to solve the obstacle, with in the constructs of the rules, that make the game unpredictable and stimulating"

Fix 5: Yeah, I disagree...
Yes you do meet people online but it is the social, real time interactions that games will cause gamers to miss out on.  Sure you may have 100+ friends on a social networking site or game or what have you, but you may not know the person or ever interact with them in real life putting you back in square one-alone.

Fix 7: I can semi-agree with her in that the real world is hard. However under her "fix" when she defines and/or explains her thought is where I stop agreeing with her.  she even says "...the less we fully participate in our everyday lives, the fewer opportunities we have to be happy" (p 124) exactly my point.  if we play games for 40+ hours how can we participate in our lives and interact and have chances to be happy.

Fix 8: Reality is not pointless nor unrewarding.  Sure, gaming has a certain uses and gratifications element that we get pleasure from and yes we can feel rewarded or like we accomplished something when we level up or beat a high score, but there are goals and rewards in life too.  In school you get marks for doing well; in life aka "the real world" there are opportunities for job positions, pay raises, promotions and bonuses for working really hard; and we can even set personal goals and rewards for completing small tasks as a self-motivation.  For example, if you read like 200 pages or complete a certain part of homework you can take a short TV break or whatever.  If you finish a project, or do work to get ahead you have the bonus of going shopping, having a free weekend or what have you.