Gaming towards resilience - it's personal

The school year draws to a close once again sending many of us into that state of reflection, dreaming and planning that can result in some amazing bursts of energy or just total collapse wondering where to start.  It's a personal response that can affect both ourselves and those around us.

The shocking news of the massacre of school children and teachers in Newtown, Connecticut, USA this morning lead me to the blog of Coolcatteacher, Vicki Davis.  Vicki often shares deep, reflective thinking on both educational technology and life's experiences.  This morning she reminded me of well known gamer Jane McGonigal's recent TED speech "The game that can give you 10 extra years of life".  

The focus of Jane's speech is a practical strategy on building personal resilience. She uses the 5 most frequently expressed regrets of the dying to anchor her own experience and recount her recent battle with debilitating concussion which led to a 12 month period of rehabilitation and suicidal thoughts.  In desperation, she summoned her game developer skills to build the role player recovery game Super Better.  Based on the basic gaming principles of:

Adopt a secret identity

Recruit your allies

Battle the bad guys

Activate the power-ups

This game is an activity in resilience building. In the video, Jane speaks powerfully about personal suffering, depression and the growth of personal resilience through game-based theory.  It's inspirational.