This is a preview of my upcoming eBook on the many benefits video games, to be titled "The Gaming Generation: Reaping the Benefits of Video Games".

1. The Gamer Generation
Reaping the Benefits of
Video Games

2. The eBook Cover

3. Contents
(tentative)
Introduction – Why Do People Love Video Games
Chapter 1 – Family Connections
Chapter 2 – Physical and Health Benefits
Chapter 3 – Social Benefits
Chapter 4 – The Other side of the Violent Video Game
argument
Chapter 5 – Cognitive and Creative Benefits
Chapter 6 – Video Games in Education
Chapter 7 – Educational Value of Creating Video Games
Chapter 8 – Business and Careers
Chapter 9 – Serious Video Games
Conclusion

4. Introduction
“The opposite of play isn’t work. It’s depression” Dr. Brian
Sutton-Smith
To understand why video games have the ability to create
so many benefits, it is important to understand what
players love about gaming and what keeps them coming
back again and again. It isn’t only for the fun.

5. What Is It About Video Games That Keeps Players So Engaged?
In Everything Bad is Good For You: How Today’s Popular Culture is
Actually Making Us Smarter, Steven Johnson says this about video
games:
“The interesting question here for me is not whether games are, on the
whole, more complex than other cultural experiences targeted at kids
today- I think the answer to that is an emphatic yes. The question is
why kids are so eager to soak up that much information when it is
delivered to them in game form. … Why does a seven year old soak up
the intricacies of industrial economics in game form, when the same
subject would send him screaming for the exits in a classroom?”
“Most of the time, when you’re hooked on a game, what draws you in
is an elemental form of desire: the desire to see the next thing.”

6. Jane McGonigal discusses this topic in great length in her
groundbreaking book, Reality is Broken: Why Games Make
Us Better and How They Can Change the World. According
to McGonigal:
“In today’s society, computer and video games are fulfilling
genuine human needs that the real world is currently
unable to satisfy”
“Compared with games, reality is too easy. Games
challenge us with voluntary obstacles and help us put our
personal strengths to better use.”
“As online role-playing gamers everywhere know, leveling
up is one of the most satisfying kinds of feedback ever
designed. Watching your avatar profile get more powerful
and skillful makes the work feel personally satisfying in a
way that a cleaner room just doesn’t.”

7. In Video Games and Learning, Scott Colfer discusses what makes video games motivating and
engaging:
Interaction: games talk back. In fact, nothing happens until a player acts and makes
decisions. Then the game reacts, giving the player feedback and new problems.
Pleasantly frustrating: good games stay within, but at the outer edge, of the player’s
competence – they feel doable, but challenging. This is a highly motivating state for learners.
Performance before competence: Players can perform before they are competent and are
supported by the design of the game, and often by the support of other, more advanced
players.
Reflection: failures and successes are shared with the player but they are not invested in the
player’s identity. The failures are ultimately the character’s and can be analyzed as such.
Personalization: Games promote the notion of personalized learning where the users of an
educational system are not just the receivers of learning, but active participants and co-
producers in the educational system.

8. What do you think of the potential of this
eBook after seeing this brief sample?
Jennifer Comet Wagner