"The opposite of play isn't work. It's depression."

Brian Sutton-Smith via Jane McGonigal (www.avantgame.com)

I understand Jane McGonigal's theme at TED this year was that the youth of today are spending thousands of hours gaming - so what skills are they learning as a result?

Firstly,  this isn't a 'youth of today issue', although obviously it's less social in some respects now (and more social in other respects) - you can play games online from your bedroom, or alone on your mobile phone while on the bus. No, I seem to remember spending thousands of hours perfecting my technique on an Atari 2600, or playing text adventures on my ZX Spectrum (actually, I had an Oric) twenty-five years ago, to be fair, and I remember the pikeys down the arcade who knew *exactly* how every pinball machine worked.

However, the only reason I was playing against a Brazilian and a Pakistani was because I lived in an expat community in the Middle East, whereas today the bedroom battler is engaging with different cultures the world over.

As for 'what skills are they learning as a result' - clearly death and mayhem rank quite highly. Personally, I'd quite like them to understand the concept of a retail consumer economy...

Postscript: Brian Sutton-Smith is a theorist about games and play, but may also be known amongst my kiwi readers as a novelist.

Social gaming, meet social responsibility

Zynga raises money for Haiti

This is fantastic. Farmville players have already raised $1.2MM for Haiti, and Zynga are expanding the scheme. All credit to them, and this is exactly the sort of situation I'd like to be in, to be able to help by leveraging the network effect. Since the money made by these social games is slightly crazy, and some would say, slightly grubby, this is a brilliant piece of socially-responsible reputation-changing policy.

I've given (via text message) through both Wyclef Jean's Yele foundation ($5/txt) and the American Red Cross ($10/txt), and apparently Americans have broken records ($8MM at the last count) for the amount donated in this way. It's so so easy to do, I'd urge everyone to give just a little, as the devastation is beyond belief, and going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.

On a more selfish note, I watched a *very* cute French doctor from MSF interviewed on the news last night. Is it wrong to volunteer in order to meet her? ;)