Why Games Make Us Better and How they Can Change the World

English 101 – Essay #1: Research Proposal
In Jane McGonigal’s
Reality is Broken; Why Games Make Us Better and How
they Can Change the World
, she discusses the unique property of games to delight and
capture our imaginations. If you’ve never encountered games, whether they are video or
traditional card or board games, they have a tendency to not just fill time, but to provide
an engrossing and rewarding experience. McGonigal suggests that this is because
“they are hard work that we choose for ourselves; and it turns out that almost nothing
makes us happier than good, hard work” (28). Chances are you paused significantly at
the end of that sentence. Hard work makes us happy?! You’re probably thinking, “Yeah,
not so much.” But, you have probably also felt the enormous weight of too much time
with not enough to do. (A la Covid-19!) You easily become extremely bored and find
yourself trying to find new outlets to …keep…yourself…
busy
.
After McGonigal establishes why games work, she suggests that the reason that
most of us find work unrewarding or unsatisfying is because we don’t choose it, we’re
not challenged enough, and we don’t see any immediate reward or outcome of our
effort. Games, she suggests, are the complete opposite. We are given almost instant
feedback, it is challenging (to the cusp of our ability), and we get to see a direct
outcome of our efforts. So, her theory is, why not use games to create a better
functioning society, to solve problems, and to make people happier?
Whether you agree with McGonigal or not, I want you to investigate the ways that
gamification could be used in your own academic discipline.
For example, if you’re a psychology major, you might take up the recent increase
in mental health issues since the Covid-19 pandemic began. Then, for your research
question, you might consider the ways that gamification could be used to help people
with mental illnesses make it through the difficult challenges of isolation, family social
climate, or activity level.
Your Assignment is to:
1. Decide on a research question that relates to your chosen field of study and to
consider how “gamification” might help solve a problem in that field.
2. Include a review in your essay that addresses the current understanding of the
topic in your field. (For example, if your topic is how mental illness can be treated
using gamification during a pandemic, you might want to find research on mental
illness in isolation or more about the specific mental illness you hope to treat.)
3. Include information about what you might like to add to the current discussion
and how “gamification” might help.
Requirements:

Your paper should include ideas and information from
Reality is Broken
or one or
more of the sources that McGonigal cites.

Show that you are really thinking about the topic – these questions are as
complex and multi-faceted. Be sure to adequately engage with them.

Include at
least three additional outside sources
. These can be from an
internet, book, or database source of your choosing.

Write so that someone not in our class could understand it. Assume your
audience has not read our class texts and does not necessarily know about
gamification or the context in which you are speaking about it. (e.g. give
adequate description of gamification and explain why you want to use it)

Use MLA citation formatting to cite information, putting directly quoted
information in “quotes” and using parenthetical end citation (author page#).

Include an Annotated Bibliography, which will count as one page for this
assignment. This should include proper citation of sources in MLA Works Cited
Citation, a description of the research, consideration of source reliability, and
relevance to your research.

Write between 3 and 4 complete pages of essay, typed, 12-point font, Times
New Roman font, double-spaced, 1” margins, no extra space between
paragraphs. (Not 2 pages and a few lines, or 2 ½ pages – 3-4 full pages – and
your Works Cited page doesn’t count as a page).

My field of study is physical therapy and the problem i would like to address is reimbursmentand the research