BB Video gaming conversations: Jane McGonigal

Flash video above, click "fullscreen" icon inside player to view large. YouTube channel here, subscribe on iTunes here. Get Twitter updates every time there's a new ep by following @boingboingvideo, and here are blog post archives for Boing Boing Video.

Above and below, Offworld and Boing Boing Video present featured interviews conducted during the recent Game Developer Conference in San Francisco. During the conference, we ran a marathon streaming video webcast from a friend's loft near the conference site, and lots of interesting people stopped by. Today, we present a conversation and Katamari Damacy Cosplay Dance-off with Jane McGonigal of Institute for the Future.

Jane talks with us about her research into emotion and gaming, and her project "Top Secret Dance-Off," which explores how we respond to online interpersonal reactions -- and, what kind of "play" activities make us feel good about ourselves and each other.

For instance, she says that the experience of humiliation -- say, the embarassment you might feel dancing in front of a streaming video camera -- involves a brief blip of happiness. Jane explains why, in this 10-minute clip that melds neuroscience, sociology, and funky Katamari choreography. Don't miss the very end. Jane and Xeni test out the theories in a not-so-top-secret Bollywood dance-off.

And below, part two of our conversation with Jane. In this clip, she talks with us about the responsibilities of designers who create virtual worlds, and how the emotional and human exchange within gaming worlds has the potential to change life in the "real world."

Download MP4 video: Part 1, Part 2.