What Makes Games a Game?

Future forecaster and game designer Jane McGonigal ran a social simulation game in 2008 that had players dealing with the effects of a respiratory pandemic set to happen in the next decade. She wasn’t literally predicting the 2020 pandemic—but she got eerily close. Her game, set in 2019, featured scenarios we're now familiar with (like masking and social distancing), and participant reactions gave her a sense of what the world could—and eventually, did—look like. How did she do it? And what can we learn from this experiment to predict—and prepare for—the future ourselves? In this episode, Jane teaches us how to be futurists, and talks about the role of imagination—and gaming—in shaping a future that we’re truly excited about.

This is an episode of The TED Interview, another podcast in the TED Audio Collective. To hear more episodes—starting with a season all about the future of intelligence—follow The TED Interview wherever you're listening to this. We'll be back on July 22 with a new season of TED Tech—and a surprise.

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