What We Can Learn from Angry Birds

Gaming isn't as antisocial as you think, it builds community and teamwork.

People love to play games. I have to admit that whenever I have a few minutes to kill I play Angry Birds on my phone.

Scientific research has found that when people collaborate and cooperate with each other in a game they build strong relationships. Players trust each other to spend time together,  play by the same rules, value the same goals, and stay together until the game is over.

Edward Castranova, an economist at Indiana University studies massively multiplayer online games and their impact on players.  His findings show people play games for  emotional reasons such as the:

• High you get from  achieving something concrete
• Feeling capable
• The thrill of success (think leveling up)
• Fun

Governments around the world are beginning to think about using games as a way to  engage citizens.

Here in the U. S. the Office of Naval Research has created a massive multi-player online war-game to encourage innovative thinking to help the Navy develop new strategies and ways of fighting pirates. The war game was designed to engage diverse players from across many organizations and ranks.

NASA  has released its first multiplayer  Facebook  game - Space Race Blastoff. Space Race Blastoff tests players’ knowledge of the space program, such as: Who was the first American to walk in space? Who launched the first liquid-fueled rocket?

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is studying the benefits of games and is finding video games make an exceptional tool for teaching a huge array of skills and content.

As we think about the future of government and how we can involve citizens in helping to solve big problems,  games stand out as an interesting option.

Tell us the opportunities you see in government for using games to engage citizens or tell us  your thoughts on:

• What at makes an experience fun?
• What motivates someone to join a new group?
• What keeps an online community working together over time, instead of disbanding?
• What currencies most effectively drive collaboration?