“The game that can add 10 years to your life”
In my 2012 TED Global talk, I explain how games can boost our resilience, help us experience post-traumatic growth, and even give us 10 extra years of life.
“Gaming can make a better world”
The best hope we have for surviving the next century on this planet? Games. In this 20-minute TED talk, I explain why we need to achieve 21 billion hours of online gaming a week by the year 2020. That’ll be just an hour a day, every day, for half of the people on Earth…

In which I attempt to convince Stephen Colbert that playing games is the single most productive way to spend our time.
3 habits to think more creatively and optimistically about the future
In this lesser-known TEDx talk for the 2017 Skoll Forum, I teach you 3 fun habits (mental challenges) you can use to strengthen the neurological pathways that allow us to think more creatively and optimistically about the future. I LOVE this talk, and not nearly enough of you have seen it… check it out!
“Blissful Productivity”
Throw out your to-do lists. This 45-minute School of Life sermon proposes a radically gameful way to get the most out of each day.
“Gamers tackle the world’s most urgent challenges”
7 minutes live on CNN news! This was a major epic win for me — and for the EVOKE game, which officially became the first alternate reality game in the genre’s ten-year history to make it on to live national news.
“How to unleash 10 positive emotions in 60 seconds of play”
I was pleasantly surprised when TED decided to share this secret mini-game of Massively Multiplayer Thumb-Wrestling that I ran at TED Global 2013. Now you can learn how to give a hands-on demonstration of the top 10 positive emotions of gameplay.
Here are some my favorite podcasts I’ve done!
The Joe Rogan Experience: Episode #694 Jane McGonigal – audio link and (video link)
Meditative Stories: Exploring the alternate reality of your own life with Jane McGonigal
And here are a few of the favorite interviews I’ve done of all-time.
“I’m a Runner!” Runner’s World magazine (April 2012)
“Super Girl” Elle Magazine (June 2011)
“Gaming as a Spiritual Practice” for the Buddhist Geeks podcast (January 2011)