When we play a game, we tackle tough challenges with more creativity, more determination, more optimism, and we're more likely to reach out to others for help.

Jane McGonigal, a game designer and researcher known for arguing that games can cultivate real-world resilience, uses this idea in her public talks and writing about “gameful” approaches to life. The quotation reflects her broader claim that well-designed games reliably elicit psychological strengths—persistence, optimism, creative problem-solving, and social cooperation—that people often struggle to access in everyday contexts. It fits the period when she was popularizing these arguments to general audiences (early 2010s), drawing on research in positive psychology and on her own work designing alternate-reality and self-improvement games intended to help people confront difficult goals with a more empowered mindset.

The quote suggests that games are not mere distractions but structured environments that change how we meet adversity. Because games provide clear goals, immediate feedback, and a sense of voluntary challenge, players tend to interpret difficulty as meaningful and surmountable rather than threatening. That framing encourages experimentation (creativity), sustained effort (determination), a bias toward eventual success (optimism), and collaborative problem-solving (seeking help). McGonigal’s larger implication is prescriptive: if we can import the motivational architecture of games into work, health, education, or civic life, we may approach “tough challenges” with the same energized, socially connected perseverance we display while playing.