I watched a video today, from “Stories from the Near Future,” the 2008 New Yorker Conference, that spoke of happiness and how it is created by humans being involved in an economy of engagement.
![Day 108/365 [Year 2]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3044/3009263922_a9c1dd806b_m.jpg)
The presenter argued that many people today, because we have become so good at surviving, feel not good at life.
They feel that there is nothing left to conquer or solve, nothing left to engage them or give them purpose. She went on to argue that games and alternate realities are so popular today because they create an economy of engagement and exercise our need to survive.
- having satisfying work to do
- the experience of being good at something
- time spent with people we like
- the chance to be part of something bigger
Could it really be so simple? Is feeling engaged all humans need in order to feel happy?
Excitingly, the speaker also argues that as we evolve, games will be used more and more to engage people in actively creating social change. The website and interactive game World Without Oil is a current example of this idea in action.
