As I finished the video, I changed my views and agreed with McGoniagal to some extent. McGonigal explained how through gaming, people develop “urgent optimism,” are able to form relationships and trust with people, and work hard to solve a problem. Players constantly get feedback and are rewarded with positive remarks. This enables them to become a “super-empowered, hopeful individuals” (McGonigal). In the end, she talked about the games that she had created. They mirrored real life problems and allowed gamers to come up with creative solutions.

This logic made perfect sense. I am fascinated with the brain, especially with how to be more efficient and how we learn. The more that I read about it, the more research I find on how much of a difference optimism can have on the brain.

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I completely agree when she says she hopes for people to “imagines epic wins” which will empower them. One of the suggestions that I learned from an expert was to write on a piece of paper what you imagine your future to be like but in the present tense. As an illustration, I could write, “I am graduating WVU and I received a letter from a top law school saying that I was accepted” I would then imagine the event as already happening which would then empower me to accomplish that very task. Similarly, I believe gaming allows a person to reach a motivated and optimistic mindset, which will then allow them to be the perfect candidates when trying to solve such dismal problems.

She mentions Romeo and Juliet, who are Shakespearean characters; her music video draws on the medieval period, and she “re-mixes” the ending of the Shakespearean play to a much happier fairy tale ending. If legal issues are going to arise from other people copying her song, then it is also important to remember that every idea is built on the past, and that the artist itself also needs to be held responsible. This is not to say that the artist should not receive credit for their work but rather that we, as Americans, should not tangle our legal system with ideas so much that it limits creativity.

Imagine all of the progress we have made when it comes to cures or treatments for illnesses because doctors, researchers, and other medical professionals drew on the past and in a sense were allowed to “remix.” In this century, we have access to so much information and if we put a lock on it and just allow it to sit there, we are not going to be productive or move forward. I think there should be some kind of balance between giving copyrights and going overboard.

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It is unrealistic to imagine an actual library that contains exactly 35 books with each book having the same format. Yet, in this idealized dream state, it is almost as if a person with obsessive-compulsive disorder arranged these books. Yet, even if in the real world, the books were to be arranged in this manner, would it help? It may help with the aesthetic appeal but as far as accessing them; it would be pointless because all the different subjects would be together.

However, it is interesting to think that the virtual library is organized just like this library that Borges writes about. Imagine Jane was doing a project on South America and

Library of books existing in an intangible world.

wanted to find material online. Within seconds of typing the subject in an online catalog, Jane is able to view multiple books relating to the topic.

It is difficult to visualize a library, like he suggests, is “unending” (Borges).  How do you picture a library that is online? For example, sometimes when I am unable to obtain a book from the WVU library, I can request it from a partner university. It amazing how online, there is information that links all the books together to form a major intangible library.