Jane McGonigal (yeah, I'd never heard of her either) wrote a book called Reality is Broken. Her thesis is, as best I understand it, that reality would be a lot better if it were more like games. Or maybe it's that if everyone played more games (by which she mostly means computer games) our world would be a better place and we could whip it into utopia in no time.
Leaving aside the ridiculous overstatements and assumptions she makes regarding the benefits of computer games, to me the most damning critique of her book is that she takes no account of griefers. That is to say, there is nothing in her book that talks about the tendency of a not insignificant portion of gamers to spend their time playing what one could call a meta-game. That game is simple and can be played in almost any multi-player game. It simply involves doing everything you can to ruin the game for everyone else. In all her talk about how wonderful games are will do everything eventually, from stopping tooth decay to saving our immortal souls (I exaggerate for effect), she has no thought for the breakers, the saboteurs, the people who only want to watch the world burn. Don't waste your time.
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