The Positive Power of Games
The Positive Power of Games
A Halfway Recap of our Portugal Residency
Good day, Solarpunks! Enjoy this post’s soundtrack and come get lost in the woods with us…
Lost In The Woods
Adriatique, Elderbrook
Our House of Games residency is currently underway at Fools’ Valley in Portugal. We’ve gathered 26 residents from 15 countries (plus some friendly locals) for a program designed for deep work, communal care, personal growth, and illuminating workshops. Our ultimate goal is building and shipping something beautiful into the world.
Check out some of the ways our residents are working, collaborating, and building together…
To kick off the residency, we held a meaningful opening ceremony to set the objectives and tone for the month. The following is a speech that I shared with the crew, I hope it resonates!
The Positive Power of Games 🎲
I’ve been a gamer all my life, starting with the original ColecoVision, Commodore 64, and Nintendo Entertainment System back in the 80’s. I grew up on PCs and consoles before the internet connected everything. But it wasn’t just digital gaming: I was playing board games, chess, and volleyball every chance I could get. As an adult, I spent a decade working at Blizzard, one of the biggest and nerdiest video game companies in the world. I even designed a gamified chore points system for my own children. Games have been a woven through almost every element of my whole life.
My lifelong experience has instilled in me a frame of reference that I’d like to share with you, and hopefully inspire something beautiful for our residency: the positive power of games.
Games are not just entertainment. They are an ancient social technology… one of the first ways humans learned to collaborate, compete, and create meaning together. Think about it: every culture, from ancient civilizations to modern societies, has games. Why? Because play is how we practice being human and navigate the world.
Games Create Connection
When we play, we drop our masks (or put new ones on). We laugh, we strategize, we fail spectacularly… and in that vulnerability, we see each other. A game of cards, a shared quest in a virtual world, or even a silly icebreaker like we’ll do today - these moments build trust faster than any meeting or presentation. They remind us that we’re all players in the same story.
Games Can Be Education
Games teach us without us realizing it. Ever learned to type from a video game? Sharpened your bargaining in Monopoly or Catan? Played with architecture and structural design in Minecraft? Learned a language on Duolingo? Understood economic theory by trading on the World of Warcraft auction house? Learned cooperation or betrayal through Hide and Seek? How about honed your hand-eye coordination in shooters like Doom or Call of Duty? Or your strategic resource management in Age of Empires or Starcraft?
Games are simulators for life. They let us rapidly experiment, fail, and grow in low-stakes environments. And when we bring that mindset to the real world… whether it’s designing a community, building a startup, or solving a global challenge - we’re better equipped to turn complexity into play.
By Gamifying Life We Transform Stress into Meaning
Here’s a radical idea: What if life isn’t something to “get through,” but a game to play? When we approach challenges - whether it’s climate action, building a business, or even parenting - with a gamer’s mindset, stress becomes curiosity. Obstacles become puzzles. And “work” becomes co-creation.
The Biology of Play
Science is revealing how play unlocks our brains. When we’re in a state of flow - whether coding, painting, or playing Dungeons & Dragons - our prefrontal cortex (the executive function and decision making part of the brain) lights up. We become more creative, more resilient, more open to possibility. In a world that often feels rigid and divided, play is how we reclaim our imagination and creativity.
Society as the Ultimate Game
Here’s the secret: Society is already a game. The rules just aren’t always transparent or fair. But when we recognize that; when we see the systems, the incentives, the hidden scoreboards… we realize we can redesign them.
This isn’t about escaping reality. It’s about designing reality to be more engaging, fair, and fun. Imagine:
A community where composting feels like leveling up.
A workplace where collaboration unlocks achievement badges and epic meaning (not just paychecks).
A society where contributing to the commons isn’t a thankless task, it earns you reputation.
This is gamification with purpose - aligning incentives so that what’s good for the player is good for the planet.
That’s what we’re doing here. We’re not just building projects or companies, or getting trapped in dopamine loops. We’re prototyping new ways to play the game of life - ones that reward cooperation, regeneration, and joy.
So as we kick off this residency, I invite you to explore these questions:
How do we unlock our greatest potential through play?
How do we deepen connection through games?
How can we learn through experimentation?
How can we design systems, experiences, and solutions that make the real world as engaging as our favorite games?
Thank you everyone for being here at House of Games, let’s play!
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