“2,500 years ago the Greek Historian, Herodotus, claims that games, particularly dice games were invented in the kingdom of Lydia during a time of famine.
There was such a severe famine, that the king of Lydia decided that they had to do something crazy. People were suffering. People were fighting. It was an extreme situation. They needed an extreme solution. So, according to Herodotus, they invented dice games and they set up a kingdom-wide policy.
On one day, everybody would eat. And on the next day, everybody would play games. And they would be so immersed in playing the dice games because games are so engaging, and immerse us in such satisfying blissful productivity, for 18 years.
However, after 18 years the famine wasn't getting better, So, the king decided they would play one final dice game. They divided the entire kingdom in half. They played one dice game, and the winners of that game got to go on an epic adventure. They would leave Lydia, and they would go out in search of a new place to live, leaving behind just enough people to survive on the resources that were available, and hopefully to take the civilization somewhere else where they could thrive.
Now, this sounds crazy, right? But recently, DNA evidence has shown that the Etruscans, who lead to the Roman empire, actually share the same DNA as the ancient Lydians. And so, recently, scientists have suggested that Herodotus's crazy story is actually true. And geologists have found evidence of a global cooling that lasted for nearly 20 years that could have explained the famine. So, this crazy story might be true. They might have actually saved their culture by playing games, escaping to games for 18 years and then been so inspired, and knew so much about how to come together with games, that they actually saved the entire civilization that way.”
This is from a lecture by Jane McGonigal, delivered at The School of Life on October 24th 2010.
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