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Some people say video games rot your brain, but I think they work different muscles that maybe you don't normally use.

I spoke at TED Global 2010 about the ways that video games engage the brain, and in particular, the idea of reward structures: how a challenge or task can be broken down and presented to make it as engaging as possible.

The thought processes that go through my head when I'm playing a game compared to the thought processes in real life are very, very different. And they're more interesting to me than what you think about when you're doing the dishes, cleaning the yard, watching TV, driving or watching a movie.

Games are a compromise between intimacy and keeping intimacy away.

So much of performing is a mind game.

There isn't quite a feeling you get from playing video games that you get when you're playing sports, which is like a sense of euphoria. You just get the satisfaction of doing something active and feeling good after.

When you play a videogame, you could be a completely different person than you are in the real world, certain aspects of the way your brain works can be leveraged for something you could never do in the real world.

Games sometimes can reveal things. To watch someone in movement, unconscious movement, can be very stimulating and revealing, whether they win or not.

But one thing you need to do in the game, is to adapt and adjust your game to what you have been asked to do and also to what your body is telling you to do.