Jane McGonigal was born on October 21, 1977 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As she was growing up in her hometown, her parents and teachers noticed her intellectual attainment. In 1999, She was awarded a degree of Bachelor of Arts in English at Fordham University. Then in 2006, she obtained her PhD in Performance Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Soon afterwards, McGonigal became a designer of location-based and alternate reality games. She suffered a concussion in 2009 due to an accident in her office. During her recovery, her friends gave her tasks to complete every day so she could stay focused and keep her mind off suicidal thoughts. Thanks to these tasks she was able to create her most famous game, SuperBetter. She raised $1 million to fund an expanded version of the game. She has also published two books about Video Games accounting for how they made her everyday life better. She has been recognized by important magazines and organizations and has won a few awards for her innovative take on Video Games.