Games for Change

I just got back from the 5th Games for Change Festival in NYC!  About 350 people attended, mainly various non-profit orgs, funding agencies, game companies, and some academics (although far less than I expected).  I took several pages of notes and have audio recordings of some of the better sessions, if anyone’s interested in hearing those.  I felt that it was relatively high quality — thought-provoking, fun, and really useful for my dissertation stuff.

I thought I’d share a quick summary of what happened, some of the interesting points made during the conference, as well as some random thoughts/observations.

Quick summary of what happened:

  • Day One: Game Design Fundamentals Workshop.  Included a game brainstorming and design session using very cool Values-at-Play “Grow-a-Game” cards that get people to consider how to design games that include values like equity, diversity, sustainability (I got a deck of these, which I’ll be using in my summer game design class). 
  • Day Two: Excellent speakers and presentations, including Jim Gee’s keynote, and sessions by Jim Gasperini, Chris Crawford, and Eric Zimmerman.  Discussions on challenges related to social issue games.  Session on Alternate Reality Gaming, “collective imagination” games, mixed reality/”big urban games.”  Session on using games in the classroom (an awkward moment when speaker disses SimCity and then a member of the audience says, “I worked on SimCity for two years.”)  Microsoft Expo Night and Reception, with demos of XNA games to promote awareness of global climate change.
  • Day Three: Sessions on measuring impact, funding-related issues, documentary-based games, nonprofit game designers’ experiences, game industry viewpoints, a session on engaging youth in underserved communities via game creation, and a closing keynote by Former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

Interesting points:

  • Jim Gee observes: We live in a world of complex systems (e.g. global warming, federal deficit, food-to-fuel crisis);  We have to “game” these real-world problems soon.  Games are good for systemic thinking, for developing skills to help you develop creativity, solve complex problems, and see things in new perspectives.
  • Games’ greatest strength is not information delivery; it’s more about experiences and how these experiences make you see the world in a new way; preparation for future learning (adaptive expertise?); also, not to teach you everything you need to know about a subject – rather, to spark interest and get you to want to learn more about a subject.
  • Educators/designers should leverage the fact that young people are viewing games as convergent packages (e.g. Jenkins’ convergence culture book).  There’s more than just the game; there’s communities, toys, TV, movies, fiction and all sorts of gaps to be filled in (e.g. examples of Pokemon, YuGiOh)
  • Eric Zimmerman points out: There are various different approaches/strategies to employing games, including (1) Information delivery (2) simulation (3) design/redesign/modding (4) getting people interested in an educational topic (e.g. using Civ 4, ages of empires, SimCity) (5) games to change behavior in the outside world.
  • Games are broader than what many people realize;  They include Facebook apps (basically a social status game), Threadless t-shirt competitions, American Idol, Ebay (basically a social reputation and shocking game), Wikipedia (knowledge wars — people trying to change it, while others are defend it – even an application of Bartle’s 4-part MMO player typology),  etc.
  • Right now is a very opportune moment for social issue games – noting the rise of the “socially conscious” movement – people are expecting/desiring “meaningful” games that are “good for you” – as evidenced by Brain Age, WiiFit, etc.

Examples of Games:

  • The most memorable game I saw was called “Hush” – a simple rhythm game by a USC student who uses the 1994 Rwandan civil war as a backdrop.  The goal is to try to keep your baby calm by singing a lullaby, lest the Hutu patrol find you and kill you.  Miss the proper timing and your baby cries louder and the soldier comes closer.  Amazing, compelling, powerful game… You can download it here.  So simple, yet very emotionally gripping.
  • Lots of other games – some really interesting, some not so much.  Ayiti: The Cost of Life (a game that gets you to make decisions as a poor family in Haiti and weigh tradeoffs concerning health, education, and employment).  ICED (I Can End Deportation) Game (learn the facts about immigration policies and deportation in America).  PosOrNot (consider your assumptions and stereotypes about those with HIV).  Peacemaker (try to solve the Middle East conflict).  Budget Hero ($3.3 Trillion dollars – what do you do with it?  Weigh tradeoffs, and try to manage the federal budget).  Many others…

I could go on about random other thoughts and lots of other stuff I found interesting, but I guess I’ll stop there for now.  More thoughts later..