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Games for Change Help Stimulate Serious Game Development

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Games for Change Help Stimulate Serious Game Development
Conference promotes the creation of games for education and non-entertainment outlets
Article | 07.03.12 | By John Gaudiosi

Games for Change last month hosted its 9th Annual Games for Change festival in New York City, bringing educators, policymakers, activists, nonprofit organizations, developers and the public together to explore entertainment software's potential for promoting positive social change.

The sold out event at New York University's Skirball Center kicked off with the Federal Games Working Group Summit, which provided developers and researchers an opportunity to engage officials from U.S. federal agencies. Representatives from NASA, the National Institutes of Health, the National Endowment for the Arts and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy discussed their game-related work and public-private partnerships. Day two of the festival featured roundtable discussions and workshops on games that are initiating change in the U.S. and abroad. For example, in the NetHope Gaming Working Group workshop, John Maris and Virginia Zaunbrecher from Relief International highlighted USAID's efforts to incorporate games into its international development efforts. In another panel, Hsing Wei, awards manager for the Games for Change Festival, and Simon Parkin, head of games at LittleLoud, presented a case study on Sweatshop. The highly acclaimed online game commissioned by British broadcaster Channel 4 encourages young people to think about the origin of the clothes they buy. The third day of the festival included panels on games used in the classroom and the commercial sector to enhance our education system, bolster employee training and improve businesses' productivity. In a keynote speech, James Paul Gee, Arizona State University professor and member of the National Academy of Education, discussed how "Big G" games - those that combine unique elements such as crowdsourcing, incentives and social media - can improve education. Gee emphasized that effective "Big G" games must inspire players to demonstrate learned lessons in the real world, noting: "Education is about creating human beings who are civic minded and feel that they count." During his "State of the Industry" speech on the final day of the event, ESA President and CEO Mike Gallagher urged attendees to balance entertainment and social impact in their work. "Games should be fun; it's the prime directive," Gallagher told the audience. "We should all endeavor to make games that are engaging, even if the subject matter is serious...with rigorous adherence to quality." The festival culminated with an announcement of the 2012 Games for Change Awards. This year's honorees included:SPENT, which challenges players to survive on $1,000 for one month; Unmanned, which teaches players about the internal conflicts soldiers face after they return home from deployments; and the

Game of the Year, WAY, which challenges strangers to communicate their unique perspective of the world to help overcome the differences that separate them.

Description In a keynote speech, James Paul Gee, Arizona State University professor and member of the National Academy of Education, discussed how "Big G" games - those that combine unique elements such as crowdsourcing, incentives and social media - can improve education. Gee emphasized that effective "Big G" games must inspire players to demonstrate learned lessons in the real world, noting: "Education is about creating human beings who are civic minded and feel that they count."

Tags: Big G, Crowdsourcing, education, Games for change, social change, Social Media

Posted by Jason Robbins

Jul 04, 2012 02:56 am GMT Viewed 547 times

Author: John Gaudiosi Source

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