Today...Games for Social Change Conference

Better late than never, right? News from Ben Stokes: The second annual Games for Social Change Conference is going on today and tomorrow at at CUNY in the Heights in New York City. Here's a bit of info pulled from their press release:

Non-profit innovators, game designers and foundations will come together this week to advance the use of videogames for social good. Hosted by Games for Change (G4C) as part of the Serious Games Initiative, this international conference will be held October 21 and 22... Open to the public for the first time, the G4C conference will focus on partnerships, existing games and emerging business models. Speakers include the General Manager of MTV’s college TV station (Stephen Friedman), a Senior Program Officer from the MacArthur Foundation (Connie Yowell), the CEO of the gameLab studio (Eric Zimmerman) and a representative from the United Nations’ World Food Programme (Zach Abraham).

Conference registration and program schedule is available here.

Comments

[Prokofy Neva]

1.

This is indeed star-studded (waiting for these conferences to get more centrally-located even when in NYC LOL). My question about the WFP game is this: is it truly a "serious game," that is, 3-D video technology with data storage and presentation capacity, etc. which the WFP uses in its own actual work in real emergencies, i.e. eating its own dogfood as it were? OR is it merely just the latest technological advancement for advertising or corporate communications, i.e. a flashy, game-like, or simulated medium, like a Flash or a Quicktime used as the only way to interest wealthy and easily distractable Westerners in the important mission of the UN? Could someone point me toward scholarly definitions being worked on about what constitutes a "serious game" as distinct from merely a new advertising capacity?

[Ian Bogost]

2.

is it truly a "serious game," that is, 3-D video technology with data storage and presentation capacity, etc. which the WFP uses in its own actual work in real emergencies, ... OR is it merely just the latest technological advancement for advertising or corporate communications

I might (and do) take issue with the opposition of "serious games" and "communication," but in WFP the case is pretty clear: it is a game intended for kids to introduce them to the idea that "humanitarian" is a valid career option, like teacher, fireman, or federal reserve chairman.

Could someone point me toward scholarly definitions being worked on about what constitutes a "serious game" as distinct from merely a new advertising capacity?

This is what my talk was about at the conference, actually. I'm currently putting the argument down in book form, but some of it appears in a more forthcoming book, which will be out late this winter from MIT Press (the title is Unit Operations: An Approach to Videogame Criticism). You can also read Nick Montfort's summary of a talk on a similar topic I did recently, here.

[casino goer]

3.

That's rather a good idea. The new generation is bred by computer games.