Just got an email from Suzanne Seggerman, head of Games for Change, that they will be organizing a session on "Videogames for Good" at the upcoming National Conference on Media Reform in Memphis this coming weekend. Why a session on videogames? Here’s what Suzanne writes:
Videogames are increasingly ubiquitous. More than half of all Americans play
them and for college students it’s more than 70%. Games have surpassed Hollywood
box office revenues for the third year in a row. Last year’s figures: games’
$10B to Hollywood’s $9.4B. And as this technology matures, there is a new trend
emerging: harnessing the power of this popular medium for more "serious
purposes". Fighting poverty. Training protesters in peaceful resistance to
oppressive regimes. Fostering leadership skills in inner city youth. Exploring
the tricky terrain between civil rights and airport security. Understanding the
human rights crisis in Darfur. The list goes on.
I assume there will be some discussion of Second Life, since that’s becoming such a vital "gaming environment" for civic engagement.
I’ll be at the media reform conference, so I will be sure and stop by this session. If you are going to be in Memphis, that’s on January 12, 11am-12:15pm at the Memphis Cook Convention Center. Hit the continue link for the complete message from Suzanne…
Videogames for Good: A Grab-and-Go Gathering
on Games in the Public Interest. Bring lunch and come hear about a new movement
using video games for media reform, justice, and
democracy.
Please join a new community of activists — Games
for Change — at the National Conference on Media Reform in Memphis on Friday,
January 12, 11am – 12:15pm, for an Ad Hoc Meeting about this new movement, with
leaders in the field and others dedicated to social justice and media reform
causes. The location will be posted on a sign for AD HOC MEETINGS next to the
information booth in the convention center starting Friday morning, January 12.
To be alerted to the exact location of this event, and a possible future
event on social justice and games, please sign up by sending an email to
gamesandsocialjustice-subscribe@googlegroups.com.
This group meeting at the
NCMR is being supported through a travel award from the Ford Foundation’s
Knowledge, Creativity and Freedom Program.
Why?
Videogames are increasingly ubiquitous. More than half of all Americans play
them and for college students it’s more than 70%. Games have surpassed Hollywood
box office revenues for the third year in a row. Last year’s figures: games’
$10B to Hollywood’s $9.4B. And as this technology matures, there is a new trend
emerging: harnessing the power of this popular medium for more "serious
purposes". Fighting poverty. Training protesters in peaceful resistance to
oppressive regimes. Fostering leadership skills in inner city youth. Exploring
the tricky terrain between civil rights and airport security. Understanding the
human rights crisis in Darfur. The list goes on.
How can social change
organizations use games?
- promote awareness
- win the hearts and minds of their constituents
- educate their audience
- and even directly provide services
Digital video games provide a platform that is
fundamentally engaging, challenging, and ultimately educational. Over the next
five years, there is the potential for a new breed of games to emerge with a
real impact on such diverse issues as poverty, health reform and racial
inequities. Yet the social change sector is sometimes slow to understand and
adopt new technologies. Games have the additional burden of being stereotyped
for only violence and fast action. A dedicated dialogue is necessary to help
educate and inform activists and educators of this powerful new medium and its
unique capabilities for learning, and to start networking and planning for
longer term field-building. The medium is only just beginning to mature enough
to sustain non-entertainment uses. Like public TV and documentary film before
them, there needs a concerted and informed effort to create a public space for
this new media. Collective strategies today will have tremendous long-term
effects on diverse groups in informal education, social justice and media
policy.
For more information, see: www.gamesforchange.org or contact:
Suzanne Seggerman, suzanne@gamesforchange.org – she
can be reached via email throughout the conference.
Suzanne
Seggerman
Co-Executive Director, Co-founder
Games for
Change
http://www.gamesforchange.org
suzanne@weblab.org