If you get my weekly newsletter, I apologize for the small number of posts in the newsletter that went out early this morning. Since I started tinySplash bigView, I have been committed to writing posts 4-5 times a week. The weekly newsletter email lists all the posts, and is a way for me to make sure that I have written enough for the week.
I just got back last night from the Games for Change Festival in New York City last night. At the 3 day conference I was busy attending presentaitons taking notes on my ipad, and participating in the discussions related to the conference on Twitter. I had intentions of writing two posts early today before the tinySplash bigView newsletter went out. Problem is that I thought that today was Wednesday, so I did not get this done before it got sent out. Anyway – I just posted 3 new posts, and everything is all caught up and the world is in balance. (and sorry for 2 email newsletters in one day if you are on the list.)
The Games for Change Festival was amazing, and I will be writing a number of future posts about what I learned, saw, and heard. The annual Games for Change Festival is the largest games gathering that focuses on games for social good. I went to some amazing talks, played some great games, and was able to attend some roundtables with funders and others interested in games for change.
Games for Change (G4C) facilitates the creation and distribution of social impact games that serve as critical tools in humanitarian and educational efforts an aim to leverage entertainment and engagement for social good. This was the 9th annual festival, and there were attendees from the digital games industry, gaming enthusiasts, educators, policymakers, activists, foundations and others. Near the main auditorium was a Game Arcade where the games nominated for awards could be played.
Last night was the award ceremony, and the Game of the Year award went to WAY, which is an online cultural bridge-builder game in which two players must communicate without words in order to overcome obstacles. The Way utilizes puppetry, and players can make hand signals and make gestures to communicate. As in real life, everyone sees the world differently, and the two players have unique views while playing the game. One interesting thing about the game is that if you quit – you abandon the other player, so feeling connected to someone that you do not even know occurs when you play the game.
I attended a interesting and thoughtful talk by Chris Bell, who was one of the designers of the game that I will be writing about later this week. The developer of the games is CoCo & Co, and you can download the alpha version from the game website. I just downloaded it, and will be trying it out this week before I write about Chris Bell’s talk.
Get ready for some posts on this site about games making social change. I am still thinking about the amazing opening keynote speech by Jane McGonigal which was called “The Game That Changed My Life” So get ready for most likely a week or two where we get our game on tinySplash bigView. The great thing also – is that you can watch all the talks and presentations from the Games For Change site, which is great since I missed a few and I can catch up this week.
One last note: make sure you play at least an hour of games today – it is proven now that it is good for your health.
Images:
www.gamesforchange.org
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