Games for Change – Kristen Baumlier

When I went to the Games for Change conference last month, I attended a presentation by designer and producer, Simon Parkin who was part of the team that made the game Sweatshop. Sweatshop is a game that challenges players to manage an off-shore clothing factory, producing the latest in cheap designer fashions for Britain’s fashion district. The game was commissioned by Channel 4 in the U.K. (which is like our PBS station in the U.S.)

In his presentation, Parkin talked about in order for a game to be effective in exploring an issue it needs to not just tell a message that is predictable. For this game – if the game focused on telling the message, “Sweatshops are bad,” it most likely would not be a good game. He said that most of us already know that sweatshops are bad, but few of us understand the complex issues that keep these systems in place.

In making Sweatshop, the design team decided to make a game where players can experience what it is like to be the owner, manager, and factory worker in the game. The goal of the game was to challenge young people to think about the origin of the clothes we buy and the use. The game is a strategy game that puts the player in the role of a clothing factory’s middle management. The player is responsible for hiring and firing workers, ensuring that orders are completed in time and balancing the needs of demanding clients with worker welfare. Real-world problems such as fires, unions, and lack of toilets add authenticity to the game mechanics.

For the game, the team worked with British charity Labour Behind The Label to make sure that the game was accurate. After each level the player is presented with a fact that supports the themes of the level just completed with real world events.

I just played the game, and I enjoyed the cartoony graphics and expressions on the players faces. The game balanced information and fun enough for me to want to play it. I also appreciated that the game did not start out with lots of facts or a message that sweatshops are bad. The game was recently selected by MIT as one of the top five ‘Best Practice Serious Games’ and the university is currently writing a paper on the game.

Why do our clothes continue to often come from sweatshops? You can play the game online, and also view Parkin’s speech on the Games for Change Livestream page to learn more.

Image Source:
www.playsweatshop.com

Links:

www.playsweatshop.com

Simon Parkin – Games For Change Livestream Video about Sweatshop

www.littleloud.com/work/sweatshop

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 9^th 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

Links:

Kristen Baumlier

Tag: Games for Change

Games For Change – and Finding the Way