Can I tell you something? I’m exhausted!
It’s the start of day 4 (of 5) of the 20th anniversary of the Games For Change Festival. Since March of 2020 I have worked from my home office. All day, I Zoom with my colleagues and clients around the world – it’s social – but only in 2D. Stepping from that into the rich, messy, improvised world of in-person, fully embodied 3D, with hundreds and hundreds of people, nonstop, can be quite a lift. But I haven’t regretted a moment. Because it’s also exhilarating.
My whole WORLD is here. Of course there’s the community of early G4C builders and supporters – educators, game designers, policy makers and more – that always warmly welcome me home. I am also running into current students where I teach at NYU, the new community I’ve joined through my recent activities at Gaming Pathways, former colleagues from AMNH, readers of my books (all three!), and of course heroes I’ve admired from afar whom I finally get to meet 1:1. It is deeply satisfying. And grounding. And worth all the social energy it takes to reconnect and build each relationship. And it tells me that I know I am in the place I’m suppose to be.
And of course, there’s the CONTENT. Monday was connecting games with the Sustainability Development Goals, an international standard that can help organize domestic and global efforts to elevate humanity. Yesterday and today have been a thrilling mix of indie impact, corporate pride, infrastructure advising, and more. Celebrating the impact of G4C over a generation, and sending out wishes for the next, has been touching and it has been an honor to be part of that process. And… Gabo Arora telling us how to love XR but not like. And… the panel on queer games and the apocalypse. And… I’ve been working my darndest to soak it all up and keep taking in new information. Then today is about XR and the metaverse. Then tomorrow the first all day youth summit (did it really take two decades?).
Finally, there’s the SPACES where we have been meeting. Monday was the United Nations. Did you know when you walk enter the UN you leave New York? In fact, you leave the United States! When you enter the United Nations headquarters in New York City, you are in a unique and neutral space that belongs to the international community as a whole, rather than any specific country (chatGPT). That was inspiring, from beginning to end. Now we’re at the New York Times building AND, across the street, Microsoft. A bit too spiffy, perhaps, for my taste, but amazing venues nonetheless. Then tomorrow, for the youth, the Microsoft Experience Center. Inspiring spaces for inspiring conversations.
So yes, I’m exhausted, but thrilled, for two more days of connecting and conversations, and for the good work ahead for us all. And I am deeply appreciative of all who are leading and contributing to this important community.
Ah – I almost forgot: here’s my 3-min presentation (on mistakes made and lessons learned):
This afternoon I come before you to preach the gospel of games for change.
Can I get an all right? All right.
In the beginning our gospel was limited. And often used against us.
We wanted to highlight small games addressing social issues that made the world a better place through people playing them.
The media looked at us and said: Come again? Let’s put attention on these few, good games, while we continue to make people afraid of the vast ocean of bad ones.
We never meant to walk into a binary, but we soon learned how false that idea is.
We learned from James Paul Gee all games have the potential to model good learning. We learned from Bernie de Koven, may his memory be a blessing, that all play has the potential to form a community actively building a world that reflects their values.
And at the tenth G4C I noted a trend. The CHANGE in Games For Change no longer came just from a game being played. It was also about how it was created and by whom. We began to speak more regularly about students in school, or Indigenous communities, for example, creating game companies to tell their ancestral stories.
So what today is the gospel of G4C? And who is it for?
Twenty years ago I co-founded games for change. Last year I co-founded Gaming Pathways, working with an amazing group of partners to launch a new way for Black and Latinx high school students to enter the NYC gaming industry through the public college system. Our upcoming video game exhibit, opening next year at the Harlem School of the Arts, has a youth advisory. When we asked them what games they play associated with the theme of social justice, I was blown away.
The action role-playing games Dark Souls II. The big budget Spider-Man: Miles Morales. The Games for Change darling, Paper’s Please.
Twenty years ago we could hardly find enough games to fill our first panel; today youth can find Games For Change… everywhere.
Some Shabbats I go to temple. When I do I am with a community that together is not pointing out who among us is good and who is bad. Rather it is a collective process that calls us all to our better angels. It’s a reset. It’s a time to check in with our values and expect more from ourselves.
That I suggest is the current gospel of G4C. That we all need a time and place like this, right here, right now, to come together and look at our intentions when we make games, to look at who is making games, and under what conditions, to hold the gaming community accountable, to itself, to the world, and to the players yet to come.
Can I get an amen.
Thank you.
Now for some photos!
