For twenty years, as one of its co-founders, I have been preaching the gospel of Games For Change.
But what, exactly, is that gospel?
At the recent 20th Anniversary of Games For Change, I was given the opportunity to clarify. I was invited to reflect back on the first two decades of Games For Change, reflect on mistakes made, and keep it to under 3 minutes! Of course, I loved the challenge.
I had a blast but realized, to my horror, that while I had carefully timed it to fit into 180 seconds I had not accounted for pauses to wait for the audience applause or laughter. Whoops! So you can read what I meant to say below then watch to hear how I cut off the end to land my final point in the video that follows.
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.
Also, as part of the anniversary, I also participated in this remarkable panel with my fellow co-founders, Suzanne Seggerman and Benjamin Stokes, facilitated by Nick Fortugno. We had so much fun reconnecting, revisiting what in the world led us to create Games For Change, and sharing lessons learned along the way and hopes for the future. It’s a good watch! Check it out below:
