Games for Change

Official logo

Games for Change (also known as G4C) is a movement and community of practice dedicated to using computer and video games for social change. An individual video game may also be referred to as a "game for change" if it is produced by this community or shares its ideals. Games for Change is also the name for the non-profit organization which is building the field for the new movement by providing support, visibility and shared resources to individuals and organizations using digital games for social change.

Overview

Games for Change is often considered a branch of serious games focused on social issues and social change. Its members represent hundreds of non-profit directors, game developers, artists and academics—a network committed to social change through gaming.

Mission Statement

Games for Change seeks to harness the extraordinary power of video games to address the most pressing issues of our day, including poverty, human rights, global conflict, and climate change. We are a voice for the transformative power of video games, bringing together organizations and individuals from the non-profits sector, journalism, academia, industry and the arts, to grow the community and provide a platform for the exchange of ideas. Through this work, Games for Change promotes new kinds of video games that engage contemporary social issues in meaningful ways to foster a more just, equitable and tolerant society.

History

The movement first emerged as Games for Change at a Serious Issues, Serious Games' conference held at New York Academy of Sciences on June 8, 2004.[1] The invitation-only event gathered 40+ foundations, academics and nonprofits for a day "to mobilize support for a medium with growing importance for nonprofits." The event was organized with the support of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars and Serious Games Initiative, after several nonprofits at their December, 2003 gathering[2] in Washington, DC noted the need for a dedicated space for those working on social change with nonprofit organizations. The NYC event served to jump-start the space, and was organized by Suzanne Seggerman of Web Lab, Benjamin Stokes of NetAid, Barry Joseph of Global Kids, David Rejeski of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars and Thomas Lowenhaupt of the Queens Community Board.

The movement grew legs after the first gathering as it launched a listserv dedicated to games and social issues[3] and began holding satellite events at various events, including the Game Developers Conference, the Serious Games Summit, Education Arcade at E3, Games and Learning Conference, Taicon and several others.

The annual Games for Change conference has since been held in 2005 at CUNY[4] and in 2006 with Parsons The New School for Design.[5]

The organization

Games for Change is the central organization building the field around games and social change. The work includes providing an entry point for nonprofits and foundations new to the field. For the funding community, G4C shows signs of becoming a coordinating hub for collaborative investment and evaluation of social change games projects.

Strategically, Games for Change has three programmatic pillars:

1. Supporting practitioners by facilitating an accessible community of practice that is empowered with the necessary tools, partners and information
2. Spreading the best games by providing media focus, distribution channels and avenues to funding
3. Increasing sector-wide efficacy by researching and documenting the field's emerging best practices

Based in New York City, Games for Change is currently led by President Suzanne Seggerman.

Press

• "Video games that let you play with your news" - The Christian Science Monitor
• "Serious Fun" - Seed Magazine
• "Can Games Save the News?" - The New York Observer
• "Games for Change" - Free Speech TV
• "G4C: Games Should Make Players Uncomfortable" - Gamasutra
• "Free Online Games Tackle Adult Matters" - NY1
• "Suzanne Seggerman - Pop!Tech 2008" - Pop!Casts
• "Games for Change" - The Huffington Post
• "Games for Good" - ABC News
• "Not the Usual Game Application" - The Washington Post
• "Can videogames be a force for change?: Games are a potent way to spread the word about important topics" - Citizen Gamer
• "Computer games as liberal arts?" - CNN
• "Promoting peace, not violence, in video games" - CNET
• "Making Better World With Video Games" - Korea Times
• "Who Says Video Games Have to be Fun? The Rise of Serious Games" - Gamasutra
• "We Realized That Activism Has Evolved Beyond Sit-Ins" - The Globe and Mail
• "Video Game Designers Tackle Real World Problems" - VOA
• "Can Social-Change Video Games Tackle Divorce, Poverty, Genocide?" - MTV News
• "Video Games Get Serious" - NY Sun
• "Video-Game Designers Target World Peace" - NPR
• "Saving the World, One Video Game at a Time" - The New York Times
• "Can Video Games Help Affect Social Change?" - NY1
• "Ethical computer games take on the shoot-'em-up classics" - The Daily Telegraph
• "Gaming The Poor" - Newsweek

External links

• Official website
• 6th Annual Games For Change Conference - May 27-29, 2009
• List of games exhibited at the 2006 Games for Change conference