Games for Change Methodology
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Games are a $60 billion global industry played by 97% of American teenagers and the average Facebook gamer is 39 years old. Research organizations argue games offer attributes for 21st century learning like systems thinking and problem solving. Games are being used by non-profits and agencies to further educational and social goals. G4C's methodology involves understanding the audience, context, desired impact, appropriate platform, financial sustainability, gameplay design, execution process, and evaluation metrics. Case studies demonstrate games in classrooms, developing countries, direct action games, mass collaboration, youth creation, and evaluation/brain research.
Games for Change Methodology
- 1. G4C: Strategies & Methodology Developed with E-Line Media Aug 31, 2012
- 2. WHY GAMES? Games are expanding: - $60B Global business - 97% of teenagers in America* - Average Facebook player is a 39 year old female* Pew Report, Nielsen, PopCap
- 3. Arguably the most dominant media form of the 21st Century
- 4. GAMES AND LEARNING Federation of American Scientists & National Science Foundation: “Games offer critical attributes for 21st century learning.”* * National Summit on Educational Games
- 5. 21st CENTURY SKILL BUILDING Playing and making games foster critical skills necessary for success in a rapidly changing 21st Century world. + Systems thinking + Digital media literacy + Iterative process + Creativity + Problem solving + Team building + Planning & execution + Collaboration
- 6. Computer and video games are being embraced by leading foundations, non-profits, universities, and government agencies to further their public interest and educational goals
- 9. MAINSTREAM ADOPTION Supreme Court Justice Former US Chief Technology Officer Vice President Sandra Day O’Connor Aneesh Chopra Al Gore
- 10. DIRECT ACTION GAMES wetopia by Sojo Studios
- 12. YOUTH CREATING GAMES C++ College/ Professional Commercial High Modding School Tools Middle School Elementary School Game Design Programming Scaffolded / Constrained Un-scaffolded / Unconstrained
- 14. Strengths
- 15. 10 reasons why games are a powerful platform for highly engaged learning and social impact
- 16. 1. PARTICIPATORY Games are interactive, ‘lean-forward’: players make decisions with consequences resulting in player agency 2. ROLE PLAYING Games enable players to step into different roles in different worlds, building awareness & empathy
- 17. 3. CHALLENGES & REWARDS Games engage players deeply through a delicate balance of challenges & rewards leading to highly focused, sustained engagement 4. FUN TO FAIL Games enable players to try & fail in a safe environment; experimenting at their own pace until they succeed
- 18. 5. SOCIAL Games are increasingly networked, fostering peer-to-peer, collaborative learning 6. GAMES AS SERVICE Games are increasingly becoming on-going services that can be continually optimized for engagement and impact
- 19. 7. COMPLEXITY Games require players to navigate and understand complex systems, interfaces & rules 8. BITS AND ATOMS Games are increasingly crossing over into the real-world through new input devices, mobile & location-aware platforms
- 20. 9. MOTIVATION Good games create a deep desire to learn.
- 21. 10. UBIQUITY XBOX 360 Wii PCs Mobile devices Nintendo DS Sony PSP 27M 45M Billions Billions 96M 42M Play power $10 Wii Ware XBLA Sony PSN Sony PS2 Sony PS3 TV computer Network 50M 19M
- 22. Challenges
- 23. MAKING IMPACT GAMES FUN Organic alignment between what makes game fun & financial / impact objectives + = Many fail: “chocolate-covered broccoli”
- 24. COMPLEX ECO-SYSTEM XBOX 360 Wii PCs Mobile devices Nintendo DS Sony PSP 27M 45M Billions Billions 96M 42M Play power $10 Wii Ware XBLA Sony PSN Sony PS2 Sony PS3 TV computer Network 50M 19M Many fail: misalignment of platform/genre and audience
- 25. ENGAGING QUALIFIED TEAMS Game Production Design Business & Art & Project Team Fundraising Design Content Technology Writing Many fail: team does not have necessary skills to execute
- 26. SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MODELS Game as Product Game as Service Game released, Game continually customer support for updated, enhanced, time-bounded period supported 24/7 Boxed Software Virtual Worlds Downloaded Software Social Networking Many fail: under-resourced, especially games as service that require on-going resources.
- 27. PUBLISHING STRATEGY (1) Audience (8) (2) Assessment Context (7) (3) Execution Impact (6) (4) Gameplay Platform (5) Sustaining Many fail: Marketing / distribution / context not baked into design.
- 28. G4C THE 8 STEPS Our methodology to create games that have meaningful social impact Developed in partnership with
- 29. (1) Audience Who is it designed for? Region, age, demographic, psychographic, media and gaming accessibility and ability (2) Context When & how is it played? Moderated vs. un-moderated, home, school, after-school, l i b r a r y, c o m m u n i t y c e n t e r
- 30. (3) Impact What is the goal? J o b s k i l l s , 2 1 st c e n t u r y skills, motivation, awareness, fundraising, behavior change, real-world action (4) Platform What is the right technology? Console, console download, handheld, PC, Facebook, mobile
- 31. (5) Sustainability Understanding the financials Cost to launch, cost to sustain, cost to u s e r, i m p a c t - f r i e n d l y r e v e n u e m o d e l s (6) Gameplay What is the design? Organic alignment of what makes game fun and what makes game impactful
- 32. (7) Execution From concept to launch & beyond Te a m - b u i l d i n g , r a p i d p r o t o t y p i n g , t r o u b l e s h o o t i n g , marketing, distribution & support (8) Assessment How to measure success? Real-time & embedded assessment models, portfolio management
- 34. A GAME ‘ENGINE’ A tech platform to create multiple titles with clear separation between back-end and content / GUI.
- 35. A PORTFOLIO APPROACH Multiple titles, multiple platforms, lowering the risk.
- 36. STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS Impact Domain Partners Experts Platform Project Researchers Experts Leadership Assessment Game Partners Development
- 37. Case #1: Games in the classroom
- 39. iCIVICS REACH (since August 2009): - 1.2 million players - 12,000 classrooms - 50 states and Washington DC EVALUATION: - 78% of students gained a better understanding of how their government worked. - 47% continued playing at home for fun!
- 40. Case #2: Games in the developing world
- 42. FREEDOM HIV / AIDS REACH: - 67 million devices - 10.3 million play sessions - India and 6 East African countries EVALUATION: - Significant increase in learning - Changes in attitude and safer sex practices
- 43. Case #3: Direct action games
- 45. FREE RICE HOW DOES IT WORK? A multiple choice quiz, for every question you get correct, 10 grains of rice are donated to the World Food Programme. ON A DAILY BASIS: - 8 million page views - 45 million grains of rice: enough to feed 2,500 people
- 46. Case #4: The power of the many
- 48. FOLD IT TIME MAGAZINE: U.S. gamers … have helped unlock the structure of an AIDS-related enzyme that the scientific community had been unable to unlock for a decade. The solution represents a significant step forward in the quest to cure retroviral diseases like AIDS. September 9 2011
- 49. Case #5: Youth making games
- 50. C++ College/ Professional Commercial High Modding School Tools Middle School Elementary School Game Design Programming Scaffolded / Constrained Un-scaffolded / Unconstrained
- 52. SCHOLASTIC ART & WRITING AWARDS
- 53. Case #6: Evaluation & brain research
- 55. RE-MISSION CONCLUSIONS: The video-game intervention significantly improved treatment adherence and indicators of cancer-related self-efficacy and knowledge in adolescents and young adults who were undergoing cancer therapy. August 2008 edition of the medical journal Pediatric.
- 56. RE-MISSION BRAIN RESEARCH: Several key brain regions were activated when playing Re-Mission, including neural structures involved in emotion and motivation, and learning and memory.. 10th International Congress of Behavioral Medicine (ICBM)
- 57. Your game here_
- 58. www.gamesforchange.org michelle@gamesforchange.org // @mbyrd asi@gamesforchange.org // @aburak