Games & social impact

Through an interactive two and a half hour workshop Waag artist-in-residence Heidi Boisvert will share her knowledge and show examples of her collaborative work with social justice organizations, political coalitions, braintrusts and youth.

Serious gaming is a growing movement, reaching large and diverse audiences, and engaging users in a range of issues, such as global conflict, climate change, poverty and democratic politics. Games are, thus, a ripe medium for instigating social impact.

Through a two and a half hour workshop with Waag artist-in-residence, Heidi Boisvert, she will share her knowledge and show examples of her collaborative work with social justice organizations, political coalitions, braintrusts and youth. She will focus on the impact the games had, in terms of broadening awareness and changing players’ content knowledge and attitudes on critical contemporary issues.

Following this plenary session, participants will break into game design teams. After identifying a social, political, environmental or economic issue, participants will learn how to think about complex social issues as design challenges. Then participants will explore their chosen issue in a four part participatory/open game design process to:

• identify and de-construct a social, political, environmental or economic issue;
• determine the constraints & challenges inherent in changing attitudes about their chosen issue;
• map the macro system associated with their chosen issue;
• conceptualize, and paper a prototype for a game on their chosen issue.

At the end of the evening, game design teams will share and play-test each others games.

Where?
Waag, Nieuwmarkt 4, Amsterdam.

When?
Tuesday, June 28th. From 19.00 to 21.30 hrs.

RSVP
Send an e-mail to events@waag.org.

Entrance: 25 euro

This event is hosted in collaboration with GATE.