« May 2006 | Main | July 2006 »
June 29, 2006
Games for Change
When hearing or reading the title of the conference, I kept thinking about signs that read "Will work for food" morphing into "Will code games for change"
Over all the conference was not well-organized and was nothing at all like the Serious Games Summit I went to a couple of years ago.
Still, the notion of serious games seems much more accepted than it was back then.
Most of the audience seemed to be middle-aged women who seemed to care about the world, but had no experience with activism or with games.
A few of the panelists were good, but ended up dumbing-down what they had to say to suit the audience.
There were 4 or 5 UN people there, most from Unicef.
Many panelists had no experience with games, and even wondered aloud why they had been asked to come.
One panel was made up of documentary filmmakers, who had experience with trying to raise awareness of issues through the medium of film, but had nothing to say about games.
Another panel was the same but made up of artists.
A third panel was museum exhibit designers, who were more interesting than the other two, but still had nothing to say about games. - Apparently Jamie Allen had been asked to speak at this one, which says something about how desparate they were for qualified speakers. He declined when he learned that panelists still had to pay the registration fee.
The implicit conclusion of those three panels was that games is in some ways just another medium that can be used to raise awareness, but not more so than a museum exhibit or documentary film or piece of art.
One discouraging thing was a video that the conference organizers put together about making games about health issues. A lot of talking heads yammered on about how great games were but the only actual example given in the video was a nurse interviewed who said 'Yeah, video games are great. When the pain medication doesn't work, we give the kids gameboys which helps distract them.' The message being that games are at best an idle distraction.
It was also discouraging to hear the word 'cyberspace' a few times, suggesting that the people there were still about 10 years behind the curve in terms of new media technology.
The best part of the whole conference was the final speaker Ralph Koster, who grew up in Haiti and Peru while his mother was on mission for Unicef, and now works for Sony where he worked on Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies, so he had more first-hand experience with both gaming and social issues than most people in the room had with either.
While most of the panels basically had nothing more to say than to repeat that games had potential without going into any details of how, Koster was the only one to cut through the BS.
He had a cynical attitude about the whole idea of 'games for change' and educational games in general, criticizing them as not being fun enough, and thus having no hope of engaging players long enough to deliver the message effectively. He also slammed 'over-optimistic do-gooders'
And he pointed out one of the main flaws with the concept, in that a game ultimately needs to be fun, while the social issues being addressed tend to be the opposite of fun.
Some in the audience were outraged by his candor, while others (like me) appreciated it.
He described some of the things he saw growing up in Haiti (poverty, disease) and Peru (intimidation of the locals by the Shining Path), and asked how a game could possibly solve or prevent any of them. No one had any answers, other than 'raising awareness' which sounded feeble.
Also good was the expo, where a dozen or so games were showcased, and there were a few examples that (to me) demonstrated that there is potential to really teach concepts in a way that no other media can.
My favorite was (you'll probably remember it from the other conference) 'A Force More Powerful' which is finally finished after three years (released in March 2006) it's available only online for $20. (I ordered a copy that I can give you when it ships)
Unlike most of the other games, it actually looked fun to play, while it also looked like it was very explicit about the messages. - the only way to win was if you have a deep understanding of the issues of how to affect social change in the face of an oppressive government.
'Peacemaker' seemed to be popular, though I didn't get a chance to look at it (http://peacemakergame.com/ also http://www.etc.cmu.edu/projects/peacemaker/TheGame.htm)
'Four Years in Haiti' was put together by GlobalKids (globalkids.org) which I worked with briefly while at the cyberschoolbus at the UN. It was okay, but just a little better than those MTVU games.
There was also one board game designed by a Parson's student that covered the issues of the Chinese Civil War just after WWII between the Communists and Nationalists. It looked like a cross between Risk and Monopoly. It looked really fun, and was especially appealing because it wasn't screen-based.
The worst games were not even games, but merely online quizzes - the user is presented with a cartoon or video clip and then asked multiple-choice questions about it. Taking a test is not fun.
Still, these kinds of games were most common in the 'practica', simulations for people like EMS workers, training them how to act in certain situations.
Other games were merely interactive fiction, where a cartoon or video requires you to click 'next' to proceed.
Of the games that were actually games, some were like 'Food Force' in that the games themselves were not part of the learning, but were essentially a reward for listening to the mini-lectures in between levels.
Others were true educational games, where the lessons were part of the game itself. Some of these were poor because they were too easy - I couldn't imagine any but the very youngest of kids wanting to play them, but at that age the concepts were probably too advanced for them to grasp.
Others suffered because they were too hard, there's no way or nearly no way to win. The MTVU games were like this. In some ways they're good in that they're sobering reminders of how hard life can be in some parts of the world, but it's not really fun if there's no chance to win, meaning people probably won't play them.
On of the artists responded to this by saying how her 'game' was better (it wasn't a game you could play, it was just an arty video-simulation of a game of Go) because 'everyone wins' - lame.
The best, again, was 'A Force More Powerful' which seemed to really have the right balance of fun and education.
(http://afmpgame.com/ also http://nonviolent-conflict.org/)
Part of their advantage was A) big budget ($3 million) and access to lots of quantitative data so they could actually model different situations accurately.
Oddly enough, the production company (http://www.yorkzim.com/) makes documentary films. This is their first and only game.
One thought I had was about Monopoly, which is not a traditional educational game but does have educational value. It doesn't teach about real estate since the ideas are so abstracted as to be irrelevant. The value of Monopoly, I think is in developing math skills, but it doesn't actually teach math, it just allows (forces) a lot of practice with addition and subtraction (and some multiplication when you land on the Income Tax square). And that's a key difference that no one brought up but is important, I think, for any educational game project, whether something tries to actually teach a concept or just allows practice.
---
Funding Sources:
http://www.nystar.state.ny.us/ - this site was repeated several times by a guy who works for the New York State government
http://ssti.org/
http://sbirworld.com/
http://www.ctwo.org/
http://nationalservice.gov
http://www.lmcc.net/ - Jamie and Megatron applied for and got space for an art show via LMCC
http://hopelab.org - currently getting funding for serious-game creation
---
Lessons: (a number of these I recall also being covered in the Serious Games Summit)
- Audio more important than video in educational games - the audio tends to carry the message more while the video is more eye-candy, but kids seem fine with cartoony graphics as long as the game is compelling.
- Games that successfuly deliver a message are those played in groups, allowing lots of discussion - even if it is a single-player game that people play in a group, discussing what to do next. The real learning doesn't happen in the game, but during the discussion among students.
- One advantage of a game over face-to-face learning is that offers the student to make mistakes without embarassment.
- There is funding available, usually in bundles of $2,000, $3,000, or $5,000 - but, the people who read proposals are often stodgy types who still don't 'get' games so the social impact must be emphasized.
- While it is most difficult to get money from philanthropic organizations (as opposed to government or corporate) the grantees get the most leeway with the projects (corporations usually want profit or intellectual property, and government departments want measurable results)
- Some philanthropic organizations are funding serious game projects now, but are largely devoted to feasability studies, related to the other point about assessment.
- NYS grants for educational technology seem to favor 'cures' for obesity, smoking, drug addiction, etc.
Another of the lessons from the various people who spoke was that the weakest part of the whole 'serious games' industry was that of assessment. It's one thing for the designers or funders to think a game is great, but without testing on real kids (or adults) you really have no idea.
This was hammered home by one panel on funding opportunities, where they all said that there is lots of money available for projects such as these games, but a proposal will get ignored unless it includes some numbers to back it up, even if it's just to say how many people will play it (whether they enjoy it or not)
Regarding funding, one guy who works for New York State told a funny story about how he was playing some online multiplayer game and got in a virtual battle with someone, only to discover later it was his boss, who reports directly to the Governor regarding budget issues. A conversation began and now the state is commited to funding educational games.
However, the main interest for the state seems to be in job creation, so if you want to just make a game you'll have more trouble getting money than if you want to start a small company and hire a staff to make games.
---
There was a surprising amount of press there (like at the other conference)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/06/29/wgames29.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/06/29/ixnews.html
http://news.com.com/Game+designers+try+to+help+save+the+world/2100-1043_3-6088901.html
http://abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1673634.htm
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N26425086.htm
http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-6-28/43282.html
Posted by mslaybau at 09:45 PM | Comments (0)
June 17, 2006
You Tonight
I've done some research on what aspects of music make a song popular. I've become convinced that one aspect is the structure of the melodic line, specifically that it needs to advance stepwise as in a scale. Jumps greater than whole steps make the song more complicated, while repeating the same notes make a song more simple.
I intended to compose a number of songs based on this idea, and the one that embodies the theory best is the one called 'You Tonight'
Posted by mslaybau at 02:53 AM | Comments (0)
June 16, 2006
Gnarls Barkley Star Wars
I can't think of anything cooler than a stormtrooper playing bass.
At the 2006 MTV Movie Awards Gnarls Barkley performed 'Crazy' dressed as Star Wars charcters.
The original video is quite cool as well. And it's actually a pretty good song.
Posted by mslaybau at 04:52 PM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2006
The Messenger
The messenger came one night, very late.
He was out of breath and could speak only in a hoarse whisper. His skin was stone-cold from the wind and rain he had run through. We offered him tea and soup, but he would have none. He would not even sit, he said his message was urgent, that there was a terrible danger at his farm.
His voice became quiet, and only those standing next to him, leaning close could hear what he said.
Speaking louder again, the stranger pleaded for every able-bodied person to go with him back to his farm. My father and the others were reluctant, and some looked afraid, but the man seemed so desperate that my father and the other men and the women agreed to escort the man back home.
Then, the man's eyes rolled back and he collapsed on the floor from exhaustion.
My father helped him into a chair and someone got him some water, which he tried to drink, but it only dripped down his chin. Uncle John ran out the door, exhorting the others to go with him to the man's farm, and they followed.
My father suggested the man was too weak to return and that he should stay to get back his strength. My father then left, leaving me, just a little child, in my chair, with only my grandmother to attend me and the man.
I listened to the horses galloping away and watched the strange man's eyelids flutter between wakefulness and unconsciousness. When the room was quiet I asked my grandmother what the man had said when his voice had become so quiet.
Her hearing was not good, but she understood my question and had been sitting very near the man, hearing every word he had said. She replied, "The man said that a desperate stranger came to his house last night and begged anyone who could to return with him to his farm. All the adults left, and during the night terrible screams were heard in the distance, but by morning none had returned."
I sat still for a moment, then asked, "If all the adults at the farm left, and none returned, who is this man?" My grandmother frowned and looked at the man, whose eyes began to open.
He looked at me from across the table and put his hands on the armrests of his chair to push himself up. He smiled at me, and winked.
Posted by mslaybau at 01:18 AM | Comments (0)
June 13, 2006
The Selfish Green
The Selfish Green [throwawayyourtv.com]: The Selfish Green was the opening event of Wildscreen 2004, a landmark debate on the future of conservation led by Jonathan Dimbleby with Sir David Attenborough, Professor Richard Dawkins, Dr Jane Goodall and Dr Richard Leakey. One hour, Flash streaming video
Posted by mslaybau at 11:33 PM | Comments (0)
June 07, 2006
Pricilla gone missing
Pricilla gone missing is a new and quite good, rather short game in the style of Samorost, where you control a character who walks around manipulating objects. I prefer this style to the 'Escape the Room' variety - a genre that seems rather stale now.
The graphics are very good, echoing some post-apocalyptic movies such as Mad Max. The sound is good as well, using music as a cue for success and ambient noises as the background sound.
The puzzles are good as well, and all rely on actual logic and physics, so you have to 'MacGuyver' your way through, rather than depending on finding that one active pixel, or on some arbitrary Deus ex Machina device.
Posted by mslaybau at 06:03 PM | Comments (0)