#gamesforchange

[natashaseery1545-blog]

The Ancient gates of London are full of ghosts. Meet them #gaming #steam . . . . . . . #hideandseek #puzzle #stealth #game download the #adventure @games_steam_ #mission1545 #indiegame #gamer #gamesforchange #adventure #pcgamer #indiegame #instagames #twitch #indie #instagaming #gamedev #mondaymotivation #gamedev #research #music #history

[natashaseery1545-blog]

Guard: I’m sure I heard something... HIDE! #gaming . . . . . . . . . . . . #mission1545 is more than a #game #gamesforchange #timetravel #ghosts find us on #steam #hideandseek #tudor #escaperoom #puzzle #stealth @games_steam_ #indiegame #gamer #guard #enemy #adventure #pcgamer #indiegame #instagames #twitch #indie #instagaming #gamedev #comicbook https://www.instagram.com/p/BohHr6yFxUP/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=16afxy0mzh4a8

[domportera]

Does this make me a professional,or do o have to actually do something to get that title? All jokes aside, I got these in preparation for the rest of my life, but also Games For Change in NY next week! Is anyone else going?

[mindslikemaria]

Spend a day in a transgendered character's shoes, based on the developer's experiences.

Guys, play this game!!! ^^^^^ Mainichi is a game that conveys the social struggles transgender woman face on a daily basis. Instead of a specific game objective, the developer welcomes you to explore a day in her life as a trans woman. As you complete simple activities such as going for a coffee, or meeting up with a friend, you begin to understand the stigma,discrimination and frustration trans women face on a daily basis. ( FINALLY A GAME I CAN RELATE TO!!) The developer used this game as a platform to express her frustration, and to illustrate the trauma/oppression. It’s crazy how this is so REAL. The player can assume an active role that allows you to identify with the characters, figure out “the rules” and explore the dynamic relationships between actions and consequences.  Finally, a video game that isn’t so constricted and developed within the ideas of dominant norms in society. Mainichi is a game changer. There needs to be more games that highlight these type of personal experiences! I’m so tired of the basic games you see everyday. I wish there was a way for this game to be massively distributed. I really this everyone needs to play it so they can understand.  SHARE! SHARE! SHARE!

[colabtransmedia]

This game (Never Alone) looks amazing and the process behind its production is also really valuable.

[thethirdkate]

Mental Health & Games

Doing some quick research into games and mental illness - both how it’s portrayed, how they can be used to promote understanding, how they can be used as therapeutic tools.

I also watched Spirited Away yesterday (one of my favourite films). Slight tangent: I really like how nuanced the villains are in this film (and some other Ghibli films). They are never just an outright psychopath - aren’t we bored of that trope yet? - but more like someone who has their own agenda. They may be selfish, or greedy, or a bit callous, but they are rarely downright evil - they are still just flawed humans (I mean, maybe not *technically* human, but human in character). I’d love to see more of this in game narratives.

Possible things I’d like to achieve with a game for social change:

- Help people relate to depression when they have no experience of it

- Help dispel specific myths around depression and mental illness, in a more factual/scientific way

- Help uplift people suffering with depression

- Help people with depression feel less isolated

- Help generate a discussion around depression

- Help equip people who have a friend or family member who suffers depression to deal with it 

I’m also thinking about what it would look like to build a community of people in creative tech interested creating change. It feels like such a huge proportion of people I know in these industries suffer from depression, yet so few are talking openly about it.

[thethirdkate]

Elude

Just a quick thought though - it would be an interesting challenge to make a game that can help further people’s understand of depression whilst still being uplifting and sending a positive message. 

Elude does this quite nicely:

http://gambit.mit.edu/loadgame/summer2010/elude_play.php 

It’s a nice experience, at the same time, I think if combatting stigma was my goal I would have to avoid the temptation to create a nice but abstract experience in favour of something more explicit. I’ve had a lot of conversations with people about depression which (without sounded big headed) have helped them gain a much better understanding of the subject. Would it be possible to make a game that could have those conversations for me? How can that be done without losing the benefits that only games as a delivery method can offer (instead of just blogging about it or whatever)?

[laurengdsi-blog]

GangSquares - Will you be the mob boss who can conquer it all? My group's first game in #GamesForChange, with professors Asi Burak and Naomi Clark. #whyDSI @svadsi #boardgames