Village the Game: Play it. Love it. Live it.

Social Edge - Social Change and Digital Games: "Sophia Buranakul - Jul 12, 2006 3:49 am (#3 Total: 6)
Fah Diow

Opening up game development to the gamers

I work in Thailand for a small non-profit organisation. In the urban, industrial and tourism-dependent communities where we're working we see gaming as a major part of the lives of children from about 11 years and upwards. Getting these young people interested and involved in community development isn't always easy and game development could well be a great mechanism to raise interest. I enjoy playing SimCity but I'm frustrated by the assumptions that back up the game and would love to see a more real and less US-centric game.

I'd love to see game developers sit down with the kinds of young people we work with and work through game development with the young people carrying out community-based research that informs the game development, and the game developers showing our young people exactly what goes into game development (including the maths, science, graphics etc.). Any takers??? I'm sure that this more participatory approach would raise interest in the social, environmental, health etc. content of these types of games, make the game play much more real and challenging as well as having a valuable educational role too. How cool to play a game you know people your age helped to create."