Parsons The New School for Design Hosts Games for Change Conference
Activists, Nonprofit Organizations and Game Developers
Join Forces to Present Video Games
Addressing the Fight Against Poverty, the Crisis in Darfur and
the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
NEW YORK, June 15, 2006 – Parsons The New School for Design will join the nonprofit organization Games for Change to present its third annual conference in New York City, June 27-28. This groundbreaking event marks a new stage in the evolution of the videogame: using this popular and powerful technology to address real-world issues from fighting poverty to negotiating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. These games and many more will be featured, played and discussed in this conference created by and for a new breed of activists – those who recognize the potential of this ubiquitous and provocative tool for social change.
“Digital games are a new form of popular culture – and like film and television before them – they’re ready for real-world content” says Suzanne Seggerman, Co-director of Games for Change. “We have a great opportunity to harness this new medium to address the most pressing issues of our day.”
Games for Change is a growing movement of activists, academics, students and developers intent on using the medium to change the world – for the better. And serious institutions are taking note; the United Nations, the Center on Non-Violent Conflict, The MacArthur Foundation, and The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars are among the participants in this year’s conference.
“At The New School, we encourage our students to become advocates for social change,” said New School President Bob Kerrey, who will be a keynote speaker at the conference. “Hosting this conference is a natural for the university, which has been a leading institution in the study of game design and how games can impact society.”
In addition to President Kerrey, featured speakers at this year’s conference include Steven Johnson, a best-selling author of four books on the intersection of science, technology and personal experience; Josh Fouts, Executive Director of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy; Connie Yowell, Senior Program Officer, MacArthur Foundation; Heather Chaplin and Aaron Ruby, authors of Smart Bomb, a book on the videogame industry; Israeli game developer Asi Burak of PeaceMaker, which addresses the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict; David Rejeski, Co-director of the Serious Games Initiative at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Ian V. Rowe, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Public Affairs for MTV; and Katie Salen, Director of Graduate Studies in Design and Technology at Parsons The New School for Design.
At the conference, panels will address the topics of Games for Global Peace, Creating a PBS for Games, Academic Evaluation Efforts, Recent Funding Initiatives, Health and Environmental Awareness Campaigns, and Guerrilla Nonprofit Games. A Games Expo on June 27 will showcase the latest games in the field, including:
- Darfur is Dying is an online video game that puts you in the shoes of one of the 2.5 million refugees who are fighting for survival every day in Darfur. Players learn more about the challenges these refugees face and to how to take action to help stop the crisis. In partnership with the Reebok Human Rights Foundation and the International Crisis Group, MTV-U launched the Darfur Digital Activist Contest, an unprecedented competition bringing together student technology and activism to help stop the genocide in Darfur. The winner of the contest and creator of Darfur is Dying – Susana Ruiz - first heard about the contest at the Games for Change conference in 2005.
- PeaceMaker is a video game simulation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: a tool that can be used to promote a peaceful resolution among Israeli and Palestinian youths, as well as young adults worldwide. Created by two Israeli graduate students with the help of several Palestinian youth groups, Peacemaker is making history as the first game about the Middle East conflict. This one-person game allows the player to take the role of either the Israeli Prime Minister or the Palestinian President, then react to in-game events from diplomatic negotiations to military attacks, and interact with eight other political leaders and social groups in order to establish a stable resolution to the conflict before his or her term in office ends.
- A Force More Powerful – the Game of Nonviolent Strategy is the first and only interactive teaching tool in the field of nonviolent conflict. Developed by The International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC), media firm York Zimmerman Inc. and game designers at BreakAway Ltd., with ongoing input from the Serbian resistance leaders who helped overthrow Milosevic, the game is built on nonviolent strategies and tactics used successfully in various conflicts around the world. Featuring ten scenarios inspired by history, the game simulates nonviolent struggles to win freedom and secure human rights against dictators, occupiers, colonizers, and corrupt regimes, as well as campaigns for political and human rights for minorities and women. The game models real-world experience, allowing players to devise strategies, apply tactics and see the results.
- Food Force is an educational video game created by the World Food Programme at the United Nations, developed specifically to help children learn about the fight against world hunger. The game was developed to work with structured lesson plans in the classroom, with kids between the ages of 9–13 taking on one of six missions to combat hunger. After each mission is completed, players learn about the real work that WFP is doing in the field and what a career as a humanitarian might be like. In its first two months, Food Force was downloaded free off the internet more than 2 million times.
Full event details are available at www.gamesforchange.org.
Games for Change provides support, visibility and shared resources to individuals and organizations using digital games for social change, with special assistance to non-profits and foundations entering the field. Founded in 2004 as part of the Serious Games Initiative, today G4C acts as a national and international hub to help organizations network and develop videogame projects addressing the most pressing issues of our day. Our members represent hundreds of organizations and individuals and include partners in the nonprofit sector, industry, academia, government and the arts.
The New School is a leading progressive university comprising eight schools bound by a common, unusual intent: to prepare and inspire its 8,700 undergraduate and graduate students to bring actual, positive change to the world. Within the school, Parsons The New School for Design is one of the premier degree-granting colleges of art and design in the nation. Its graduates and faculty appear on the short list of outstanding practitioners in every realm of art and design.