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Would You Play a Game That Had No Challenge?

This post is part one in a series of two. So a couple of months back, when I went to hear Anna Anthropy talk at the NYU Game Center, I got into a brief conversation with her about the notion of...

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How Many Ways Can Games Challenge Us?

This post is part two in a series of two. Climbing mountains, teaching inner city high school kids, going on scavenger hunts, staging jewel heists, only stepping on every other sidewalk square. We all...

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Crowdsourcing Games for Change

A screenshot from a game for change called MOLT, in which players diagnose malaria. There’s something magical about the math of crowdsourcing. You bring a bunch of people together and collectively they...

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Can a Game Ruffle Your Political Biases?

I’m going to be volunteering at the upcoming Games for Change Festival and in the lead up to the festival itself, I thought interviewing some of the nominees for the Games for Change Awards would be a...

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Games for Change Festival Recap

So I volunteered for both days of the Games for Change Festival and the summit beforehand, and it ended up being a pretty awesome experience. From the games arcade where you could play all of the Games...

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Choosing a Nonprofit vs. For-profit Game for Change

A screenshot from the online platform and the Zamzee device itself. While AAA video game titles might have multi-million dollar marketing budgets, if you’re making games for change, you probably have...

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Brief Hiatus

I’ll be taking a hiatus from the blog for a few weeks while travelling. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to line up guest posts in my absence so I’ll be sharing more about games for change with you once I...

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Seeking Some Answers, Finding Others

The starting character in all Scratch games, who I've unofficially dubbed Scratchy. I ask a lot of questions, which can make me tiresome company at times, especially since I have a particular fondness...

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Crowdsourcing Thoughts on the Future of Education

Meet the six Zed Omegas. I sometimes find myself saving the most daunting tasks on my plate for later… and later… and later. Which is unfortunate because often they’re the ones that most need doing....

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The Cost of Openness in Games

In fiction. especially postmodern fiction, there’s a trope of characters who mutiny against their author (The People of Paper, Six Characters in Search of an Author, At Swim-Two-Birds, etc.). It’s a...

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Comment on The World of Warcraft of the Games for Change Space by J Li

Yes, yes, yes!! Thank you so much for this article. I have been working in this space for a long time and at a loss for how to put it. Let’s make Games for Good that are also Good Games! If you play a...

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Comment on The World of Warcraft of the Games for Change Space by jspiro

J Li, Thanks for the feedback. Out of curiosity, what was the game that gave you magical powers of ecological modification? -Josh

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Comment on The World of Warcraft of the Games for Change Space by jspiro

Greg, That looks like a cool MMO4C you’ve got there. I like the animation and the way instant level ups and gradual pacing of information really helps suck the player in. I’d be curious to see insights...

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Comment on Civics Games: The Other Call of Duty, Part 1 of 2 by Gene Koo

“Most large systems have game-like elements” because large systems, in order to stay functional, have rules, as do games. The elements that are broken, by McGonigal’s definition of “game,” is the...

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Comment on Civics Games: The Other Call of Duty Part 2 of 2 by Gene Koo

Thanks for the shout-out! I clearly don’t keep up with blogging as much as I’d like but some very belated thoughts in response to this. I had first thought about using game mechanics to augment civic...

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Comment on Civics Games: The Other Call of Duty Part 2 of 2 by jspiro

Gene, Thanks for the feedback. I’ll be sure to check out these games. I’ve been interested recently in the limitations of mechanics that make a player feel frustrated but also, as a byproduct, give...

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Comment on Can Any Game Be Made a Game for Change? by Natalie

I don’t have any comments regarding Words with Friends, but I did want to thank you on your ruminations on games for change in a different capacity from which we normally think of them. You’re right,...

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Comment on Would You Play a Game That Had No Challenge? by Greg

We need both kinds of games. I enjoyed dys4ia (yeah. it’s not fun that people have to go through stories like this one… this game does a great job of raising awareness). Sometimes I play...

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Comment on Would You Play a Game That Had No Challenge? by jspiro

Greg, I hadn’t heard of NetHack, but after reading a bit about it and other intentionally/ mindbendingly hard games, it made me wonder if there’s another category of challenges in which you face them...

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Comment on Can a Game Ruffle Your Political Biases? by Brett A McCall

Josh! I found you here.. Noticed this blog! Nice work!! It was great to work with you at the festival. I have some ideas for staying in touch and would love to collaborate with you. bam

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