About Us
Mission | G4C Projects | Staff | Board of Directors | Advisors | Funders | Contact
Mission:
Games for Change (G4C) provides support, visibility and shared resources to individuals and organizations using digital games for social change. We provide special assistance to foundations and non-profits entering the field. G4C formed in 2004 as a sub-group of the Serious Games Initiative. Today, G4C acts as a national hub to help organizations network and develop videogame projects beyond their traditional expertise. Our members represent hundreds of organizations and include partners in the games industry, academia, nonprofits, local and state governments, foundations, the UN and artists.
G4C Projects:
Games for Change Annual Festival
Called “an early Sundance of video games” for “socially-responsible game-designers” the Games for Change Annual Festival brings together leading non-profit organizations, experts, and game developers to explore the increasing real-world impact of digital games as an agent for social change. The Festival is also a showcase for some of the most innovative new games in development. The 2008 Festival will take place at The New School in New York City June 2 - 4.
Learning & Media Network
Designed as a social learning network and a community of practice, Learning & Media's’s central goal is to support connections and shared resources in the field of digital media and learning -- between multiple communities and academic disciplines, among each other, and between these communities and the public at large. Learning & Media is a project of the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning initiative.
Xbox 360 Games for Change Challenge
Games for Change is working with Microsoft to explore new ways to bring together the world of digital gaming with the world of social change. Our first collaboration is an all-new socially minded global gaming competition, the Xbox 360 Games for Change Challenge. This worldwide competition will challenge college students to come up with the best game based on the theme of environmental sustainability. Students will develop games based on global warming using Microsoft® XNA™ Game Studio Express software.
PETLab
PETLab is a joint project of Games for Change and the Communication Design and Technology Department at Parsons The New School and is Supported through a generous grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. PETLab is a public interest game design and research lab for interactive media Prototyping, Evaluation, Teaching, and Learning. Our current projects include the design of a series of game prototypes for the Xbox XNA platform and accompanying curriculum that address social and civic issues. In addition to targeting university students, we are exploring ways to modify and extend this project to after-school programs such as Boys and Girls Clubs. Through another PETLab project we will work with teens to develop a social issue web-based games. We are also working on a dissemination strategy, through sites such as MTV’s Think portal, for the games created through this work. Looking to extend our work to other informal educational settings, we are working with the New York Public Library to find ways to integrate game design with existing youth services that introduce participants to the trove of digital resources within the library and that connect to the neighborhood and world beyond.
Gamers for Net Neutrality
Games for Change is partnering with the Entertainment
Consumers Association and Save the Internet Coalition on a
Gamers for Net Neutrality Initiative. Net neutrality is
one of the most important public policy issues facing our
community, and the loss of it could have serious
consequences for gamers, educators, activists, and
citizens. An open internet, where speed is not controlled
by who pays the most, is crucial for the success of our
livelihoods, our play-spaces, and our basic rights.
Social Issues Games Discussion List
G4C manages an online discussion group focused on the Games for Change movements with around 1,000 participants.
Games for Change operates under the fiscal auspices of Digital Innovations Group, Inc., a New York-based 501(c)3 think tank that encourages and supports innovation on the Web, with a special emphasis on developing the potential of the medium to bring people together to explore both personal and public issues in powerful and transforming ways.
Get Involved: stay up to speed by joining our low-traffic email listserv or keep checking our website blog for updates.
Our Staff:
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Elena Haliczer is the Community Manager for Games for Change. Before joining Games for Change, she worked at Northern Illinois University in their Outreach division doing internet marketing, web development, and market research. She serves currently as Co-Chair of Operations for the Web Analytics Association Committee for Community and Social Media, and also writes for Howard Rheingold's SmartMobs. She received her Masters in English and American Literature from Northern Illinois University, where she also had the opportunity to teach the creation of reflective eportfolios, and as an assistant in the Networked Writing Research Lab, to create an online eportfolio collaboratory. She is interested in the intersections between the new media/social media industry, education, and arts and hopes to foster connections and collaboration between these communities of practice.
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Alex Quinn is the Executive Director for Games for Change. Before joining Games for Change, Alex was Executive Director of the Adult Literacy Media Alliance (ALMA), a project of Education Development Center. ALMA produces the Emmy Award-winning television series, TV411, accompanying website and workbook series, and a range of multimedia literacy and life skills
curricula on such topics as health, finance, and family literacy. Alex
served as the principal investigator for a multi-year National Science
Foundation funded project to develop, promote, and broadly distribute a
television-based basic math curriculum for adults. Alex has a background
in instructional design, video production, and telecommunications policy,
and was the executive director for community media centers in Oregon and
New York City. He holds a B.A. degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Massachusetts and an M.A. in Broadcast Communication Arts from San Francisco State University. For more information, email Alex Quinn at alex [at-sign-here] gamesforchange.org. |
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Phoebe Reed
is the Social Network Manager at Games for Change, and has been a web development consultant for many educational and media organizations. She has developed interactive media and internet content for clients such as the United Nations, Scholastic Inc., Witness, Miramax, and HBO. She consults for a number of schools and educational institutions on website structure, content management systems, and social networking tools. Phoebe teaches video game design to middle school students and is a digital media artist, including having an interactive media project about community and internet chatrooms in the Venice Biennial. For more information, email Phoebe Reed at phoebe [at-sign-here] gamesforchange.org. | ||
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Ellen Scott is Social Network Designer at Games for Change, a professor of 4-Dimensional Design at Pratt Institute, and an artist working in digital media. Her experience in online media spans art and commerce, including interactive design, usability testing, and creative production; she gained seven years of experience in strategic consulting and software project management before focusing her career at the intersection of art and technology. Since 1999, she has worked on a variety of cross-media projects for Digital Innovations Group. Ellen is a co-founder of Smartspaces.org, a non-profit organization dedicated to placing art in public-facing spaces, and a co-founder of the Survivor Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising funds and awareness for the NYU/Bellevue Program for Survivors of Torture. She currently serves on the board of NYC-ACM SIGGRAPH. Ellen received a BA in Politics from Princeton University and an MFA in Digital Art from Pratt Institute. For more information, email Ellen Scott at ellen [at-sign-here] gamesforchange.org. | ||
 Photo by Joi Ito |
Suzanne Seggerman is President and Co-Founder of Games for Change. Before G4C, Suzanne was a Director at NYC-based think tank Web Lab, where she oversaw a variety of cross-media projects. At Web Lab, she co-curated the show "Provocations" for the 2002 Florida Film Festival, the first national exhibition featuring digital games about social-issues. Her background in online media includes community-oriented interactive environments and the design of non-traditional games, which earned her awards from New Voices New Visions and Communications Arts. Before her involvement with new media technologies, she worked as a documentary film producer for PBS, including on Ken Burns/Stephen Ives PBS series "The West" and as Co-producer of "Race For Life," a humanitarian aid and documentary film about Eastern Europe. Suzanne received a BA from Kenyon College and a Masters from NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program. For more information, email Suzanne Seggerman at suzanne [at-sign-here] gamesforchange.org. | ||
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Karen Sideman is the Project Director at Games for Change. She is an interactive and game designer with a specialization in educational play. She has been in this field for about as long as it has existed, and has been a participant in some groundbreaking projects and firms, including Edwin Schlossberg, Inc. and R|GA Interactive – often as a charter member, and always when the most interesting work was being done. She was also Creative Director of Sesame Workshop Online and led the team that built the deep, fascinating web presence for Sesame Street that continues to delight families today. In addition to Games For Change, Karen works with Sally Ride Science, making inspirational and informative materials for middle school girls interested in science and technology; and with This Is Pop; making edgy casual games.
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Mark Smith is the administrative assistant at Games for Change, and is
currently finishing his thesis in Film/Video production at the School
of Visual Arts in Manhattan - His films have been screened in several
festivals across the country. | ||
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Hsing Wei is the Reblogger and News Editor for Games for Change. Her work has spanned from strategy consulting in the private sector, to venture philanthropy, and media production. She continues to develop new content, programs, and partnerships for a range of for-profit and non-profit clients. Her most recent research focuses on collaborative, interactive media. Hsing received her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and Masters from the Kennedy School at Harvard University. For more information, email Hsing Wei at news [at-sign-here] gamesforchange.org. | ||
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Lucy Bernholz, Founder and President of Blueprint Research & Design
Alan Gershenfeld, Managing Partner, E-Line Ventures
Franklin Madison, Technology Program Director, Industrial Technology Assistance Corporation
Dave Rejeski, Director, Foresight and Governance Project at the Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C.
Suzanne Seggerman, Co-Founder and President, Games for Change
Alex Quinn, Executive Director, Games for Change
ADVISORY GROUP
Ian Bogost, Associate Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Founding Partner of Persuasive Games LLC
Malika Dutt, Founder and Executive Director of Breakthrough
Rafael Fajardo, Director, SWEAT collaborative, Associate Professor, Electronic Media Art and Design, and Director, Digital Media Studies, University of Denver
Barry Joseph, Director of the Online Leadership Program, Global Kids
Katie Salen, Executive Director of the gameLab Institute of Play; Associate Professor in the Design and Technology Department at Parsons The New School for Design.
Ben Sawyer, Co-director of the Serious Games Initiative and Co-founder of Digitalmill
Adrian Sexton, Executive Vice President, Digital, Participant Productions
Eric Zimmerman, Co-founder and Chief Design Officer of Gamelab
Funders
Games for Change has received generous support from:
- Industrial Technology Assistance Corporation
- MacArthur Foundation
- Microsoft Corporation
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- Surdna Foundation
Contact
Games for Change
666 Broadway, Suite 825
New York, NY 10012
212-228-7855 (voice)
212-228-6177 (fax)
Press Inquiries Only
917-478-4772