G4C Events
The Games for Change Annual Festival
Often referred to as “the Sundance of Video Games”, the Games for Change Annual Festival is the biggest gaming event in New York City, attracting over 800 participants every year. It brings together leaders from government, corporations, civil society, media, academia, and the gaming industry 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 production.
Highlights include Vice President Al Gore, who opened the 8th Annual Festival (June 20-22, 2011). Headlining the 2010 Festival were Honorable Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra.
Games for Change will be holding a new day-long Summit at the 2012 edition of the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco. GDC is the longest running and world’s largest professionals-only game industry event, drawing in over 19,000 attendees annually. You can learn more about the Summit at the Games for Change @ GDC website.
Inspiring Digital Kids Through Game Design
This annual Festival event, sponsored by the AMD Foundation, is a day-long workshop designed to help middle and high school teachers, nonprofit leaders, and others develop successful game design programs for their school curricula or informal learning programs. The annual workshop features creators of exemplary game design programs, a close look at some of the leading game making tools now available, and indispensable advice for setting up new youth game design programs. The project is part of AMD’s signature education initiative “Changing the Game“.
G4C Global
International Games for Change Chapters
The growing international influence of “games for change” movement is evidenced by the emergence of licensed chapters in different regions of the world. The first, in South Korea, was formed in 2007. With our assistance, the chapter has worked with the South Korean government to sponsor games; hold annual game-making summer camps for youth, and has encouraged the adoption of a version of the iCivics game in collaboration with the Korean Ministry of Justice. Inspired by PeaceMaker’s treatment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the South Korean chapter also facilitated government funding of a new game on the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea called Nanu Planet.
In France, The Chamber of Commerce in Valenciennes supported the establishment of Games for Change Europe. Seeing an opportunity to link games with economic development, the government launched the first European Games for Change Festival in May 2011.
A newly formed Latin America chapter, headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil, is moving quickly to forge strategic partnerships, including one with the Brazilian Association of the Game Industry and the Brazilian Computer Science Society. The first annual Latin America Games for Change Festival was held in São Paulo on December 8th – 11th.
Learn more about our international chapters below:
Games for Change Europe
Games for Change Latin America
Games for Change Korea
G4C Lab
Half the Sky is a transmedia project based upon the best-selling book by Pulitzer Prize winning authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. The project aims to highlight the moral challenge of oppression of women around the world, and equally to present the opportunities women offer to promote economic development and combat fundamentalism – to “hold up half the sky,” in the words of a Chinese saying. Games for Change is working with several partners to develop the initiative’s game projects: a global Facebook game and mobile games in India and Africa. Funders of the Half the Sky transmedia project include the Corporation for Public Broadcasting(CPB), USAID, the Ford Foundation, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and ITVS.
Games for Change offers a suite of services to guide organizations and people who are actively pursuing computer and video games to further their public, philanthropic, or academic mission. Clients include organizations such as USAID, the World Bank Institute, the American Museum of Natural History, and CURE International. The services seek to lift up the field of social impact games and can range from the modest to the comprehensive via the following packages:
1. A concept workshop to plan and scope game related projects
2. Taking a project from concept through vendor selection
3. The full-range of services, from concept to launch and beyond.
Learn more at the Games for Change Lab.
G4C Curation
Games for Change curates dozens of digital and non-digital games that engage contemporary social issues in a meaningful way. These games have been created by cross-disciplinary teams from around the world. If you enjoy these games, please share them with your friends, family and community.
News Games
With the support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Games for Change has developed a series of panels, a game channel, a game award show, and other activities to explore the use of digital games to better inform and engage the public in understanding the most important public issues of the day.
Stay Connected
We manage a high-quality online discussion group focused on supporting and making social impact games (over 1,200 active participants). Click here to join our Google Group and learn more ways to stay connected with Games for Change!
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