Grantmakers in the Arts Conf

Michelle Byrd

Oct 9, 2011

- $60B Global business

- 97% of teenagers in America*

- 60% of casual gamers are women*

- 27 is the average age of social gamers

WHY GAMES?

Pew Report, Nielsen

Games are expanding:

Arguably the most dominant media form of

the 21st Century

GAMES AND LEARNING

Federation of American Scientists & National Science Foundation:

* National Summit on Educational Games

“Games offer critical attributes for 21st century learning.”*

21st CENTURY SKILL BUILDING

Playing and making games foster critical skills necessary for success in a rapidly changing 21st Century world.

+ Systems thinking+ Digital media literacy+ Iterative process+ Creativity+ Problem solving + Team building + Planning & execution+ Collaboration

Computer and video games are being embraced by leadingfoundations, non-profits, universities, and government agencies

to further their public interest and educational goals

Catalyzing Social Impact Through Games

Some Trends to Keep in Mind

MAINSTREAM ADOPTION

Vice President Al GoreSupreme Court JusticeSandra Day O’Connor

US Chief Technology OfficerAneesh Chopra

DIRECT ACTION GAMES

DEVELOPING WORLD AUDIENCES

College/Professional

High School

Middle School

Elementary School

Game Design

Commercial Modding

Tools

C++

Programming

Scaffolded / Constrained Un-scaffolded / Unconstrained

YOUTH CREATING GAMES

TRANSMEDIA PROJECTS

Strength of Games

10 reasons why games are a powerful platform for highly

engaged learning and social impact

1. PARTICIPATORYGames are interactive, ‘lean-forward’: players make

decisions with consequences resulting in player agency

2. ROLE PLAYINGGames enable players to step into different roles

in different worlds, building awareness & empathy

3. CHALLENGES & REWARDSGames engage players deeply through a delicate

balance of challenges & rewards leading tohighly focused, sustained engagement

4. FUN TO FAILGames enable players to try & fail in a safe environment;

experimenting at their own pace until they succeed

5. SOCIALGames are increasingly networked, fostering

peer-to-peer, collaborative learning

6. GAMES AS SERVICEGames are increasingly becoming on-going services that

can be continually optimized for engagement and impact

8. BITS AND ATOMSGames are increasingly crossing over into the real-world

through new input devices, mobile & location-aware platforms

7. COMPLEXITYGames require players to navigate and understand

complex systems, interfaces & rules

9. MOTIVATIONGood games create a deep desire to learn.

10. UBIQUITY

XBOX 36027M

Wii45M

Mobile devicesBillions

PCsBillions

Sony PSP42M

Nintendo DS96M

Play power $10TV computer

Wii Ware Sony PSNNetwork

XBLA Sony PS319M

Sony PS250M

2 Case Studies

CENTENNIAL OF NY PUBLIC LIBRARY

OBJECTIVES:– Draw in demo likely never inside research library (teen to 20s)– Google + Wikipedia ≠ direct real-world engagement with artifacts

TACTICS:- Collaborate with game designer + author Jane McGonigal- Create unique, once-in-a-lifetime activation of the concept- Build one experience around live event. Build another for post event.- Make access competitive- Mission: In 2012, I’ll be the first person to…- Stay overnight at the Library- Participate in writing a book for the permanent collection- Complete 100 quests

FIND THE FUTURE IN ACTION

FIND THE FUTURE RESULTS

RESULTS- 5,000 applicants– 21,000 interacted with call out – project on FB, You Tube trailer– 500 selected participants (70 teams of approx 7 each)– 800 pg book created over night as part of permanent collection

RIVER TO RIVER FESTIVAL

COME OUT & PLAY– MUSIC, FILM, DANCE, THEATER, ART, PLAY– Free, month-long summer outdoor street game series– Lower Manhattan and Governor’s Island– NYC’s physical environment as backdrop for culture, design

RESULTS: - 800 + participants over 20 games – 500 on Governor’s Island for day of 15 games– The Commons (aka the “311” game) Real World Game Design winner– Cowgirl Cowhunt (1919 manhunt inspired by team tag)– Running of the Stocks (Running of Bulls thru Wall Street)– Dramatically increased diversity of participants – age, race– 1st incorporation of PLAY by Lower Manhattan Cultural Arts Council

FIELD DAY, GOVERNORS ISLAND

COMMONS, A MOBILE GAME

Funder Due Diligence

Project Team

Technology

Business &Fundraising

Production GameDesign

Art &Design

ContentWriting

Many fail: team does not have necessary skills to execute

ENGAGING QUALIFIED TEAMS

Many fail: under-resourced, especially games as service that require on-going resources.

Game as Product Game as ServiceGame released,

customer support fortime-bounded period

Social Networking

Virtual Worlds

Game continuallyupdated, enhanced,

supported 24/7

Downloaded Software

Boxed Software

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MODELS

Many fail: Marketing / distribution / contextnot baked into design.

Audience(1)

Sustaining(5)

Context(2)

Platform(4)

Assessment (8)

Gameplay(6)

Execution(7)

Impact(3)

PUBLISHING STRATEGY

A tech platform to create multiple titles with clear separation between back-end and content / GUI.

A GAME ‘ENGINE’

Multiple titles, multiple platforms, lowering the risk.

A PORTFOLIO APPROACH

www.gamesforchange.org

michelle@gamesforchange.org // @mbyrd