1. Grantmakers in the Arts Conf Michelle Byrd Oct 9, 2011

2. - $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:

3. Arguably the most dominant media form of the 21 st Century

4. GAMES AND LEARNING Federation of American Scientists & National Science Foundation: * National Summit on Educational Games “Games offer critical attributes for 21st century learning.”*

5. 21 st CENTURY SKILL BUILDING Playing and making games foster critical skills necessary for success in a rapidly changing 21 st Century world. + Systems thinking + Digital media literacy + Iterative process + Creativity + Problem solving + Team building + Planning & execution + Collaboration

6. Computer and video games are being embraced by leading foundations, non-profits, universities, and government agencies to further their public interest and educational goals

7. Catalyzing Social Impact Through Games

8. Some Trends to Keep in Mind

9. MAINSTREAM ADOPTION Vice President Al Gore Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor US Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra

10. DIRECT ACTION GAMES

11. DEVELOPING WORLD AUDIENCES

12. College/ Professional High School Middle School Elementary School Game Design Commercial Modding Tools C++ Programming Scaffolded / ConstrainedUn-scaffolded / Unconstrained YOUTH CREATING GAMES

13. TRANSMEDIA PROJECTS

14. Strength of Games

15. 10 reasons why games are a powerful platform for highly engaged learning and social impact

16. 1. PARTICIPATORY Games are interactive, ‘lean-forward’: players make decisions with consequences resulting in player agency 2. ROLE PLAYING Games enable players to step into different roles in different worlds, building awareness & empathy 3. CHALLENGES & REWARDS Games engage players deeply through a delicate balance of challenges & rewards leading to highly focused, sustained engagement

17. 4. FUN TO FAIL Games enable players to try & fail in a safe environment; experimenting at their own pace until they succeed 5. SOCIAL Games are increasingly networked, fostering peer-to-peer, collaborative learning 6. GAMES AS SERVICE Games are increasingly becoming on-going services that can be continually optimized for engagement and impact

18. 8. BITS AND ATOMS Games are increasingly crossing over into the real-world through new input devices, mobile & location-aware platforms 7. COMPLEXITY Games require players to navigate and understand complex systems, interfaces & rules 9. MOTIVATION Good games create a deep desire to learn.

19. 10. UBIQUITY XBOX 360 27M Wii 45M Mobile devices Billions PCs Billions Sony PSP 42M Nintendo DS 96M Play power $10 TV computer Wii WareSony PSN Network XBLASony PS3 19M Sony PS2 50M

20. 2 Case Studies

22. 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

23. FIND THE FUTURE IN ACTION

24. 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

26. 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 – 1 st incorporation of PLAY by Lower Manhattan Cultural Arts Council

27. FIELD DAY, GOVERNORS ISLAND

28. COMMONS, A MOBILE GAME

29. Funder Due Diligence

30. Project Team Technology Business & Fundraising Production Game Design Art & Design Content Writing Many fail: team does not have necessary skills to execute ENGAGING QUALIFIED TEAMS

31. Many fail: under-resourced, especially games as service that require on-going resources. Game as ProductGame as Service Game released, customer support for time-bounded period Social Networking Virtual Worlds Game continually updated, enhanced, supported 24/7 Downloaded Software Boxed Software SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MODELS

32. Many fail: Marketing / distribution / context not baked into design. Audience (1) Sustaining (5) Context (2) Platform (4) Assessment (8) Gameplay (6) Execution (7) Impact (3) PUBLISHING STRATEGY

33. A tech platform to create multiple titles with clear separation between back-end and content / GUI. A GAME ‘ENGINE’

34. Multiple titles, multiple platforms, lowering the risk. A PORTFOLIO APPROACH

35. www.gamesforchange.org michelle@gamesforchange.org // @mbyrd