Gaming Literacy in New York City Tuesday, June 26, 2007

As reported by NPR and Gamasutra, there is a new high school opening in New York City with a curriculum focusing on designing video games.

Said Gamelab Institute of Play executive director Katie Salen, "We are conceiving the school as a dynamic learning system that takes its cues from the way games are designed, shared and played. All players in the school – teachers, students, parents and administrators – will be empowered to innovate using 21st century literacies that are native to games and design."

"This means learning to think about the world as a set of in interconnected systems that can be affected or changed through action and choice, the ability to navigate complex information networks, the power to build worlds and tell stories, to see collaboration in competition, and communicate across diverse social spaces. It means that students and teachers will engage in their own learning in powerful ways," she added.

—Gamasutra, "New NYC School to Promote 'Gaming Literacy'"

And now the MacArthur Foundation has pledged $1.1 million to support this effort to reinvent education by redefining what it means to be literate. As explained in the NPR podcast, the idea of envisioning the world as the interplay of dynamic systems is something unique to life in the 21st century and requires new ways of preparing children for those challenges.

This is exciting news. The Internet has brought about fundamental changes in the way we think about and use information. In Google era, the fundamental question has shifted from "What is the answer?" to "How do I find it?" Today more than ever, we need to synthesize many different viewpoints and explore ideas through many different media.

Game design is all about understanding the implications of interconnected systems, and the built-in motivational power of a game system can be just the sort of shot in the arm that the educational system needs – especially here in New York. The school is set to open after a two year incubation and planning period. This is an exciting project, and one I hope creates a new way of looking at both games and education.

Miss Video Game 2007 Thursday, January 04, 2007

Via The Average Gamer, I've been reading about the tragically misguided Miss Video Game 2007, a beauty-pageant-cum-gaming-tournament that purports to be trying to find the "voice of female gaming". This sounds well and good until you dig into the details. Oh boy. You know it's trouble when one of the requirements for contestants is that they "love the beach". Um... hello? The beach? Sand in your keyboard and sun glare? That beach? Right. That's what female gamers are all about.

Alihja, an actual gamer chick, calls the endeavor "sexism in the name of equality", pointing out that the pageant's website is with mixed messages, and blogger gamingangel wrote to the organization to find out just who was behind this fiasco. The conclusion reached by many who have researched Miss Video Game is that this is a simple appropriation of the popularity of video games in order to turn a profit.

As we all know, women are entering the once-male-dominated video game space in huge numbers, and this shift in the market is affecting the way games are made and marketed. Women need to let the industry know what they want and the industry needs to take stock and ask how they can respond to the shifting market. Sure, we all like to ogle a "gorgeous gamer" now and then. But let's not denigrate women with a meaningless pageant in the name of representing their voice. You can photograph some hot chick holding a joystick and call her "Miss Video Game," but this farce helps neither women nor gaming. Instead, let's celebrate the real women geeks who are bucking the stereotypes. Let's give women equal consideration when making games. Let's offer some diversity in perspective.

At the end of her post, Alihja advises:

On a serious note to my fellow ladies of gaming, if you want to "be the voice of female gaming" then use that voice. Strive to be more than just eye candy, or a beauty queen who is advertising fodder for the male majority. Speak out, game to your heart’s content, and be opinionated.

And I couldn't agree more. Speak out, lady gamers. The smart game-makers will be listening.