Positive Contribution

scoops

scoops

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Dec 6, 2005
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Here's a question for you:

If you were a game developer, and you were charged with making some sort of measureable positive contribution to society with your games (or with just one game), how would you do that?

What issue or area of society would you target, and how would your game contribute?
 
I think addressing the obesity of children would be good. You could make a Psychonauts type game that took a lighthearted approach to highlighted the effects of laziness on kids.
 
one idea i wish i could implement is more software that is accessable for the severely developmentally disabled. this is the population i currently work with, and any adaptive equipment and technology is usually insanely overpriced.

i think a software program that could adapt itself to the ability of the user would be awesome.

one example scenario would be an apartment (and ideally this is with a visual VR rig). if the client could simulate the feeling of moving through a space, actually controlling their own progress through some kind of 3 dimensional space -- wouldn't that be awesome? if they were wheelchair-bound and lacked the ability to self-propel (electric-driven wheelchairs are expensive and usually only purchased for clients who have higher hand-eye coordination).

anyway. but if the person was a lot more able-bodied already, the focus wouldnt just be on moving through the space and manipulating objects, but they would be able to open the door and walk outside to face this whole social network of people... they could train job skills, practice real-life situations in preparation for being a working member of the world.

the hardest part is input device. there's so many ways that you COULD control an avatar in a virtual space...but hard to adapt ways for the wild variety of abilities you find in my clients. as crazy as it sounds, having direct brain-wave control would be the most ideal. while all this seems really steep, the future is right around the corner and tech is always advancing.
 
ToddPBC said:
I think addressing the obesity of children would be good. You could make a Psychonauts type game that took a lighthearted approach to highlighted the effects of laziness on kids.
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I was walking through WalMart (HATE HATE HATE walmart.... but anyway) trying to figure out how to spend a gift card I got there... I was passing through the toys section and something ridiculously creative/stupid caught my little eye: exercise flash cards. I kid you not. They exist. I guess you just drop and do a couple sets of the exercise the card tells you to do. Are we really getting that lazy? Cards have to tell us how to exercise? (I mean, I dance how the arrows tell me to in DDR, but I do that for fun....)

Anyhoo, I guess if I had to make a game that contributed to society.... hm, it's not really a current issue or anything, but since people don't read like they used to (or so I've been hearing; at least, Scholastic released a monstrous survey on kids, claiming reading is dieing down) I'd probably try to make a game out of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. (Don't let him find out though; he's probably one of those scary authors who would kill me for suggesting such a thing and I respect his work very much ^_^). The book has enough material to create a good balance of sleuthing, cut scenes, and shooter/fighting action (i.e., the mech hounds), but the message the book carries would have to be the prevailing theme (the moral of the story is: knowledge vs. ignorance/censorship. Knowledge is represented by books, which are burned by firefighters on a regular basis in the book). I suppose 1984, wouldn't be a bad candidate either, but it's less video game ready than 451.

Fahrenheit is a good book though... read it! ^_^ (or anything by Bradbury... he's freakin' sweet... has a bit of a fixation with Mars and carnies, but he's a terrific writer)
 
This thread is dangerously on-topic, and is setting a bad precedent.

I would make a game where you kill every politician ever.
 
ToddPBC said:
I've always thought a non-cheesy game based on classic novels would be pretty fun. However, I'm also a huge nerd. :propeller
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wasn't parasite eve based on a novel?

i'd be more interested in games that make you think after you put down the controller, and i don't mean solving puzzles, or "educational games" (even tho, i still love math blaster), but games that make you get up and do a little bit of research of your own free will after you've completed them.

For example, anybody who's played through killer 7 was probably all, 'wtf' at the end. that's how it was for me, so i went and read game faq's plot analysis and also did a bunch of research about all the meanings behind all the symbolism in killer 7, i mean, somebody could seriously write a book about that game.

but my point is, that while in the process of trying to figure out the plot of a videogame, i actually learned something unintentionally, things i would never have stumbled upon had i never picked up that game.

i don't know, am i making sense?
 
Meggo the Eggo said:
I'd probably try to make a game out of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. (Don't let him find out though; he's probably one of those scary authors who would kill me for suggesting such a thing and I respect his work very much ^_^). The book has enough material to create a good balance of sleuthing, cut scenes, and shooter/fighting action (i.e., the mech hounds), but the message the book carries would have to be the prevailing theme (the moral of the story is: knowledge vs. ignorance/censorship. Knowledge is represented by books, which are burned by firefighters on a regular basis in the book). I suppose 1984, wouldn't be a bad candidate either, but it's less video game ready than 451.

Fahrenheit is a good book though... read it! ^_^ (or anything by Bradbury... he's freakin' sweet... has a bit of a fixation with Mars and carnies, but he's a terrific writer)
Click to expand...

I remember meeting Ray Bradbury at a lecture he gave back when I was in college (would have been about 1997 or so). Anyway, him hearing anything would be rather tough since he's rather hard of hearing. I had to yell at him when I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed his work...kinda uncomfortable.

I think there's a whole world of stuff that a game can open up in science and history as well. What about a game involving viral epidemics since Avian Flu is the big one scientists are waiting on? I can see that using the same mechanics as Sim City or some such. I also remember a really fun computer game when I was a kid that involved solving puzzles and trivia to help along the American Revolution. This nation is really remiss in teaching its own history, so what better way to get across the transformative events in U.S. chronology than putting together strategy or adventure games that don't suck.

Developers have to be careful, though, when putting together a "message" game. If you're too heavy-handed, it detracts from the fun factor. Plus, most game developers seem a trifle lax in creating ways to get across thematic depth...whether it's the pseudo-philosophy of a Japanese RPG, or the cheesy melodrama of Western game makers.
 
I wonder if there is a good way to use online gaming to conduct research. Think toned down Ender's Game concept.

Use the game to get kids/adults to simulate real stuff, then record the data on how they behave and whatnot and use that for developing products or social policies, etc.

What about using games to help people choose career paths, instead of those awful multiple choice tests?

And as for games that make you think after you put down the controller, there is a whole new genre of game called AR (Alternate Reality). This usually involved dummy web-sites set up for you to follow a track of clues and reach a goal. They aren't currently linked with any games, but I could definitely see a game in which you had to stop playing and go learn something online or read something in a book to solve whatever predicament your character is in. That's asking a lot of gamer's attention spans though. For instance, Spuds could never do it, even though I'm fairly certain he can read at least at a 3rd grade level.
 
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