The Games For Change festival kicks off in New York on Wednesday for two days of curated talks, panels, and arcades. It's the largest industry-facing event for social impact games globally, bringing together all facets of the video game and immersive media industries. Susanna Pollack, President of Games for Change, explains what attendees can expect from the event, and how the organization aims to empower game creators to enact social change through technology.

Opening Bell

Games For Change Festival Kicks Off, Aims To Enact Social Change Through Gaming

here to tell us all about It is Susanna Pollack President of Games for Change. Susannah, glad to have you on this morning. What can we expect from the festival this year. We're so excited to have the opportunity to come back to new york city in person after two years of virtual programming. Um Our event is an extraordinary event that brings together different stakeholders across the industry. Um and we focus on how games can be drivers of social impact. We have curated sessions around games and learning, reimagining education by bringing games and game like environments into schools. We have sessions on health and wellness about how um games can reshape care and comfort during the rise of digital medicine and then a track on civic and social issues how games can amplify voices and fuel responsible citizenship. And finally, we have an XR for Change track which explores the many ways how immersive tech drive change, all of that sounds amazing. Something that that you know, I haven't been exposed to before, but I'm curious that extent. How can games actually then be used to drive social change, especially with such a fast growing and evolving industry. Sure, well, you know, there are so many world events now that are affecting all of our lives and games is just this incredible powerful medium that's ubiquitous, you know, it's in all of our hands because of the mobile games industry. So it's a medium that no longer just um involves or attracts young people, You know, the average age of a gamer is now 34. Um and the gender, you know, breakdown is almost about 46% of women are playing games. So you have this very powerful medium that has a unique agency, a unique aspect of it, which gives players agency to actually affect the change of the game. And that kind of experience drives impact in a very an engagement in a very different way. What about disinformation? Specifically? Obviously an issue that we've been dealing with for years, maybe even years before it's come to our radar. How can gaming be used as a tool in the fight against disinformation? Well, again, because games are literally in everyone's hands across the world, right? You have this direct connection to them and they are games that are being developed. I mean even by the U. S. Government, the State Department Global Engagement Center has created games specifically around this issue. And there's a really fun game that actually um inverts the the experience where you are someone who's looking to spread information and misinformation and by learning about that, you actually can see the effects that it might have in you and your community and you personally, so media literacy and the ability to actually assess information where it's coming from is critical and through the process of playing games. Is it a powerful way to achieve that? And especially with young people thinking about how games can connect young people around this this this uh experience and being able to do that at a young age treating these media literacy skills is really, really important as a journalist hearing that I'm encouraged about even the future of my own industry, in that a game can help people gain that media literacy that's really critical for their lives. Um what I also find fascinating is that game for change also focuses on breaking down really complex ideas around things like mental health, race and importantly, especially right now abortion and um you know, the effort, it seems like it's a drive productive conversations and change. Can you tell us more about that mission? Sure. So games can uh provide experiences and immersive media, things like virtual reality experiences can provide a unique approach and insight into those um those issues. 11 way is thinking about perspective taking. You're able to step into the role of somebody else and understand how they might feel in a different way than you would by reading it or looking at documentary. We've been involved with a couple of really exciting projects that are looking to do this. We executive produced a VR experience called on the morning you wake. Um and that experience deals with the issue of nuclear weapons risk and brings you into an experience that actually happened in Hawaii about five years ago, where there was a false alarm that reached with alarm that reached everyone's hands Um across the the state where they thought that a ballistic missile was heading their way and for nearly 38 minutes, people had to grapple with the fact that this might be the end um of just the end. You're not. How do you deal with that with your family and your kids and your loved ones? So this experience brings you, brings you into that moment and makes you makes it understand that this is a human issue. Nuclear weapons is as much a human issue as it is a geopolitical issue. And through that experience on the morning you wake, we hope to engage dialogue with people all over the world about that. The experience will be at Games for Change Festival as well as being part of a global social impact campaign when we bring this experience to people all over the world. And there were other experiences like that that were involved in one called Goliath um which is about mental health and it's particularly schizophrenia where you were brought into the world of a man um experiencing that. Um and the last one to mention is a game experience called The choice, which dives into the conversation about reproductive health rights and abortion and understanding the experiences that women have to go through when they are presented with a choice like that. What's one takeaway that you hope people will have from the Games for Change Festival this year? Well, I think it's that that this is a powerful medium that has a power beyond entertainment. And while it is a welcome, you know, relief and distraction and um, and you know, it's fun games are fun. It's great. They should be fun. But there's also an opportunity to connect with people um, in in a different way. And I really hope people will seek out opportunities like that within their gameplay and their immersive media experiences. Susanna really appreciate your time and your insight. Susanna polish, president of Games for Change.