What Are Games Really Teaching Us?

Commercial computer games are built by designers whose personal philosophies and social backgrounds creep into their products. They’re at times explicit (e.g., war games portrayal of enemy soldiers), and at other times implicit (.e.g., ‘God Sims’ reinforcing various political and financial ideologies). Why is Lara Croft attractive? What does the hippy ideology of Northern California have to do with virtual world Second Life? This lively discussion looks at what the underlying ideologies of games are teaching us when we play them.

Join the BBC’s Gareth Mitchell, computer game consultant John Kirriemuir, serious game developer Mary Matthews from TruSim and The Play Ethic author Pat Kane in discovering what’s really being taught when we play games.

Expect to get your hands dirty: there will be plenty of games to play, and to deconstruct, throughout the evening.

Speakers:

John Kirriemuir, consultant, Silversprite.
Pat Kane, author, The Play Ethic.
Sophie Blakemore, video game designer

Facilitator:

Gareth Mitchell, Presenter, Digital Planet, BBC World Service.

Event organised by: The Science Museum, curated by Aleks Krotoski and sponsored by Nintendo

Talking on Twitter about the event, please use the hashtag, #danacentre.

This event is part of DigiFest