“Make love games, not war games” was the theme for most of the day at GDC Day 2. Although many speakers and companies were a part of the Games for Change track, a few of them stuck out more than others. Lincoln Brown of Sojo Studios (the creator of Wetopia) was definitely one of those few. Wetopia is a game where players can earn a currency called “Joy” by playing with friends. Player can spend that “Joy” by spending it on real-world projects that help kids, such as building a new school in Haiti or a summer enhancement program for young American kids. “By playing Wetopia, the small acts of many add up to bug impact,” said Brown. It’s a very similar concept to the way foldit worked.
Another game that shined was Nicole Lazzaro’s Tilt World. The object of this game was to get enough points to plant real trees in Madagascar to prevent erosion of the island. Both these games are prime examples of games for good and hopefully examples that other game designers can learn from. Perhaps we’ll see some games like this pop up on Kickstarter–another company covered at Day 2 (not in the Games for Change track). It was fantastic to hear that gaming is the most popular category on Kickstarter and gaming has the highest success rate as well. So, to all you game designers out there…think about creating some games for good and crowdfunding them through Kickstarter!
