Tomorrow, August 20, Asi Burak will speak on video games and social good in an hour-long webinar. The first half will be dedicated to the talk and the second half to a Q&A session. Burak promotes games for social good through his annual Games for Change Festival.
The webinar will focus on how video games relate to social good and how they can be better. Burak will cover the latest trends and the core challenges in this field. These are issues that the game industry and the organizations that use games for social good are facing. There will also be case studies and success stories from a variety of sectors around the globe.
The webinar’s hook is as follows:
“By any measure, digital games—played on personal computers, game consoles, mobile phones, and tablets—can be considered the most powerful medium of the 21st century. The reach and impact of digital games is obvious: It is now a global $72 billion industry that over 67% of American households participate in. Like other mass media before it, games can advance social good and learning: they can spread information, raise awareness, inspire social action and build civic participation—and do so across cultures and age differences. Recent studies have revealed their educational benefits, debunked stereotypes about who is playing, and underscored how games can contribute to positive change.”
Asi Burak is the President of Games for Change and producer of the Games for Change Festival. The festival has been called the “Sundance of video games.” Whether or not that’s accurate, Games for Change does put a different focus on gaming than your conventional conference, which tends to put the emphasis on games as leisure.
Burak has overseen the investment of over $8 million into projects for change. He also founded Impact Games in Pittsburgh, where he led the creation of two different games—PeaceMaker and Play the News—that focus on social good and social change. He is currently a faculty member at the School of Visual Arts’ MFA in Design for Social Innovation. He received an MS in entertainment technology from Carnegie Mellon University.
The Games for Social Good Webinar will be held at 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. EDT, August 20. You can sign up here.
