GDC 2012: Games for Change summit talks from Livingstone, others announced

GDC organizers have announced details regarding the Game for Change talks from Ian Livingstone, Phil Stuart, and Jan Plass from NYU's Games for Learning Institute.

Industry vet and life president of Eidos, Ian Livingstone, will host a discussion titled "From Dungeons to Downing Street - How Games are Growing Up for Good!" In it, he will chat about how the mass media often portrays the industry in a negative light, and rarely focuses on the "good that game can do." Livingstone, will share his experiences in "raising the profile of the industry with the UK government," most recently with the Next Gen report on skills, and how the UK games industry gives back via the GamesAid charity, and mentoring PlayMob, a games start-up with a business model that focuses on "giving".

Jan L. Plass' offering, "AAA Game Mechanics Inspiring Learning and Assessment Mechanics", will discuss how "engaging mechanics compensate for shortcomings in aesthetics, musical score, or level design," especially with games for learning. Plass will discuss how the his group approaches designing games using custom mechanics and he will present demonstrations from the school's library of related learning and assessment mechanics and the foundations.

Finally, Preloaded's Phil Stuartwill host a track called "More Than Fun: Designing Games With Purpose" which will touch upon the challenges faced when creating games with a specific educational or communication objective. His talk will specifically discuss how to put the "about"' at the beginning of the game design process.

For more details of what to expect out of GDC 2012, visit our event hub.

GDC 2012 runs March 5 through March 9 in San Francisco, California.

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