Picture of Cláudio Luiz Castro from Unsplash
Videogame: a recognized medium for positive impact
After nearly two years of working on the creation of tools to support the emergence of ethical projects and studios in the video game industry, we had the opportunity to develop our thinking on the use of video games themselves.
The French media are regularly the scene of heated debate regarding the impact of video games. Our aim here is not to participate in this highly volatile debate – which is too broad to be addressed in a single article – but to offer a perspective on proven uses of video games in social and educational contexts.
A medium whose use can have a positive impact
During the Video-Games for Good project, all partners were able to see the value of this medium. Of course, we still face strong opposition when we talk about using video games to educate young people, whether from educators or their parents.
Once this barrier is overcome, we have been able to test and validate the direction of this project. Games, and video games in particular, can have positive societal impacts, and integrating this into a studio’s design or identity is not an insurmountable burden.
A less ‘green’ form of entertainment:
One factor to consider is the medium of video games: they are fundamentally less environmentally friendly than other non-digital forms of games. Nevertheless, there are several ways to improve this efficiency:
- Optimising the game to reduce its size (its weight on the network),
- Optimising performance: not needing to buy a new device to play it,
- Whether the game is online or not: being able to play it with a simple installation on your computer or console, without relying on network servers,
- …
By combining these best design practices with the significantly greater impact that video games can have compared to other forms of recreational activity, it is possible to play or create video games whilst remaining true to one’s values.
An interest recognised by the European Commission
Every year, several projects are co-funded by the European Commission for the creation of educational video games (known as ‘serious games’). To take a few examples via ERASMUS+:
- the programme co-funded the EcoQuest2 project, in which gaming plays a major role: video games and live-action role-playing (LARP) aim to strengthen young people’s ecological skills and capacity for environmental action, whilst helping educators teach these skills through playful learning.
- The D-ESL project aimed to create mini-video games to support English language learning, as well as to enable teachers to create their own educational games.
But the ERASMUS+ programme is not the only one! The Creative Europe programme also supports projects involving the creation of video games through various calls for proposals on different themes.
- The MEDIA Video Games and Immersive Content Development call aims to support the pre-production of video games with high creative value. This call is, however, intended for so-called ‘commercial’ games, i.e. non-educational ones.
- Other calls support the creation of ‘serious’ video games on more specific themes. For example, the Pixel Media project was co-funded by the CROSS-SECTORAL Media Literacy call: this project involves the creation of a video game to help young people develop critical thinking skills regarding online information and media consumption, particularly concerning the dynamics of influencers.
Scientific studies have already proven this, and this project allows us to once again validate the value of video games and the impact they can have by conveying values, as well as knowledge and skills.