The people transmitting their stories to the next generation arent priests or poets or medicine wome

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• The people transmitting their stories to the
  next generation arent priests or poets or
  medicine women. Theyre multinational
  corporations. And they are not trying to appease
  the gods. They are trying to appease the
  shareholders (Herz, 1997, p. 170).

Can we reclaim the story medium in one of its
contemporary formsi.e., videogamesto use it in
a socially-responsive way so as to engage people
in giving global citizenship?
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Why VideoGames?

• Americans now spend more money on videogames than
  they do going to the movies.
• Halo2 on day one grossed 125M vs. Spider-Man2
  40.4M
• Now, over 5 Million copies worldwide, over
  900,000 unique users, 28 Million hours of playing
• WOW on day one had 200,000 player accounts
• By 500pm, over 100,000 concurrent players
• Now 5 Million users global, 2-3 Million US
• In U.S. 11 Billion, 30 Billion Global sales
• 53 rated (E), 30 (T), lt15 (M)
• Nintendo game console in 600,000 hotel rooms

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Why VideoGames?

• Over 80 of homes have videogames
• 40-60 of Americans play videogames
• 39 are women
• Average gamer spends 2 hours per week
• EverQuest reported 650,000 users staying online
  an average of 20 hours per week
• Pew Report found all college students played
  games,
• ½ played multiuser onesbreaking the antisocial
  myth
• NOT JUST A FAD (A DEFINING PART OF CHILDHOOD) FOR
  YOUNGER GENERATION
• Over 34, lt30 (frequent or moderate experience)
  
• Under 34, gt75 (frequent or moderate experience)

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Gameplay is Not Trivial

• Genres Role-Playing Games, First-Person
  Shooters, Action, Adventure, Fighting, Sports,
  MMOs, Racing, Real-time Strategy, Puzzle Games,
  Flight Simulators, Self-Help
• "I couldn't play the game for like a week after
  that, because I was so depressed."
• "Friends still talk about their surprise, shock
  and denial when they reached that point in the
  game."
• A father was playing the game with his two young
  sons, and apparently Aeries' death was too much
  for them "For months, we couldn't even listen to
  the musical theme without one of the boys
  bursting into tears."

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• Affordances of Civilization III
• confront political dilemmas such as pursue
  isolationist politics, build complex alliances,
  gain resources through force, etc.
• use maps, charts, graphs to understand the growth
  of their civilizations
• recreate histories that confront sanctioned
  narratives
• not factual, but rules binding game are realistic
  and lend insight into how history unfolds (e.g.,
  interrelationships among political, economic, and
  geography)

6
Ideological Worlds

• Scholars have documented the
• discursive richness,
• depth of collaborative inquiry,
• complexity of game play,
• opportunities for consequentiality,
• rich perception-action cycles,
• opportunities to explore identity,
• rich content, and
• complex forms of learning participation.

7

• Can we use games to develop a game on giving
  global citizenship?

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Current Work

• Bringing together a select group of Game
  Designers to develop the core vision (weekend)
• Developing a working prototype, Determine
  marketing plan (3 months)
• Developing a full-fledged multi-user virtual
  environment (6-9 months)

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• eradicate extreme poverty and hunger,
• achieve universal primary education,
• promote gender equality and empower women,
• reduce child mortality,
• improve maternal health,
• combat various diseases,
• ensure environmental sustainability, and
• develop a global partnership for development.

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The Challenge
Education
Entertainment
Socially-Responsive Game
Social Commitments
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Luminating vs. Levelling
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The Quest Atlantis Project
Quest Atlantis is a Web-based community-driven,
meta-game context built using 3D technologies. It
combines elements of play, role playing,
adventure, and learning
allowing 912 year old children from diverse
socio-economic backgrounds to engage in a rich
trans-media narrative within which they can
virtually travel to 3D worlds where they select
engaging quests, talk with other Questers and
mentors, and build virtual personas.
U.S.A, Australia, Singapore, Sweden, Denmark,
Turkey, China
3,500 QA Members
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Legend of Atlantis

• Atlantis is facing impending disaster
• Disaster is a result of lost values and corrupt
  leadership
• A Council opened a portal to find help
• Children of the Earth can use this portal to save
  Atlantis
• Centers have been created to access the portal
• Earth children can save Atlantis and avoid our
  common fate

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Entertainment
Education
Quest Atlantis
Quest
Social Commitments
3D Space
Avatar
Quester Homepage
Chat Space
The OTAK
http//QuestAtlantis.Org
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What is a Game?

• A game is a system in which players engage in an
  artificial conflict, defined by rules, that
  results in a quantifiable outcome.
• System
• Players
• Artificial (boundaries between artificial real)
• Conflict
• Rules
• Quantifiable outcome