Social Responsibility and Gaming

Social Responsibility is one of the most important features of Community Internet Networks.

In the world of Gaming we are begining to see the issues of Social Responsibility and Cultural Integrity taken into consideration. A few years ago the idea of moving on beyond combat, conquest, weapons and other less than culturally valuable actions, was thought to be impossible. But:

The time has come to move on. The early models we created for the first generation of computer games were a mix of “edutainment” simulation games and more action oriented games. Around the time of the release of Duke Nukeum and Wolfenstein a big change took place and the major focus of the game development industry turned to first person shooters, action and war games such as we see today on both Console and PC games.

First Generation game designs involved a remarkable amount of combat and conquest, violence and weapons, all in a mix of medieval and space settings.

Folks are ready for games that involve complex interaction, social communication and problem solving. The hours which we put into game play can be hours spent learning about and solving new environmental and social problems, creating new models for Sustainable Communities and Sustainable Agriculture and more. We can teach and learn about new tools and techniques for creating peace just as easily as we can keep on doing what games are doing today, which is teaching how to fight, how to use weapons and how to engage in an endles variety of combat centered quests.

We need to see curriculum in public schools begin to address the ideas of Socially Responsibly and Culturally Sustainable Games and what all that means. Ask the average High School gamer what their opinion is about “Culturally Sustainable Gaming” and then you’ll understand it is time to build new curriculum, new areas of study for our young students.

Games represent a new form of Literacy. Stories are being told, new imaginary and not so imaginary worlds are being woven into intensely social games. Many of our old fairy tales and much of our understanding of religion and culture is being explored in new games. Gaming, like the book and the printing press, has brought forward a new level of communication and social involvement for an astonishingly broad range of people around the world by introducing this new, universal literacy.

Now it is time for our young Game Designers to begin the creation of a next generation of games with an entirely new, culturally and socially sustainable, purpose. It’s time to use our gaming technology to teach the skills of peace not war.