The Starting Point Matters

February 5, 2011

Continuing my contemplation about video games, what I really want to see in a game and how games can be a tool in social justice work. I had a conversation with a friend of mine last night who had read my post about Fable III and had some comments about what I had said. He is a programmer so he knew which parts of my musings were not possible in the fabrication of games. I understand theoretically and very basically how games are put together and know that a game with unlimited choices is impossible because one could never program the myriad choices that people might think up. I don’t necessarily think that this limitation really puts a limit on the content that I would like to see in a game or the ability a game might have to make people think critically about their decisions instead of just giving a false choice between “good” and “bad.”

It got me thinking about what I really wanted to see in games that I have not found in my limited game experience. And I realized it has to do with where the characters begin. The starting point matters. In making decisions as a character who is a prince or a hero one has very limited capacity for imagining why someone might make the bad decision, unless they are purposefully trying to play the game that way. What if games were not so one-sided though? What if instead you could play a game where you could see how the starting point of different characters affects how they make their decisions and how because of starting points these decisions could be judged as wrong by where the other characters come from. The complexity of choices in life is massive and it is this complexity that is missed in games. What if one was able to view or play as 3 different characters, a princess, someone of the middle class and someone poor. From the outset basic decisions would have vastly different consequences for each of these characters. It would be an amazing way to consider others’ points of view and to think about why people do the things that they do.

One game that I have not had the opportunity to play, but which I really like the idea of is a game called Consent designed by youth in a program by Global Kids. In this game you play as a person in jail and are asked to make choices about participating in medical studies. The game is based on the experimentation of African-American prisoners in the United States from the 1940’s on. As you get injected with experimental drugs, cancer, and more you get early parole or money and may be written up if you choose not to participate. Your health, moral and wealth increase or decrease depending on your choices until you are granted parole. To see a video of the game click here: http://www.olpglobalkids.org/gaming/

This game does not show multiple perspectives, but does present choices from a different viewpoint than that of many games. Understanding different viewpoints is crucial to creating change. If one understands where someone is coming from, it becomes much more difficult to judge them as immediately wrong. Maybe their decisions are not the best ones for themselves or their communities, but there is a reason that they make those decisions. Because video games allow the player to assume the role of another they are an incredible tool in moving toward understanding. It makes me ask myself, what if more games started from a different point? What if you were not a princess/hero/soldier or other armed figure? How would that change the decisions that you make?
 

On Playing Fable III

January 30, 2011
I want to start a youth developed video game program in Baltimore. I am also dating a video game designer.  I think that because of these two circumstances, as of late, I have begun playing more video games. My most recent game experience has been playing Fable III. The game has a premise I found interesting, the character that you play as is the sister or brother (depending on your preference) of the king. Early in the game one has to decide whether to save one's love interest or a group of ...
Continue reading...
 

What Does Trust Look Like?

January 27, 2011
I had a thought provoking day at work this week. There was an incredible moment of communication, people shared a lot and I appreciated everyone's openness and honesty. In conversation we talked about where we were coming from, the issues that made us angry and brought us to community work and how we would define those problems and intervene. It made me think about how much we have to understand about ourselves in order to do work with others, especially in community, with youth and working t...
Continue reading...
 

On the Justice of Conflicts

January 19, 2011
It is the time of year for staff reviews. One of the questions we were asked was about skills that we would like to develop. I found myself immediately thinking that I wanted to be better skilled at social justice based conflict resolution. I wrote it down as something to talk to my boss about. Then looking at the phrase on the paper I realized that theoretically I knew what the phrase meant, but that tangibly I didn't know what training in this would entail so of course, I googled it. The fi...
Continue reading...
 

How Do I Believe Your Truth?

January 11, 2011
On Saturday I attended the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) Producer's Institute Public Conference.  The conference addressed how the field of documentary has exploded in recent years, taking the nonfiction feature film into new and uncharted territories. Suddenly the art of storytelling and the experience of listening is something interactive. By using tools such as games, virtual worlds, the web, fiction hybrids, video blogs, immersive journalism, interactive mapping, and data visualization ...
Continue reading...
 

Gratitude for Support

January 3, 2011
I missed writing last week because of holiday travels. In 10 days I visited Chicago, Wisconsin, and San Francisco with two stop overs in the Denver airport. It is good to be home. Many things happened over the break, I started reading Molecular Revolution in Brazil, went to a wedding, spent time with family and friends, and explored cities that I am only vaguely familiar with. The time away gave me some clarity and insight to where I am now and where I am going. 

All of those stories and thoug...
Continue reading...
 

The Power of Words

December 21, 2010
I had many powerful words traveling through my mind tonight. My inspiration came from the students in a poetry class I co-teach that is run by the Youth Dreamers and Wide Angle. The truth and beauty of my students' words amazed me, the power behind them impressed me.  These were words that need to be honored. Words that sometimes come out raw and bare all that the speaker feels. At the moment words like these are spoken authentic communication occurs and all one can do as observer is be grate...
Continue reading...
 

Feeling Stable

December 13, 2010

A friend commented on my post last week about home and how he thought that nothing would feel like his childhood home until he was stable enough to stay somewhere and maybe have a family of his own. That something about the homey feeling of childhood had to do with all of the collected memories of that place that created a solid foundation.

I think that continuity does play a role in the feeling of home. Maybe that is why Baltimore feels like home to me – it is the first place I have liv...


Continue reading...
 

What Makes A Home?

December 7, 2010

I am sure that I have written on the idea of home, what home means, what constitutes a home, etc., but again I am preoccupied with the subject. I suppose it has something to do with the holidays, visiting family, being in the house that I grew up in.  I am also again about to move, which might be more the reason.  I have spent much time over the last 5 or so years packing my belongings and moving them to another place and yet I find myself again beginning to go through the things that I own...


Continue reading...
 

It is About Power

December 1, 2010
All of our daily interactions occur on a foundation of power. The dynamic of this power is often habitual and a result of the way that power has been used in our surroundings from birth.  Very rarely is anyone asked to reflect on the way that they are using the power that they have or the way others are using it. Often we feel the effects of how this power is used. Hurt by friends who may cross boundaries in their jokes, frustration with a person of authority for using their power to control,...
Continue reading...
 

My blog


This blog will address issues of communication, art, and life from my point of view. It is a means for me to keep writing, thinking critically, and finding meaning in my life and work.