Benjamin Stokes asks us several questions.

“What is social change?:

“Games are emergent. How do we fund things that are changing so rapidly?”

He talks about the importance of cross-pollination. How do we take our experiences here and spread them to other communities of practice?

What field will build games for the public good?

Hopefully, the conference will help with some of this.

Next, David Rejeski talks a little bit about the concept of a “Corporation for Public Gaming”. As he grew up watching TV as there was a big discussion about the impact of television on culture. Back in 1951 kids watched an average 2.4 hours of TV a day.

The discussions that he brings up about the social impact of television are very similar to the discussions we are having about video games today. By 1960, 86% of all households had a television.

He goes on to talk about the famous Vast Wasteland speech by Newton Minnow in 1961. He draws a parallel to how people are talking about games today. He notes that the Minnow from Gilligan’s Island was named after Newton Minnow. In terms of cross pollination, it seems as if the same issue applies to blogging and citizen filmmaking.

How do we get a broader discussion about gaming and society?

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