October, 2015, 21 century, a moment when we are living the future. REALLY, the future. And by living the future I am referring to the hundreds of millions of people all around the world who are living the “mass games exodus” into the virtual world phenomenon.
While games date back thousands of years and are not new to history, things have been changing recently.
Right now, the world holds an impressive over 200 million active gamers.
Reports say that those gamers play at least 13 hours/week.
For all these millions of people games are an important part of their lives. They are tools to learn new things and acquire new skills by, ways of entertaining themselves with and an escape to a better world. In this modern time games have the responsibility of “fixing” what is lacking in a the gamers’ reality. Therefore, making their lives better, more exciting and sometimes even more rewarding. With the number of players continuing to grow, we could safely say that the “power” of this community, as well as the power and impact of the games in our day to day life are exponentially increasing.
So how about the power of games?
Do these games make their wielders more anti-social and less adaptable the real world? Or, on the contrary, are they incredible innovative ways to understanding and developing past-time activity- educational-tools?
Over the last few years leading thinkers have been promoting this positive impact that games are starting to have on our life. At the same time, renowned universities like MIT (with their Gamelab) are already using simulation and serious games. As a result, they enable the student and young population a better understanding of economy, climate change, deforestation, flooding, as well as other crises that the world is currently facing. Taking all that into consideration it becomes clear that games have transcended the status of a trend. Seems like they are hastily becoming the new, most innovative and efficient way to change people`s perception of the world. And raise awareness and create change in the culture mindset. (Curious how an educational serious game looks like? Click here)
Extensive research is being conducted on the relationship between games and sustainability. In addition, researchers seek how games help understand and shape our conduct and daily lives. Many believe games are an untapped gold mine tool with limitless potential.
No matter who you ask, games have won a huge percent of population. And became a huge force to reckon with. How much will we use them to teach how to create a better and more sustainable world? That is up to us.
