Serious Games: Changing The World Through Play!
A Research Project, supported by a 2013 Winston Churchill Trust Traveling Fellowship
In 2013, Hobo Theatre Director Jamie Harper was awarded a Winston Churchill Trust Travelling Fellowship to carry out research into Serious Games at the University of Miami. So what are Serious Games? Put simply, they're games that allow players to explore issues that are important to their world.
In the first phase of this research project, Jamie worked with Clay Ewing and Lien Tran, two leading exponents of serious game design who have made game projects on big issues like HIV prevention, Dengue Fever, US Immigration Policy and Skin Cancer.
The objective of the project is to develop a working method to make games that combine strong narratives with rich game play, empowering participants to shape the outcome of their own dramatic experience. For details of Jamie's first visit to Miami in November 2013, read his Games Blog.
Jamie has continued his work in game/drama design and will return to Miami in November 2014 to complete the second phase of his Fellowship project. In the interim between his two trips to Miami, he has led game/drama workshops for Theatre Delicatessen, led game simulation workshops for the creative consultancy Create Network, developed game/drama concepts with Director Alex Crampton and received a commission from Camden People's Theatre to design a game/drama for their 20:20 Vision Festival.
A Research Project, supported by a 2013 Winston Churchill Trust Traveling Fellowship
In 2013, Hobo Theatre Director Jamie Harper was awarded a Winston Churchill Trust Travelling Fellowship to carry out research into Serious Games at the University of Miami. So what are Serious Games? Put simply, they're games that allow players to explore issues that are important to their world.
In the first phase of this research project, Jamie worked with Clay Ewing and Lien Tran, two leading exponents of serious game design who have made game projects on big issues like HIV prevention, Dengue Fever, US Immigration Policy and Skin Cancer.
The objective of the project is to develop a working method to make games that combine strong narratives with rich game play, empowering participants to shape the outcome of their own dramatic experience. For details of Jamie's first visit to Miami in November 2013, read his Games Blog.
Jamie has continued his work in game/drama design and will return to Miami in November 2014 to complete the second phase of his Fellowship project. In the interim between his two trips to Miami, he has led game/drama workshops for Theatre Delicatessen, led game simulation workshops for the creative consultancy Create Network, developed game/drama concepts with Director Alex Crampton and received a commission from Camden People's Theatre to design a game/drama for their 20:20 Vision Festival.
