2019 Games for Change Festival: Full Schedule

11:15am EDT

How to Talk About Games, Today

In yet another year where video games have been blamed for violence, the World Health Organization included “gaming disorder” in the International Classification of Disease proposed updates, and news media implicated video games as a leading factor in unemployment. How do we talk about the work they do? This fast paced, information-rich collection of mini-talks and Q&A provides attendees with the tools to have a meaningful dialogue about games, evidence of their benefit and the critique of their harm. It exposes the research, politics, and practicalities of the global games community.

Moderators

Lindsay Grace

Knight Chair, University of Miami

Lindsay Grace is a Knight Chair at the University of Miami. He was founding director of the American University Game Lab and Studio. His work has been awarded by the Games for Change Festival, the Digital Diversity Network, Black Enterprise and others. He has given talks at the Game... Read More →

Speakers

Dr. Mia Consalvo

Professor, Concordia University

Mia Consalvo is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Game Studies and Design at Concordia University in Montreal. She has most recently completed the book Real Games: What's Legitimate and What's Not in Contemporary Videogames, co-written with Christopher A. Paul. Mia runs the... Read More →

Roger Altizer

Director, Therapeutic Games and Apps Lab, Queensland University of Technology

Roger Altizer, Jr. is the co-founder of the Entertainment Arts and Engineering, the Director of Digital Medicine for the Center for Medical Innovation, and the founding Director of The GApp lab (Therapeutic Games and Apps) at the University of Utah. He works in serious and medical... Read More →

Andy Phelps

Professor, Rochester Institute of Technology

Andrew "Andy" Phelps is a professor at the Human Interface Technologies Laboratory NZ (HITLabNZ) within the College of Engineering at the University of Canterbury. He also serves as a Professor of Art & Design at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). He is the founder of the... Read More →

Tuesday June 18, 2019 11:15am - 12:00pm EDT
Starr Foundation

Civics & Social Issues, Panel

4:45pm EDT

Non-Profits Doing Good for Games

Moderators

Lucien Parsons

Chairman/Interim Exec Dir, International Game Developers Association

Lucien is the Chairman of the IGDA and has worked in video games and AR/VR for the last 15 years. He runs MAVRIC (the Mixed/Augmented/Virtual Reality Innovation Center) at the University of Maryland and is interim ED for IGDA. He was a founder of Zenimax Online Studios, maker of Elder... Read More →

Speakers

Gordon Bellamy

CEO, University of Southern California

Gordon teaches at USC Games, serves as head of the USC Bridge incubator and USC esports faculty advisor. He has played key business and product leadership roles at Tencent, Electronic Arts, as a designer on Madden NFL Football, and MTV.Gordon serves as the president / CEO of the Gay... Read More →

Susan Gold

Interim Director, Founder, The Global Game Jam

Susan Gold, an American scholar with a 20 year academic career and positive social impact. Susan created the Global Game Jam, a hackathon for games that has transformed the lives of game developers in over 113 countries. She's a proven leader, facilitator and activist trying to... Read More →

Meggan Scavio

President, Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Foundation

As the AIAS President, Scavio promotes, advances and recognizes the outstanding achievements in the interactive entertainment industry worldwide. She oversees the AIAS’ many initiatives benefiting the video games industry: the D.I.C.E. Summit – the industry’s premier gathering... Read More →

Tuesday June 18, 2019 4:45pm - 5:30pm EDT
Starr Foundation

Civics & Social Issues, Panel

3:15pm EDT

Games for Impact: Fostering the Games for Change Movement in Poland

The makers of Games for Impact and Digital Cultures, two annual events held in Warsaw, will share their experience of trying to break industry barriers, jumpstart the local games-for-change community in Poland and foster international exchange. They will be joined onstage by three Polish up-and-coming developers, who will share their experience working on three diverse games, which tackle issues ranging from social inequality to children’s health.

Moderators

Matt Parker

New Media Artist / Game Designer / Professor of the Arts, NYU Game Center

Matt Parker is a new media artist and game designer. He is a Professor of the Arts at the NYU Game Center and his work has been displayed at the American Museum of Natural History, Brooklyn Academy of Music,the New Zealand Festival, Princeton’s Lewis Complex for the Arts, SIGGRAPH... Read More →

Speakers

Anna Szylar

Digital Cultures Program Manager, Adam Mickiewicz Institute

Manager of the Digital Cultures program at the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, a state institution that aims to promote Polish culture abroad.

Jakub Zgierski

Coordinator of Games for Impact Warsaw, FINA (National Film Archive–Audiovisual Institute, Poland)

Coordinator and curator of Games for Impact festival in Warsaw, Poland – a space for social innovators and game developers from Poland and Central and Eastern Europe. Since 2015, Jakub is part of the programming team at FINA, a Polish cultural institution based in Warsaw, with a... Read More →

Agnieszka Mulak

PhD Student, Warsaw University / MoaCube (Game Developer Studio)

PhD student at Institute for Social Studies at Warsaw University. Writer and story designer at MoaCube, indie game development studio. A PhD student researching social impact of video games. Writer and story designer at a small indie dev studio. Determined to make her games - and... Read More →

Jan Cieślar

Founder, Failcore

Before starting his subversive games company Failcore, Jan Cieślar spent 10 years as a advertising creative, making viral award-winning campaign both for the Fortune 500 companies and charities. He has a vast communication experience including hundreds of business pitches, dozens... Read More →

Wednesday June 19, 2019 3:15pm - 4:00pm EDT
Room 105

Civics & Social Issues, Panel