Alice from Wonderland reports on the just-around-the-corner One Laptop Per Child three-day game jam that’s going to be taking place from June 8-10. The jam, says Serious Games Source, will bring together “hundreds of developers, educators, and artists” to “create open source educational games for the XO laptop,” which One Laptop Per Child is currently being deployed in numerous high-need countries across the world.
Not only is developing for One Laptop Per Child a good deed, it’s also got amazing potential to literally change global gaming. Think about it. Thousands and thousands of children who have never played electronic games before–a whole generation of new, creative designers–will be experiencing these titles. One Laptop Per Child actually had a design contest at GDC this year to inspire ideas, which I thoroughly meant to write an article about. Hopefully even more great concepts will come out of this jam!
June 5th, 2007 at 10:08 am
How about we work on providing all kids with good and sufficient nutrition, medicine and basic education before we get around to handing out toys?
How many youngsters around the world don’t have access to a library, for crying out loud?
Games are great. Electronic games are great. But given the real and pressing needs of most of the world’s kids, there is something deranged about this.
June 6th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Point taken. But still, someone has to be thinking beyond basic needs. Isn’t it possible that kids with high-tech skills will be more prepared to solve their own, local shortage issues on their own? Just a possibility…
June 6th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
BrainFromArous, the One Laptop Per Child computers aren’t “toys”: they’re computers. The project is a serious effort to give children in third-world countries the same access to computing power and the Internet that you have at your office or home. Even if they’re not on a power grid.
“How many youngsters around the world don’t have access to a library, for crying out loud?” - Giving them a wifi-enabled laptop gives them access to reading and educational material.
The game competition is a chance to explore what the laptop can do and get people excited about it. For most of the contestants I’m guessing it’ll be their first exposure to the hardware, and it’ll give them a reason to evangelize about it later.
June 7th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Thanks, ugh. That’s what I meant to say :).
June 11th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
“Giving them a wifi-enabled laptop gives them access to reading and educational material.”
Assuming that a whole panoply of delicate technological gadgets and systems stays in proper working order.
Not so much of a problem when you give them actual books, on the other hand…