Beside the public halls which were full and loud even at the professiona-only day (!), I also visited the business center. There, I found a association for supporting game related business contacts to Iran, UK, Netherlands, Abu Dhabi and more. So gaming is really matter of the whole world, which is very very good, I think ! Also, I visited the booth of GAME, the german association for gaming industry.
That gaming can be more than "just playing" (which is itself a value, but not what I want to point out here), it can be used for learning (see my article in the current issue 9/11 of german computer magazine iX, or the web sites seriosgames.org, serios play conference and EDUCAUSE), it can be used to bring sensitivity and money to humanitarian projects. At the GAME booth, I could speak with Jasmin Kassner (CTO) and Kaspar van Treeck (CEO) from the Berlin based company ChawaChawa UG. They do this in a charming way: players play to gain goods, which are relevant for some humanitarian project. In order to give these goods a financial value, they are paid by the money coming in by selling places for ads. Because this ads are in the context of good causes (the games, the portal...) and because online games are a huge user group, placing ads there is a value for companies. But the real charming thing is that it makes humanitarian projects and problems obvious. I could imaging that putting a little bit the game based learning below this there would be a big chance to educate young people (and managers, btw......) about the real problems in the world. Btw, an other good example for this is the game Foodforce of the UN
I think, to find a good balance in this triangle of ads business, humanitarian projects and players is challenging, but definitively worth to try it. Humanitarian projects still needs more attention in our world!
p.s. Thanks Jasmin and Kaspar for your time, I wish you great success for this fine idea!
