Games for Change hits a high point for inspiration in its 20th year | The DeanBeat
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Games for Change has a strong community behind it. That was evident this week as the nonprofit group held its 20th celebration of games that have a social impact.
There were a lot more attendees this year at Games for Change 2023, held at the New York Times Center in Times Square in New York City, compared to the pandemic-hit gathering a year ago. In 2023, 1,118 people came out for the week-long event, compared to 1,023 in 2019.
People were chatty and cheerful, despite the mixed economy. And the group held a stellar series of talks at the United Nations — a historic step up on the global stage for gaming. This year, the idea was to use the power of games to raise awareness about the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals. And the UN is helping gaming get away from its past when people in pre-pandemic days worried about gaming’s addictive qualities. Now, in the wake of the pandemic, we all saw how games brought people together.
The strength of the show across the whole week shows that we have a lot of passionate people who want to make games that are not only fun but have a purpose with it comes to education, mental well-being, health, environmental sustainability, social change, diversity and inclusion, justice and equity, science and civic awareness.
Two decades ago, such games were scarce, and few people thought about video games when it came to advocacy for worthwhile causes in the world. Now, the Games for Change Awards show featured winners from among 400 games that were submitted for the 2023 contest alone.
The annual summit is a key part of the charitable organization’s mission to change the world with
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