So, I’m known really for many of the social change–based games that I create. Whether it’s the physical, fiscal sport Budgetball that’s played on the National Mall and talks about what it feels like to go into debt and what it feels like to get out of debt—both on a personal and federal level—to a game that gives a history of activism in different cities called Re:Activism, which has been played across the country.
You know Brecht used, had a quote, something about, “Art should not be a mirror; it should be a hammer to shape reality.” And I think there’s something interesting there, and I do think that games and culture provide us with an opportunity to push against the boundaries of a system and the rules of the system so we really look at all the possibilities. We break out of our own thought patterns and find new ways to think, and new perspectives and new points of view.
It lets us play as a kind of person that may not be socially acceptable in real life. So, you know, I can go out there and explore all kinds of issues without the kind of serious consequences that I might have in real life. So, play gives us that opportunity to really try things out, and then, maybe when we’re done, to think about how we can apply that kind of playful mindset to the world we live in.
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