
Session Information
Title | The Play of Persuasion: Why "Serious" Isn't the Opposite of Fun |
Presenter(s) | ![]() |
Time | Saturday, October 11, 9:00a-10:00a |
Location | Ballroom |
Format | Keynote |
Description | The current term for games that aim at promoting a message or educating a player are "serious" games, and there is an active debate in the persuasive game community about whether games have to be fun. But don't we want games to be fun? Why does the act of persuasion, even about a serious political or ethic topic, have to be mutual exclusive with a fun game? This talk looks at how political or educational persuasion has been used in a variety of entertainment media, and how the nature of games lends itself to a kind of emergent learning that has been used from novels to TV, where users learn without realizing it. Examples of current games in both the "serious" and not-"serious" genres show us how this hidden persuasion is at work today, and how we can more effectively harness it in the future. |