From Living Room Console to Global Community
The earliest home video game consoles, including one of Ralph Baer’s prototypes, seen here, are only five decades old. Already they seem like ancient history.
Video games are now a vast industry, played by almost three billion people worldwide—forty percent of the world population. Though often associated with action and violence, video games also feature whole other worlds to be explored.
Gaming’s emphasis on problem solving and interactivity prepares players for a life of digital interfaces. Where might this massive industry go in the future, and what values and skills might it impart to the next generation?
This section includes the following objects:
Baer TV Game Unit #2
Never Alone
Games for Change
The Birth of the Home Video Game
The Pump Unit (TV Game Unit #2)
Ralph H. Baer, 1967
Aluminum and wood
Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History
Description: An aluminum box with a variety of wires and controls on the exterior. Switches, buttons, and knobs are identified with red label tape. Label text includes “on,” “off,” “multiple,” “random,” “audio,” “delayed,” “instant.” It is held up by a wooden stick. Inside, it is filled with more wires and batteries.
Description: A video game is played on the TV. A ball bounces between two floating squares on a screen.
A New Way to Tell Ancient Stories
Never Alone (Kisima Inŋitchuŋa) tells the story of a young girl and her arctic fox companion. The game, developed in collaboration with the Iñupiat, an Alaska Native people, shares their living culture with millions of people worldwide. It also inspires gamers within the community to engage imaginatively with their own storytelling traditions.
Description: A video game called Never Alone, Kisima Inŋitchuŋa (pronounced Keeseema Eengeetchuna). In this game, a young girl wears a heavy winter coat. She travels around an arctic landscape with a white fox. Together they solve various problems.
Description: A graphic for the video game, Never Alone, Kisima Inŋitchuŋa (pronounced Keeseema Eengeetchuna). A young girl and a white fox sit in a boat in an arctic landscape. The two figures are very small compared to a big glacier in the background. The young girl wears a big, furry, winter coat and paddles the boat. Both characters face forward.
Credit: Cook Inlet Tribal Council, E-Line Media, and Experimental Design
“Impact games” are video games designed as tools for education, health care, history and culture, research, civics, and social issues.
They have empowered positive change around the world for decades, making a difference in how we live, work, and play.
As you hear from game developers and explore the games themselves, consider this: how might future generations use such tools to benefit society as a whole?
Description: A large board with pictures and text explaining nine video games. There are three categories of video games. Each category has three topics. Topic 1 is, “Discover: Gaining Knowledge.” The first video game has a photo of a green landscape under a sky, the second has a photo of colorful sea creatures, and the third are two people’s faces. One has their hair in a bun and has light skin. The other is behind the first person and has buzzed hair and medium-dark skin.
Topic 2 is, “Connect: Fostering Community.” The first video game has a creature with dark skin and orange hair writing letters. Many letters fill up the table. The second photo is two people face away from the audience. They look toward a body of water. The third are many colorful pieces on a tree-like structure. There are many lights and screens attached to it. They wear matching outfits.
Topic 3 is, “Grow: Advancing Health.” The first video game has a photo of a creature in a ship underwater. The point of view is away from the audience. There are purple balls with spikes around the ship. The second photo is a person with blue hair crying. They are looking down. They wear yellow eyeshadow and black eyeliner. The third photo is a person running outside. They wear a Virtual Reality (VR) device over their eyes. They have buzzed hair and dark skin. There are many shapes and figures in the background.
See the full text of the board below:
Embracing the Power of Play
Socially conscious games, shaping a more inclusive future
Imagine a typical ‘gamer’. Who comes to mind? Contrary to popular belief, the average gamer in the US is 35-44 years old and 41% of players identify as women. In fact, 75% of all U.S. households have at least one person who plays games*. In the 50 years since video games first entered our living rooms, the medium has matured beyond a popular form of entertainment. As technology continues to advance, games for impact are embedding themselves across every industry, making a difference in how we live, work, and play.
About Games For Change
Founded in 2004, the Games for Change (G4C) mission is to empower games developers, XR creators and social innovators to drive real world change through games and immersive media. G4C’s signature program is the annual Games for Change Festival, which virtually welcomed 6,800 registrations and participants in 2020. G4C has numerous programs that advance serious gaming and learning initiatives, including the Games for Change Student Challenge — a national game design competition for public middle and high school students that has reached over 32,000 students over the last 5 years. *Entertainment Software Association, 2020 Essential Facts.
DISCOVER: Gaining Knowledge Games have become a powerful medium in and out of the classroom. They give educators new and creative ways to engage students and increase cultural awareness. On the research end, games are being used to predict trends and solve the world’s most pressing problems. With these methods of learning becoming more mainstream, through what means can we continue society’s universal quest to uncover the unknown and reinvent how we think, learn and receive knowledge?
CONNECT: Fostering Community Some experts show concern for increased time spent on screens, noting that it disconnects us from the world. However, the social value that we gain from digital interaction allows us to celebrate newfound opportunities for the human bond, and break the confines of physical spaces. As games give us more creative agency, we step outside the walls of our devices and build purposeful connections with players across the world.
GROW: Advancing Health With digital medicine becoming part of everyday life, games are reshaping how society experiences treatment, comfort, and fitness in their own homes; the possibilities for what comes next are limitless. Currently, games are being used to treat disorders, offer rehabilitation and deepen conversations about mental health. As we continue to see rapid advances in these technologies, how can games continue to revolutionize how we think about health and wellness?
Video Transcript with Description:
>>“Text appears: “Futures.” “Arts and Industries Building,” “Smithsonian.”
Games have the power to change the future because games can be transformative. They can take a person into another world, inspire them to use their imagination, access critical thinking skills and be a problem solver. And all of these are
important skills that we need as we imagine and create a better world.
>> A montage of video games. Next, a banner states: “Susanna Pollack – President, Games for Change.”
My name is Susanna Pollack. I’m the president of Games for Change. What people may not realize is the size of the video game industry. It is larger than the us sports industry and the film industry combined. And you can also use this very popular form of media to inform, to teach, to bring communities together and in some cases, even help with rehabilitation and therapies.
>> In a video game, a character flies a spaceship.
Games are reaching a sense of maturity in the way that other media have done before them.
>> Two characters land on a launch pad.
It’s so exciting to see people and companies come together to explore this one idea that video games can actually be a driver of social impact.
>> Text appears: “Minecraft.”
– 130 Million people play Minecraft every month, which is the best-selling video game of all time.
>> A blocky character swims.
Minecraft is an immersive block-based world where you can go to be creative. You can go to survive and you can go to just create whatever adventure you want to create. So we’ve taken that game and we’ve created a version of it that works in schools.
>> “Minecraft” appears on a classroom monitor. Next, a banner states: “Allison Matthews – Executive Producer, Minecraft Education.”
My name’s Allison Matthews, and I’m the executive producer for Minecraft Education. The types of lessons that we have in Minecraft range from literacy to English language learning to math and then even coding.
When we think about why having games in the classroom matters, we have to think about what is the world that these kids are living in and what is the world that they’re gonna grow up into?
>> Young smiling students play Minecraft in a classroom.
I sometimes think about the untapped talent that exists in some underserved
communities around the world, by bringing Minecraft and other games into classrooms
in a broader way that allows us to provide exposure to stem, exposure to gaming, exposure to technology in a way that these students care about and can relate to that
can possibly inspire them to participate in a different way in the world that they’re gonna grow up into. Kids actually wanna be there. Kids actually wanna be in the video game. That’s where they want to spend their time.
>> “Kind Words.” A purple video game character lies in bed.
– We started working on Kind Words in late 2018. We very concerned about
a lot of the xenophobia and exclusion, thoughtlessness. Kind Words is a reaction.
>> A banner states: “Ziba (ZY-buh) Scott – Founder, Popcannibal.”
I’m Ziba Scott and I run a little game studio in Boston called Popcannibal.
Kind Words is a game about writing nice letters. It’s all real people anonymous online. You write what you’re worried about, what’s stressing you out, what you’re afraid of and then you browse through everybody’s worries. And you find ones that you can connect with and you can maybe give them some advice or some comfort, or at the very least
you can let people know they’re not alone.
More and more in modern games, people, they love to put themselves into games. They wanna input. They wanna make things. They wanna build things. And there’s nothing that’s more expressive than language.
A lot of games are focused on building empathy, practicing behavior, and that’s what we want. We want people to build empathy, to have greater understanding of the problems of others. When they meet people or just think of the world, they frame it in terms of, you know, I’ve met people online who have the same problems I do.
I think it’s really going to broaden what people consider the definition of games and most importantly, who considers themselves a game player.
I’m optimistic that is going to open up the joy of playing games without shame or taboo or stigma to more people. For me as a creator, it’s addictive, it’s intoxicating. It’s the biggest invite I can give to somebody to be part of what I’m making and participate in it.
>> A message: “You worked hard, well done. Just know that I’m proud of you.” Now, another video game, “Sky.”
– What is Sky? Sky is a world where people actually feel natural to connect with each
other, to help each other and to be gentle and to be wholesome to each other.
>> In “Sky,” tall blue figures interact in a virtual world.
I think really what made this project special is emotionally, it created a different tone than any mainstream games.
>> A banner states: “Jenova Chen – Co-Founder, Creative Director, thatgamecompany.”
I am Jenova Chen, I’m the co-founder and creative director of thatgamecompany.
For Sky, it’s really about making you feel vulnerable with each other. In order to make people feel altruistic, it’s like a bright side of the humanity, you have to have selfish behavior that you have enough shade to make the light feel bright.
When we created Journey and Sky we really wanted to focus on how can we change the entire world, change the entire system to see things that we love, because you cannot force people to do things.
>> Two glowing characters hold hands then sparkle as they run together.
You cannot say, you go there to be a generous person, give this person all your resources. You know, they won’t do that. My hope is we will have rich interactive experience used in games, that will be applied to social applications, to work applications and to educations.
>> Caped characters fly side-by-side.
I wanna see a future where there is no concept of gamers versus non-gamers, no concept of this is not a game enough.
>> A game title: “Supernatural.”
– The problem that Supernatural solves for people is that for many of us, exercise is not fun.
>> Banners state: “Leanne Pedante – Head of Fitness, Supernatural” and “”Chris Milk – Co-Founder & CEO, Supernatural.”
– I’m Leanne Pedante. I am the head of fitness at supernatural.
– I’m Chris Milk. I’m the CEO and co-founder of Supernatural.
– At its core, Supernatural is a high intensity, full body, cardio workout to music and immersive environments. I like to call it a sport from the future. You’re doing a combination of movements. That’s almost like fencing and tennis and dancing. At the end of it, you take off this VR headset. You forgot that you were even in your living room, you’re covered in sweat and you just did a workout.
>> A player removes their VR headset and smiles.
– We have a lot of members who tell us, I’ve never exercised continuously in my life for any period of time. And I just worked out for four months straight. Members that are in their sixties, seventies, and eighties. This is opening the door to that healthy lifestyle.
– The feedback that we hear from our community is I’ve tried to be inside of so
many fitness spaces before, and I’ve never felt welcomed and I’ve never felt like it was for me.
>> Wearing a VR headset, a person swings paddles in a virtual world and smashes flying cone-shaped objects.
And supernatural is the first time that I felt like I was a part of something that was for me.
– Even though we’re using the most advanced technology that’s available today,the act of moving your body to a beat in nature is about as old as our species. And we make it possible to do it in your pajamas, in your apartment.
>> A video game title: “Endeavor R-X.” A yellow video game character flies a spaceship.
– Software based medicine, digital treatments have not only the opportunity, but I think a responsibility to listen to patients and adapt and cater to patients in a brand new way.
>> A banner states: “Eddie Martucci – Co-Founder & CEO, Akili (uh-KILL-ee) Interactive.”
My name is Eddie Martucci and I’m the co-founder and CEO of Akili interactive. At Akili we have a big mission which is to create a totally new type of medicine. So that for the first time, your medicine actually feels like a game.
>> Video game characters traverse futuristic courses and fiery landscapes.
Your medicine feels like something you do just for fun.
EndeavorRX is the first FDA approved treatment that’s delivered through a video game. It’s also the first digital treatment of any type for attention function in children with ADHD. What’s happening underneath is there’s an algorithm that every second of the experience is tailoring what’s on the screen
>> A welcome message.
and what the child has to do based on the neuroscience of exactly how the front part of the brain needs to process information to hold its attention over time.
This is a sophisticated algorithm that allows us to deliver really potent targeted activation to the brain. But the child is experiencing a fun, very natural video game.
>> An obstacle course
Medicine has traditionally really operated as a paternalistic top-down approach saying,
this is what patients will take, and this is what they have to take.
And it’s quite rigid for good reason. We’re really excited about what we’re developing at Akili, but there’s a whole world coming behind us of new types of digital treatments in ways that are really unexpected.
>> A list of credits follows. (GRAPHICS) Text appears on screen against a white background: “Futures.” “Arts and Industries Building, “Smithsonian.”