Can computer games make the world a better place?

Minecraft is one of the most successful videogames of all times, having an established user-base of more than 100 million players. Even though it is considered by many just a game, a substantial number of players undertake the role of “professional builders” and monetize their work of building content in the game. This so-called “commissioning market” is currently organised and sustained solely by said professionals. This talk revolves around the ways in which the work in this market is socially organised, elaborating on the roles and the practices that are enacted by the players.

Pervasive games unchain the player from their console and lead them out into the real world beyond their front door. In pervasive games, the everyday world provides the settings, props and characters that populate your game. I will introduce the mobile and wearable technologies that are driving pervasive games as well as the technical and ethical challenges that game designers must address as the everyday world begins to change computer games forever.

Computer games have been accused of damaging people but they also offer the ability to heal. The brain is amazing. When it goes wrong it can be helped to heal itself. A specific example of this is in amblyopia where one eye is significantly less strong than the other. The brain gives more attention to the strong eye. With the use of computer games, we seek to teach the brain to use both eyes. Patching is normally used but children are often noncompliant. They are happier to use computer games. The use of stereoptic games and eye tracking can be used in diagnosis and treatment.